Queensland Fishing Monthly July 2018

JUMP INTO JULY JERKBAITING

Features

Tried & Tested

Jerkbait bassin’ 101 • 4WDing options for Fraser Island • Essential fly tying equipment •

Mako lenses • VW Amarok diesel •

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Boating & Kayaking Float tubing the flats • Exploring Raby Bay by yak • Anchoring tactics • Stessco Sunseeker 620 • Horizon 515 Northerner •

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July 2018, Vol. 30 No. 9

Contents NORTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES Yamba 20

What’s New Boating

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A real grass roots event with local manufacturers who put together their unique lures for cash sale on the weekend.

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TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND Whitsundays 56 Ayr 57 Townsville 58 Hinchinbrook 59 Cairns 60 Cairns NFZ 61 Port Douglas 61 Lucinda 62 Cape York 63 Weipa 62

It’s been a busy time at the Fishing Monthly offices in the lead up to this magazine going to print and we are excited to be launching a new magazine in an environment when most publishers are a bit negative about their future.

Western Australia Fishing Monthly will deliver its first issue in September this year and although that’s not particularly relevant to you, it does show that this format is popular and there’s a need for it in parts of Australia that don’t have it yet.

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From the Editor’s Desk...

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CENTRAL QUEENSLAND Hervey Bay 46 Rainbow Beach 48 Bundaberg 48 Lake Monduran 49 Gladstone 49 Rockhampton 50 Yeppoon 51 Stanage Bay 50

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BASS

A guide to jerkbait bassin’ 101 FMG

Simon Goldsmith simon@fishingmonthly.com.au

Winter can be a challenging time for a freshwater angler with cold, clear water and inactivity of fish making for tough days on the water.

For impoundment bass anglers it wasn’t that long ago that we saw the onset of winter as a time to put the bass tackle away and focus on other species.

Experience and the evolution of techniques and

our understanding of bass as a stocked species in our lakes has seen our thinking change and our approach to catching bass become far more diverse.

Now when the chill of winter sets in we’re armed and ready with a bunch of techniques, and there’s perhaps none more suited than jerkbaiting.

THE SEASON Sure, you can catch bass on jerkbaits all year round, but there are certain attributes of winter and the technique itself that make it best suited to the colder months. Winter generally brings with it clearer

water in our lakes, and it’s the increased visibility that comes with it that plays into the hands of jerkbaiting.

Using a jerkbait for most part is a visual technique, with the fish seeing the lure rather than feeling the lure. A darting, twitching, brightly coloured lure that’s moving then stopping, as it moves along the edge of a shallow weed edge can be seen from a long distance when the water is clear. Another reason a jerkbait works well in the situation is because of its level of finesse.

A finesse approach is often

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the best form of attack when chasing reserved cool water fish, as they are perhaps a little gun-shy in clear water. In this scenario a subtly worked jerkbait can be the trigger to getting a shutdown bass sitting in a weedbed to pop its head out and eat a bait.

Bass aren’t always shutdown during winter though and there are often times when you find them actively feeding – again, often in the clear water.

A jerkbait becomes a go-to because the bass can see the lure from a distance. Ripping and pausing a jerkbait along a bank occupied by feeding bass early in the morning can be an effective, and an insanely fun way to catch bass on a cold winter’s morning.

While the time of the year and water clarity are important factors, there are some other variables that signicantly influence a jerkbait bite. Just like they do with a topwater bite, overcast conditions can help keep bass keyed in on a jerkbait bite. One of the best ways to catch bass in the shallows, a jerkbait bite will often die as the sun rises and the light increases, driving fish to deeper water. The longer the light stays away, the longer the fish can stay on the edge and in the shallows, and the longer you can catch them on a jerkbait.

The second element – wind – has the same effect in many ways. A windblown bank can provide protection from the light in the same way that overcast skies do, with the ruffled surface and increased turbidity in the water helping to hold fish shallow. I often find that if the wind blows for too long and the water gets too discoloured, the jerkbait bite

Another cold weather bass falls to a brightly coloured jerkbait.

Lake St Clair in the Hunter Valley and Maroon Dam in South East Queensland are two prime examples.

WHY YOU’RE HERE If you’re hitting a winter lake with a jerkbait tied on, where do you fish? Let’s run you through the places to start.

Weed edges, whether they’re hard weed edges or an area punctuated by clumps of weed, are prime places for bass to hold and feed on.

More often than not, the water is clear and as result it’s the ideal jerkbait water. Clearer

so a twitch-pause lure that you can keep in the spot is one of the best ways to go.

Shallow edges are my favourite, especially clear flooded edges that have active feed fish on them. Early mornings and overcast rainy days are the peak time for these skinny water locations.

While jerkbaits excel in the shallows they’re also a go-to in water up to 15ft deep.

Mid-depth flats and flooded points are two locations that fit this deep water range perfectly.

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can wane. If the fish are still there, try a technique that’s less visual-based, and more feel and sound-based, like a spinnerbait or lipless crankbait.

The wind approach I find works best on those clearwatered, weed-edged lakes that have plenty of points and bays.

pockets in the weed, standing and laydown timber and, of course, shade further enhance the location and provide perfect ambush locations for fish. Some of these features, such as clear weed pockets, are so small that you can’t fish a fast moving bait through them,

worked deeper and harder are preferred over small subtle twitch baits. Pre the raising of the dam wall and the flooding of all the timber, Hinze Dam was very much a point and gully type bass fishery and it was the long, gentle slopping points that you gravitated

BASS towards when it came to jerkbaits.

The bass would hold along these points; from the shallow start of the point to deep apex, they would regularly take up residence on it. The flooded timber in about 12-15ft of water was the happy hunting

across a point then waiting expectantly for a bass to hit it while it sits motionless down deep is hard to beat.

Bass love timber and vegetation as we know and when it comes to fishing flooded green trees and bushes in clear water a jerkbait is

than not you’ll watch it get eaten as you twitch and pause it through and past flooded greenery. Generally it’s not the fish you see, but the sudden disappearance or unexpected movement of your lure as it gets t-boned by a bass. It’s addictive to watch.

Peter Phelps with a solid Lake St Clair bass that couldn’t resist a Daiwa Double Clutch. ground. Make long casts across and along it, work the lure hard then a pause would draw the fish up to hit the lure suspended 5-10ft down.

It’s a fun, searching way to catch fish, and loaded with anticipation. Ripping a lure

hard to beat.

Watching a bass eat your lure is generally considered the domain of surface lures but it shouldn’t be. In clear water, a bright or flashy coloured jerkbait stands out like a neon sign and more often

PRIME CONDITIONS If I could order a perfect day to go jerkbaiting, this is how it would roll: a cold, heavily overcast day in southeast Queensland with an air temperature of 17°C, and gin-clear water between

15-20°C. The water level has recently risen and has left flooded bottlebrushes on the edges, complemented by weed beds and water lilies in bays and on points and flats that feature clear pockets and channels scattered throughout.

The hotspots to hit include: • The long unbroken weed and lily edges (use lures that cast a long way and parallel it along the edge) • Weed pockets (use

a twitch bait rather than a rip bait) • Standing timber tight to the edge (use a quick diving lure that will get down to where the fish are) • Flooded deep points (use a deep diving rip bait).

GETTIN’ RIPPED Technique-wise the approach isn’t overly complex.

The variables are how hard you rip it, how often to rip it, and how long you wait

between rips and twitches.

My standard retrieve is a two-twitch-pause retrieve, and I’ll use the feedback from the fish to determine whether I’m giving them what they want or whether I need to change to get things right.

The lure being used also plays a part when it comes to selecting the retrieve. Some lures can only handle a small twitch, while others require To page 12

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BASS From page 11

a harder rip approach to get them to work at their optimum cadence. Deep diving jerkbaits can prove a challenge compared to their shallower running brothers, and with deep divers I often like to crank the lure down before starting the rip and pause.

Trial and error is the name of the game when it comes to cracking the pattern on what the fish want and how to best work the lure. One constant remains regardless, which is most bites will come on the pause. Don’t ever be afraid to let the lure sit still for what you think will be too long. The fish has far more patience for a long pause than you do, so

be prepared to let it sit there for plenty of time, especially if nothing has worked up to that point.

GETTIN’ LURED When it comes to picking a jerkbait it’s a no brainer for me; I like them to be either bright or flashy and they have to suspend. I like a lure that stands out like a beacon in the water. As I mentioned earlier, jerkbaits work because the fish sees the lure darting and dancing, and in clear water they can see the lure from quite a distance, so the brighter the lure is, the easier it is for them to spot it then eat it.

Clown and mat tiger are my two favourite colours, along with an old Rapala colour that

was white with orange stripes.

Being brightly coloured also means that in many cases (more so on shallows than deeps) you can watch the lure during the retrieve and when it gets eaten.

TACKLE-HAPPY Spin tackle offers greater flexibility and fewer limitations than baitcasters. A fast tapered, light to medium rated rod, no longer than 6’9” is ideal. Any longer than this, you’ll have too much length to wield around when twitching and ripping your lure. For line choice, PE, fluoro and mono are all options. I favour PE with an 8lb fluorocarbon leader for reduced stretch and more direct contact with the

Evergreen Super Sledge

Rapala X-Rap 8

Jackall Squirrel 61

Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 80

Megabass Live-X Margay Stepcat

Jackall Squad Minnow

Rapala Husky Jerk

Jackall Colt Minnow 80

Imakatsu Riprizer 60

Daiwa Double Clutch 75

JERKBAIT STARTERS FOR BASSING AND THEIR STRONG POINTS Jackall Squirrel 61 - One of the most reliable jerkbaits to choose, this smallest of the Squirrels (61, 76, DD67, DD79, & Super DD79) is dynamite around shallow weeds. It’s a standout finesse bait to tie on.

Evergreen Super Sledge - These are rattle-free and dive to around 6ft. If you want subtlety, try one of these.

Megabass Live-X Margay Stepcat - The Stepcat is hard to beat when you want a small lure that’s aggressive in the water.

It darts and zags through the water with minimal effort.

Jackall Squad Minnow 65 - My favourite over the last couple of years, the Squad Minnow casts like a bullet, rips and darts all the time without blowing out on the retrieve, and in the matt tiger colour the bass line up to eat them.

Imakatsu Riprizer 60 - Bought on a whim a few years ago, the Riprizer impressed on its first swim and has been a finesse favourite ever since. The lemon dazzler colour in particular with the silver insert stands out in the water like a neon sign.

Jackall Colt Minnow 80SP - A big bait for the shallows, the Colt Minnow is the one to pick when it’s overcast and the big bass are right up in the shallows. It casts like a bullet as well.

Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 80SP - Fits the same bill as the Colt Minnow, albeit with a touch more finesse.

Daiwa Double Clutch 75SP - Was and still remains a great bass jerkbait before it became famous on the BREAM trail – silent but deadly.

Rapala XRap - This lure is a bigger profile bait, rips hard, always works and comes in some great colours. The HH in particular stands out in dark, clear water.

Rapala Husky Jerk - The old school favourite, bass still love these and I think they always will. It’s great for twitching in the one spot with minimal rod work.

Available in 6, 8, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, 80 & 130lb 12

JULY 2018

lure, especially when using small lures and ones that require a delicate touch to get them working their best.

MASTERING THE ART The hardest bass to catch on a jerkbait is your first one.

It can prove tricky to get your head around at first; many lure techniques that require you to work the lure then stop and wait for the fish to respond often see self-doubt creep into the mind of the angler.

Time on the water, understanding how your lure works, how fish will behave and react to your lure, and of course confidence and believing in what you doing are keys to success. Cracking the pattern in bass fishing is what we all strive to do, and when bass are keyed in on a jerkbait it’s a pattern that can often be applied throughout a lake and result in multiple fish caught.

This is something that isn’t always achievable, especially during the cold winter months.

While a jerkbait isn’t a lure that you will tie on every trip, it’s a lure that you should always have packed, and be confident in your ability to use it.

Where you find weed, you’ll find bass.

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Great 4WD options for a Fraser Island trip PART 1 FRASER ISLAND

Phil James p_j_james@bigpond.com

It’s not the intention of this article to go into all the finer points of driving a 4WD on a sandy island.

Nor is it intended to act as a tour guide, nor a fishing guide for that matter.

These have been covered more than adequately in this and many other publications. There may be some particular points that I will make when they are applicable. Here’s what you need to do to get your 4WD to Fraser Island as well as what to expect when travelling the island’s beaches and access roads.

There are just two mainland access points for barges heading to Fraser Island – Inskip Point and River Heads.

PERMITS Permits are required for vehicles as well as for camping (other than on private grounds). They can be obtained online, or at Rainbow Beach NPWS office, Rainbow Beach Tourist Information Centre, Hervey

The Inskip Point barge.

OPTION 1 – INSKIP POINT This is particularly popular for people coming from the south, and by far has the lion’s share of 4WD visitors. Take the Tin Can Bay turnoff from the Bruce Highway just a few kilometres south of Gympie

Rainbow Beach, a short 10km leads to Inskip Point.

Manta Ray Fraser Island Barges operate the barges that provide a short shuttle service to and from the southern end of Fraser Island, near Hook Point. These operate between 6am and 5.30pm daily. Boarding passes may

of the ocean and weather conditions, as well as creek flows and coffee rock outcrops. These are some of the factors that determine the character of a section of beach at a particular time. It’s amazing how

rapidly the character of a beach can change. Along the east coast of the island we see single beaches and double beaches, or just as likely combinations of both. The single beach has a fairly constant gradation from the shoreline to the water’s edge.

This includes the upper sand that could be very soft if the recent high tides hadn’t reached that far up. Below this is the firm surface that carries most of the traffic. At low tide, extending seaward, there might be extensive flats with melon holes, spits and gutters. If it’s necessary to drive on the dry upper beach, the best plan is to follow a track that has been made by other vehicles.

Otherwise forging your own track can be heavy going. Give driving on the flats a big miss. There are too many hazards.

On the double beach we see most of the soft sand of the single beach replaced by flat damp and mostly firm areas. The dampness of these sands is likely to be maintained Hap Va and by freshwaterHaseepage ppy Vpaylle l ley y

small creek flows as well as flooding by seawater on the biggest tides.

There is usually a prominent ridge of soft sand between here and the lower beach. The firm sand of the second beach provides an easy path for vehicles, bearing in mind that there might be creeks, gutters, wash-outs and corrugations to look out for.

The character of a beach could change from one type to the other within a few hundred metres. This is common on the ocean beach between Eurong and Poyungan Rocks.

ONTO THE EASTERN BEACH Once on the island, the southern beach around Hook Point and Sandy point, then the ocean beach becomes the ‘main road’ (see the Fraser access map). I highly recommend travelling an hour or two either side of low water. This is when the beach slope is firm from the previous high tide.

If you intend to travel to the northern parts of the island and make use of a good beach, make the crossing up to two hours

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The River Heads barge. Photo courtesy of Black Diamond.

Bay Visitor Information Centre, or the Kingfisher Resort ticket office, River Heads. Currently the cost of a vehicle permit is $49.90 for a full month.

and follow the signage to Rainbow Beach. This busy beach resort has plenty of fuel and food outlets, as has Cooloola Village near the Tin Can Bay turnoff. From

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A FISHO’S DREAM For bookings or enquiries contact: Cliff Andreassen 0428 712 283 or 07 5449 9346 bearfish@bigpond.com • www.fraserislandfishingunits.com.au 14

JULY 2018

be purchased at the Manta Ray office at Rainbow Beach or on board the barge.

The current rates are from $120 for a 4WD and passengers.

You can’t book for a particular departure. Just turn up and wait your turn. You need to be aware that at busy holiday times, particular Easter, Christmas and school holidays the waiting time could be lengthy. The barges board from the sandy beach at Inskip Point, so consider lowering your tyre pressures before crossing this sand.

BEACH CHARACTER The sands of the ocean beach are continuously on the move at the whim

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Hook Point Inskip Point Not to scale

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before low water. Of course tide heights vary according to the phases of the moon, so it is important to be familiar with these when travelling on any of the island beaches. A common trap is to leave Hook Point too late after low water when a particularly high tide is to follow. This can lead to travelling through sloppy or dry, powdery sand further up the beach as the tide rises.

The first kilometres around the southern end of the island, and for some distance up the ocean beach, can be particularly

ago that the beaches south of the 18km track be closed to all vehicles in the interest of migrating sea birds that frequented the beach. It would have meant that all traffic from Hook Point would have used the inland track. Most fortunately, after much protesting and political nonsense this ridiculous idea was scrapped.

Travelling north towards Eurong, there are a number of creek crossings that need to be watched. The best plan is to cross them as close to the sea as possible, then with care. Higher on the beach, these same creeks can carve

island. These barges run to set timetables, with the exceptions being brought about by abnormal tides.

There are three regular services to Wanggoolba and return daily with a more regular service to Kingfisher resort. The Kingfisher barges also provide transport for resort guests.

This service is able to provide details of departures and fares as well as bookings through a credit card.

At River Heads, drivers for both barge services must arrive at the barge ramp parking area at least 30 minutes before departure.

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vulnerable to problems including narrowness and the presence of debris.

A sandy (inland) track is provided from the barge landing towards the north, behind the dunes. If in any doubt, the barge crew would probably be able to advise you on using it. This avoids most of these problems but you might still have plenty of soft sand to contend with on the higher tides.

There are two major down tracks to the main beach: at 11km and at 18km from Hook Point.

out steep erosion faces, and these have been associated with many serious incidents.

The largest of these, Govi Creek, flows through Dilli Village and empties into the sea just north of the turnoff to this campground. There are no coffee rock out crops south of Eurong.

We will return to the beach north of Eurong after looking at the other options of travelling to the island.

OPTION 2 – RIVER HEADS At River Heads, 20 minutes south of Hervey

Pre-booked boarding passes can then be collected from the ticket booth.

FRASER VENTURE TO WANGGOOLBA CREEK Of the two services from River Heads, this is by far my preference. Crossing time to the island is around 30-35 minutes depending on the tide. From Wanggoolba Creek the sand road runs via Central Forestry Station to Eurong on the east coast.

Except for the first 4km and a short section near Eurong, the route is made up of two one-way tracks – it’s

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On a historical note, it was proposed some years

Bay, barges operated by Kingfisher Resort and Village take vehicles to both Wanggoolba Creek and Kingfisher Bay on the western coast of the

good not to expect vehicles coming towards you!

Central Station, one of the Island’s favourite tourist destinations is a worthwhile

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JULY 2018

15

From page 15

stop with excellent amenities, as well as the must-do boardwalk along

Most commonly, underprepared or heavily loaded vehicles – often towing heavy camping

the track in a condition likely to make it easier for other vehicles to get into trouble.

Eurong has a general store with fuel, a bakery, restaurant and lots of accommodation options.

Wanggoolba Creek. Like others on the island that attract heavy traffic, these roads come in for some punishment, particularly during holiday periods and after prolonged dry weather when the sand becomes powdery.

trailers – become bogged.

High tyre pressures are often the culprit here but underpowered or overloaded vehicles don’t help. A seriously bogged vehicle holds up other vehicles on the track and when it is finally recovered, it leaves

There is no one formula for suitable tyre pressure as it depends on the vehicle, its load and its tyres. As an example, a well-loaded Patrol or Cruiser on ATs might use 20-22psi across these tracks. Make your own decision after seeking

reliable advice from your tyre supplier or from drivers familiar with island conditions.

The tracks across the island via Central Station reach the ocean beach at Eurong. Here there is a shop with fuel, a restaurant and a top bakery.

VIA KINGFISHER RESORT AND VILLAGE The crossing takes around 40-50 minutes depending on tidal conditions. The landing point is right at the resort.

From here the route takes you along the bitumen roads of the resort, then onto the track across the island to Cornwell’s Break on the ocean beach, approximately 5km north of Eurong. The track is entirely two-way traffic, but fortunately there are frequent opportunities to pass oncoming vehicles.

You can expect the crossing to take from 45-90 minutes depending on the condition of the track.

Vehicles often travel in groups, so when it’s necessary to leave the track there may be more than one vehicle coming.

It’s a common courtesy for the lead vehicle in a group to signal the number in the group and for the last vehicle to give the all clear. This might seem to be a bit overkill but it can

eliminate a lot of stress on these busy tracks. Apart from the usual 4WDs there can be many tourist buses on the track, and these may require a little more room to pass you safely.

I have already mentioned that this is not my favourite route across the island, in fact I would use it only if I absolutely had to. Like the Wanggoolba track it can become very rough and powdery in dry conditions.

During wet weather, sections of the track can become little more than a series of muddy waterholes.

What I like least about this track is the long uphill going east in the middle of the island. It’s usually rough and very powdery following dry weather. It has a sharp corner at the western end of the track, just when you need some more momentum.

Some of the problem sections on the Cornwell’s tack have been boarded, but certainly not this one. At the eastern end of the track, vehicles are frequently bogged in the powdery sand as they cross the upper beach onto the firm sand.

In order to avoid the difficult sections of the track, many vehicles are now taking the Cornwell’s Break road for around 5km from Kingfisher Resort then turning south onto the

Northern Road, through to Pile Valley, and onto the one-way track to Eurong.

This option is quite a bit longer but worth considering, particularly following dry conditions.

Some readers might remember a barge service that operated between Hervey Bay (Urangan) and Moon Point. This was a good option for visitors camping on the western beach, or those travelling to Orchid Beach. Unfortunately that service ceased a number of years ago. Campers heading for western beach campsites need to take one of the regular barges, travel along the eastern beach past the Maheno then take the Woralie Road.

More on this next month when we will return to Eurong, then travel the beaches further north, as well as those on the western side of the island.

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The lowdown on leaders: choosing the right one PART 2 NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

Leaders are an oftenoverlooked part of our sport, but they provide a vital link between angler and fish.

Last month in this column, I explained why it’s essential to add a leader of nylon or fluorocarbon whenever using multifilament, gelspun polyethylene (braided or fused) main lines. To

in the past about what I call the ‘finesse conundrum.’

Put simply, this states that the lighter and finer you go with your gear selection, the more fish you’ll hook. But as you go lighter, you’ll also lose more fish. Eventually, a point is reached where most or even all of the fish you hook will probably get away. This conundrum is a phenomenon that definitely applies to leader selection.

Basically, using thick, tough, hard-wearing leaders made from wire or some other very strong material

Bream are a great example of a species that responds better to lighter, finer leaders, but how light can you go before you begin to lose unacceptable numbers of fish? It’s a balancing act. briefly recap, there are three compelling reasons for this: firstly, braid is prone to abrasion under pressure from fish teeth and other sharp surfaces; secondly, being opaque, braid is arguably more visible to fish than clear nylon or fluorocarbon; thirdly, the stretch inherent in a nylon or fluorocarbon leader adds a handy shock absorber or spring, which can be a bonus, especially in the closing stages of battle, when there’s only a short length of line between angler and fish.

If we accept that the use of leaders is essential when running braided main lines, how do we pick the optimum leader set-up for each fishing scenario? How long should that leader be, what should it be made from, and how is it best connected to our main line?

I’ve written many times

would greatly reduce your chances of being chewed, rubbed or bitten off by a hooked fish. The use of such heavy and obvious leaders will also dramatically decrease the number of bites or strikes you get in most situations. For example, a shop-bought wire trace tied to the end of your main line may seem like a convenient option, meaning you’ll never be chewed or bitten off by another flathead or tailor.

But in many practical fishing situations using a thick wire trace will result in almost zero bites, especially from highly desirable target fish.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, a very long, very fine leader of transparent, low-gloss nylon or fluorocarbon will definitely increase your strike rate, but might not provide the insurance and abrasion resistance necessary to stay connected to any decent fish you hook. Because of this conundrum, leader selection represents a constant balancing act between strength and durability at one end of the scale and subterfuge or subtlety at the other end.

Suffice to say that you’ll need selection of clear, non-coloured leader materials (nylon, fluorocarbon or both) in a range of thicknesses and rated breaking strains to

Murray cod have small, fine ‘scouring pad’ teeth that would easily wear through finer braided lines under load, making the use of a leader almost mandatory. match the various styles of lure fishing you undertake, particularly if you opt to go with GSP main lines.

For most of the common forms of freshwater, estuary, beach, rock and inshore fishing undertaken around the country, leader materials from 2-35 or 40kg breaking strain will easily cover all the possible bases, but if your tastes run to bluewater game fishing, you’ll need a few spools of heavier material, perhaps up to 200kg, especially if marlin are on

the menu. Obviously, if you chase sharks, big mackerel, wahoo and other toothy critters, you’ll want some wire in your leader kit, too.

around a rod length is a very good starting point for most styles of fishing with either baits or lures, and this obviously means you’ll need

Barramundi are a species that demands the use of relatively heavy, abrasion-resistant leaders. Most barra anglers choose 25-35kg nylon or fluorocarbon leaders on these fish, and anything lighter than 20kg represents a real gamble on bigger fish.

Line to leader connections need to be compact and smooth enough to allow unhindered casting. There are several very good knots for this purpose. The author likes the FG, Slim Beauty and (in lighter lines) the Double Uni, but you should pick one or two that work for you.

As a very rough guide, 2-4kg (4-8lb) nylon or fluorocarbon will cover most of your needs on trout, redfin, bream, whiting and the various other smaller targets. A 3-8kg leader is a good starting point for bass, golden perch, flathead and so on, while 8-18kg covers your bases on snapper, mulloway, jacks, Murray cod and the like.

If you target barra and big threadfin salmon, add some 18-35kg leader material to your collection.

As for leader dimensions,

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to use a knot to connect your leader to your braid, rather than a swivel or ring.

There are plenty of proven connections for this purpose including the Double Uni, FG, Slim Beauty, Albright and several others.

Learn one or two strong connections thoroughly and practice them until you’re proficient enough to really trust your knots.

Leaders are something that not enough anglers think about, but they represent a vital connection between you and the fish.

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JULY 2018

17

Tech Tricks

Exploring fly tying equipment BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

In Australia, flyfishing has gained and waned in popularity over the last few decades. Many anglers who’d taken up the sport around the start of the millennium were soon distracted by the popularity of soft plastics fishing. Their rods, reels and tying vices were soon relegated to the back of the cupboard. Recently however, anglers have returned to the challenge of the long rod and the appeal for this great avenue for piscatorial relief has again flourished. Additionally, many flyfishers are now also tying their own flies.

True rotary vices allow materials to easily be wound onto the hook while the thread rests on the bobbin holder.

While a true rotary vice (left) is the best option for the serious tyer, a basic fixed head model will suffice for the beginner to intermediate. of tools available from retail stores who specialize in flyfishing and tying materials, for beginners there are basically only three necessities – a vice, bobbin and scissors. Other tools can assist you to do a better job or make a task a little easier or quicker, however you can still successfully tie the majority of flies without them.

hooks.

Coincidently, cheaper vices usually don’t last long as the jaws wear out and no longer hold the hook securely. Even stepping up to the Angler or Tymaster models (around $40) will make tying easier and more enjoyable for a longer period. Companies such as Renzetti have high quality base models starting at around $300 and their Apprentice model is a quality option. Obviously vices in this price range are long-term tying options likely to last the life of your tying career under normal use.

Renzetti’s most popular model is the Traveller at less than $400 but they also produce premium models

vice can easily allow you to tie quality flies for a considerable time. Like an expensive fishing reel, a top end vice will be a bit nicer to use and will probably last you a bit longer, however the cheaper one will do a similar job in the initial stages of your tying apprenticeship and still last for a reasonable time.

FIXED OR ROTARY? Another consideration for those about to purchase their own vice is whether to buy a fixed head, rotary or true rotary model. On fixed head vices the head of the vice is rigid and can’t be tilted or rotated. They will still hold the hook firmly but will require the tyer to stand and peer over the fly

Pedestal vices can be used on any flat surface and are the best option for most.

Unlike fishing with plastics, tying your own flies will offer an even broader array of opportunities to perfectly match the bait you are attempting to imitate.

You are only limited by your imagination with the current array of materials at your disposal. Profile,

shape, colour and size can all be copied convincingly to match the hatch or imitate the bait, if you roll your own. In a nutshell, fly tying offers a much broader array of opportunities to perfectly imitate the prey of your target species. Getting started with fly tying can be

a little daunting, especially now that few stores stock fly tying tools or materials.

Quality, reliable advice can also be difficult to find. Let’s have a look at a few of the basic tools and materials to get you started in your fly tying career.

While there are a lot

G-clamp vices can affix to the edge of most tables and desks but beware of overtightening and marking the furniture.

18

JULY 2018

The jaws on the Dyna-King barracuda are so well deigned and strong that you can bend an 8/0 hook without it slipping in the jaws.

VICES A tool that holds the hook while you tie, vices come in many configurations and can cost well over $1000 for the premium models. However, you can get a vice for as little as $20 that will do the basic job of holding the hook while you attach the various materials to it.

While better quality vices last longer and make fly tying degrees easier, the basic function of the vice is to securely hold the hook.

Sunrise make a heap of budget-priced tying vices and tools.

Their base vice, the Fly King, retails at around $15, however it is extremely basic, only holding small

with price tags in excess of $800. Dyna-King is another high quality brand that manufactures heavy-duty, stainless steel vices that are especially popular with serious saltwater tyers who need to tie on larger hooks.

The barracuda model is one of the more popular ones in their range and can be your pride and joy. This vice grips the hook so securely that you can bend an 8/0 hook without the vice moving in the jaws.

Other quality brands include Griffin, Marriot, HMH, Predator, Stonfo, Regal, Abel and others.

While buying a top shelf vice might be a consideration for a first time tyer, it’s not a necessity, because a cheaper

to view the other side or turn the vice around 180°.

Rotary vices allow the head of the vice and attached fly to be rotated around (yet often only 180°) so that the fly can be easily inspected on the opposite side. The best option for any tyer is a true rotary fly vice which rotates 360°, permitting you to easily inspect the opposite side of the fly.

True rotaries also have the added bonus of a goose neck jaw, which results in the shank of the hook staying on the same horizontal plane when the jaw is rotated. This allows materials such as chenille, dubbing, braids and laces to be palmered (wrapped) onto the hook shank by

Tech Tricks simply rotating the head of the true rotary vice. This is a big saving in effort and time and also gives greater control over your palmered material, producing a more even distribution of material. Once, true rotary vices were only available from companies producing vices at the upper end of the price spectrum.

However there are now many cheaper options available, starting from as little as $90 for a Snowbee Fly-Mate.

Another consideration when purchasing a vice is whether to get a clamp or pedestal base. Clamp vices are the more traditional style and allow the vice to be fixed to the edge of the table or bench via a G-clamp type screw mechanism.

One drawback is the thickness of the table or bench you wish to attach

Like vices, bobbins also come in a variety of qualities. Basic bobbins are all simple steel construction and will commonly cost less than $10. These are a great entry-level bobbins and will last a year or two, however once the nickel plating in the tube of the vice wears away, the inside of the tube can rust and become quite rough. This will often abrade and fray the thread, causing it to break. This is exceptionally annoying, especially when you are in the middle of tying a fly pattern and the broken thread results in you needing to start over.

Better quality bobbins are available at a cost. A ceramic ring in the end of the tube of a ceramic tip bobbin will decrease thread wear problems and these models start from less than $20. A better option is a bobbin

A bobbin allows you to control the thread length and tension by altering the firmness of your grip. deteriorate and damage your thread. I have had ruby tipped bobbins for over 15 years and they are still as good as the day I bought them. Obviously at

Different kinds of bobbin: thumb bobbin, standard wire bobbin, full ceramic bobbin, ruby-tip bobbin standard, ruby-tip bobbin saltwater. the vice to as the screw mechanism has limitations in how far it can open. The pedestal base is a better option for many tyers as the vice can be used on any flat surface. The heavy (usually metal) base provides good support for the tyer, as the toe of the base is usually under the jaw of the vice, which produces good balance.

BOBBINS The other item essential for good fly tying is a bobbin. This is a Y-shaped device that holds your spool of thread between the two arms. The thread is passed through the tube at the other end and protrudes out the bottom of the Y-shape. With the bulk of the bobbin and the thread in your hand, the tube is like an extension of your finger and allows accurate tying. Altering the grip on the bobbin will alter the tension on the thread.

Sometimes you may need to tie materials on firmly and at other times a gentler tying might be needed.

Lightening your grip on the bobbin and moving your hand away from the vice will allow the thread to play out.

stops materials from sliding along the blade when the scissors are closed, guaranteeing the material cuts where you want it to.

One of the best, easily accessible brands for quality scissors and other top end tying tools is Dr. Slick, however C&F Designs and many other companies also make high quality product. A good pair of scissors will probably set you back $30-60 and are a good investment long term.

Longevity will depend on care – avoid cutting materials such as lead wire, wire chenille, skins and other tough products and your scissors will last a long time. An old or cheap pair of scissors can complete these tasks suitably. However, for the beginner, even a decent quality pair of braid scissors (which still have one serrated blade) will suffice for most tasks and

bass bugs etc.) and other tasks where you need a curved cut. Again, all these different scissors can make some tasks a lot easier but aren’t essential.

CONCLUSION While a lot of different tools exist for the fly tyer, a vice, bobbin and scissors are the only necessities.

With all fly-tying tools, buy the best quality that your budget allows; you can always upgrade when it suits. If you are unsure whether you will really get into tying your own patterns, start off with basic equipment and then upgrade if you get serious.

Additionally you will

Ruby-Tip bobbins have a ruby ring embedded in the tip that will never abrade your thread. those with large fingers.

Arrow scissors have a long, tapered point for getting into tight places.

Micro-tip scissors are designed for delicate work on small flies. Curved blade scissors are great for deer hair work (Dahlbergs,

begin to acquire numerous other tools that make tasks easier as you go along.

Next month we will look at a few other tools that will simplify tying tasks and help you to tie flies quicker, more efficiently and with greater accuracy.

Quality fly tying scissors have a fine serration on the blades to eliminate materials sliding on the jaws. with a full ceramic tube.

These are exceptionally smooth internally and will not damage your thread, however if you drop them on a tile or concrete floor, they can break. The most durable bobbin that is best for your thread is a ruby-tip bobbin such as those made

by Renzetti.

The main portion of the bobbin is metal, however in the tip of the thread tube there is a ruby ring. Obviously ruby is exceptionally hard and smooth and will not

around $50 these won’t be in everyone’s budget but are worth the money for the serious tyer.

SCISSORS The last essential item for the fly tyer is scissors.

While any scissors can suffice, correct fly tying scissors will make the task a lot easier. Good scissors not only allow more accurate cutting of materials but they will maintain their edge for many years. At least one blade of fly tying scissors will have a small serration on the cutting edge. This

last a reasonable time.

These can be purchased for less than $10.

Most tyers will only require a basic set of scissors in the 3.5-4.5” range. However for specific tasks there are scissors that may be better suited. Iris scissors have super fine points deigned for working on small flies or for delicate tasks. Synthetic scissors have stiff jaws and large handle rings to provide a better grip and more power for cutting stiffer materials.

These are also ideal for

There are numerous types of scissors designed for specific tasks however a basic set will suffice to start with.

JULY 2018

19

Snap into the chilly season YAMBA

Dave Gaden

Winter is well and truly here and with it hopefully some calmer weather conditions. Autumn had some of the most unsettled conditions I think I have seen in 10 years, with constant southerly wind

I have mentioned many times that I hate the cold, but I really love the fishing in winter, both offshore and in the estuary, and there is no better place at this time of the year than here.

The estuary will be full to the brim with, you guessed it, bream! These fish build up in huge numbers this month in

leading up to this will be great fishing. The usual hotspots like the Middle Wall, Turkeys Nest and Collis Wall will all hold fish. The professional fishers trap most of these areas, but not the east end of the Middle Wall, as this is a recreational fishing haven. Night fishing is my preference for bream, but you will have no trouble getting good fish all day.

The luderick or blackfish also spawn around this time and have shown up early this year

with large olive coloured ocean running fish being caught in May. It’s looking like it’s going to be a good season for them again this year. Green weed and cabbage from the rocks are the usual fare, but the hard to get black weed will be the undoing of these guys. Take plenty of berley with you to keep them at your feet.

I’ve fished a bit up near Turkey Island, just downstream from Palmers Island Caravan Park lately, just drifting the drop-offs

A fantastic snapper for 15-year-old Hamish.

Derek was very pleased with this lovely pearly. and swell making it hard to get out to the fish.

So we welcome the cold weather, colder water and hungry fish.

preparation for the spawn.

Spawning usually takes place on the full moon, which will be 28th of this month, but the weeks

Jenny took this great snapper on a shallow reef.

from the sandbars and taking some beautiful flounder and dusky flathead. Flounder are not a rare capture here but some sessions are producing double figures of these tasty fish. Green prawns appear to be their preferred tucker while the flatty are loving the white bait. I’ve been fishing the bottom of the tide as well, just trying to be there for the last hour of run-out, and the quick drift with fast moving baits is just nailing them. There’s

still a few better-thanaverage whiting mixed in there as well.

With the mullet running hard this month, mulloway will be haunting the south breakwall in good numbers.

Obviously matching the bait by using a live mullet will be the best way of hooking up, but they will take almost anything that swims when they are feeding heavily. There is a million different lures and plastics out there for you to try. I really like the good

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old Bill’s Bugs Jewie lure.

It’s been taking fish for the last 20 years and is still one of the best on the market. If hardbodies aren’t for you, then ZMan 7” Jerk ShadZ

fishing in close.

On the subject of the deep water, those who like to go wide will find the current has now dropped to a fishable level and both the

A great feed of flounder and flatties. in scented pearl will soon have you hooked up.

Offshore this month we are chasing snapper, and big snapper at that. These beautiful pink fish will be in real close early over the kelp beds and gravel. Some of the best grounds will be from Shelly Headland to Red Cliff in the south as well as the front of Woody Head Reef to the north.

You will only need to be in 10m of water to be taking big fish, but in saying that, expect to get busted off a bit. These fish hit hard and run harder in the shallows and appear to know every piece of kelp or sharp rock personally, making landing them an extra challenge.

If you fish too heavy, you don’t get the same amount of hook-ups, but if you fish too light, you’ll struggle to land them. There will be a middle ground there somewhere.

This year the large pearl perch and Venus tuskfish have been in great numbers on the southern reef in around 35-42m of water. But we have been catching the odd pearly to over 50cm in 10m. A lot of these fish will start to move out to the deeper water on the shelf, but there will be plenty for those

north and south grounds in and around the 50 fathom line will have more than enough snapper, pearlies and pigfish mixed in with a few wild samsonfish, amberjack and kings to keep your arms stretched for a while.

Snapper on the wide ground will like a bit of structure to hang close to, but the pearl perch seem to be happily spread out over what appears to be relatively flat, uninteresting bottom covered in wire weed. You will know you’re in the right spot when you find a crusty looking thing that resembles a rusted wire spring attached to your sinker when you come up.

Don’t move too far away, just keep drifting this area and the fish will trickle into the icebox all day.

The deeper water north and south will be a real chance of a feed of trag.

These fish will have some company, with mulloway and better than average snapper late in the morning to early afternoon. Try to find fish in 45-55m with bait shoals close by, and small livies will be the undoing of any finicky trag or mulloway.

If you’re heading this way and need some advice on what’s happening or would like to join me on a fishing charter or whale watch trip, call into our shop at Yamba Marina when you arrive and we will be more than happy to help you out.

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Ballina’s local fishing action really picking up BALLINA

Joe Allan

The fishing has been red-hot lately, with the action coming thick and fast.

As the water temperature has gradually gotten cooler, the snapper have been coming in more

consistently and have been getting better in size. The best areas are the close in reefs in approximately 10-15m of water. Floating cut baits like squid and blue pilchards with the current is very productive if you want to soak some bait. If you’re into throwing lures and plastics, try 60-80mm lipless crankbaits around

Christian Booker with a solid snapper caught off Evans Head on an Atomic 5” Fat Grub.

1/2oz in weight. On the soft plastics side of things, try 4” plastics in a variety of colours. The 1/2oz jigheads are good, but you should go lighter if the current will allow, and this should be paired with a 4/0 hook.

If the current’s running harder you might need to go heavier.

Spotty mackerel are starting to drop off the bite but the Spanish are really starting to come on. If the water clarity stays pretty clean, this will happen quicker. Try trolling any shallow diving lures over 100mm, or if you’re into cast and retrieve, stickbaits are a must in your tackle box.

The tailor are really biting well now, with catches becoming more consistent over the last month. The gutters along Seven Mile Beach are worth a throw, and the best thing about this time of year along this beach is the stud bream that you can come across. They’re beautiful in condition and taste amazing. Remember, a big bream is a very old fish, so only keep what you’re going to eat in the next few days.

Will Posthuma with a late season Spaniard caught off Ballina.

The cooler westerlies can bring on the blackfish or luderick, so if this cold snap keeps on going for a

the area out the front of the Oyster Farm in North Creek and possibly up as far as Pimlico Island if the

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Nigel Skyring caught this nice school mulloway from Ballina on a 3” Atomic Prong. while, don’t be afraid to try for these guys a little earlier than you normally would.

The flathead will start to become patchy in the river along the Ballina town stretch, while the bream will really start to fire in the deeper drop offs.

The top of the tide is the pick to chase the big sea run specimens that come in to spawn. Try throwing blades and plastics off the end of the south wall, as well as hardbodied lures such as crankbaits over the porpoise wall.

The winter whiting will be kicking off over the next few weeks. Try the bigger tides over the sand flats along the town stretch,

water stays clear.

The size of the mulloway being pulled out of the river lately is nothing short of amazing. There are some beasts caught at night time, mostly on live mullet in the deeper holes or shallow diving 200mm hardbodies off the walls.

Hold on, because these things are beasts!

The largest saltwater fishing competition in NSW is taking place in Evans Head this month. The Evans Head Fishing Classic has been running for more than 20 years and is being held from 7-14 July.

There will be a food alley, displays from sponsors and a live fish tank to display some of the catches from the event.

There really is something in this competition for everyone in the family including a cadet category that runs over the weekend of 8-9 July. If you’d like more information please email ehfc@fishingcomps. com.au or head to www. fishingcomps.com.au/ ehc/faqs/.

Until next month, tight lines.

Christian Booker with a flathead caught in the Richmond on a sand flat.

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Winter westerlies are making the nights cool THE TWEED

Anthony Coughran

It’s been a late season offshore this year, but the winter species are finally starting to feed up and make their presence felt on close reefs.

With the 0.5-2 knots of current on most close reefs, this has allowed anglers to fish deeper reefs and it also opens up a lot of different styles, with finesse fishing techniques working best.

Lightly-weighted plastics, smaller micro jigs, octa jigs and drift baits are working well off Tweed at the moment.

Mulloway are sitting in most holes in the river and around the river mouth.

Bream and trevally are really starting to thicken up in packs around most rock walls, wrecks, submerged structure and bridges.

Chopper tailor are starting to run in the rivers, and working light presentations in current lines has been working really well.

Tailor, mulloway, bream and flathead are sitting in most beach gutters along the Tweed Coast.

OFFSHORE It’s snapper time! With the easing of the currents, anglers are spoilt for choice.

Using a 15, 20 or 30lb set up with 1/4oz jigheads

Guy Hutchins was pleased with this nice pearly. on close reefs, and up to 3/4oz jigheads around the 24 and 36 fathom reefs are working best. Medium-sized 5-7” plastics are working best, with pearls and bright colors such as nuclear chicken producing results around sunrise and sunset.

Natural colors such as pumpkin seed, bloodworm and blue pearls are working well once the sun is up and starts penetrating the

water column.

Jigging with 20-200g micro and octa jigs is working well on the 24s and deeper. Style is everything with the flutter jigs. A smooth action with double and triple lifts off the bottom, before allowing it to flutter back to the bottom is key. Staying in contact with your jigs is crucial. Lighter main braid will allow you to get to the bottom quicker

Little legend Justin Wilson cleaning his catch from the 80 fathom line!

and fluorocarbon leaders will protect your jigs from the rough bottom. Use a 15lb and 20lb, or 20lb and 30lb braid and main line combination for close reefs and 30lb and 40lb or 40lb and 60lb combo for bigger jigs and deeper depths.

Drift baiting is one of the best and most productive ways to catch fish on close reefs, but judging the current and depth is crucial to selecting sinker size. Once you find your sinker size, there are a few different rigs you can run. Some ideas for rigs are: sinker straight to the hook, or swivel to leader to sinker and then hook, or swivel to leader to sinker to swivel to leader and then hook. Double snelled or stinger rigs work well for larger baits.

Most of the mixed pan-size fish that get caught are on just sinker to hook and a half pilchard.

Remember you want your bait to look as natural as possible.

Kingfish, cobia and mulloway have moved onto close reefs and isolated wrecks and bommies. Live baits such as yakkas, mullet, tailor and pike are your best baits. Finding bait with arches sitting around them

is crucial. Slow trolling live baits is working well too.

Some packs of tuna have been sighted around close reefs, and high-speed metals, jet heads and trolled hardbodies are working well. Find the working mutton birds and you will find the tuna.

There has been some squid around Fidos, Five Mile, Cook Island and Kingscliff, and fishing heavy jigs and drifting bait spikes will work well out there.

ESTUARY This month is all about the mulloway in the rivers.

Soaking live baits such as pike, mullet and tailor of a night is still catching the better fish in the river. A few schoolies are being caught on plastics and vibes and blades this month as well.

Big hardbodies are working well around the river mouth.

Try the various holes in Tweed, the rock walls in the river mouth, around the bridges and isolated rocks in at least 4m of water for best

Jamie French with a nice tuskfish taken off Tweed. results. Anywhere that holds bait in deep water is good.

Bream are getting real thick, so packs of bream are being found throughout the whole system. Drift baits and small artificial presentations are working well. A good selection of bait is a must when targeting bream. Baits like yabbies, crabs, worms, prawns, mullet gut and pilchards will see the fussiest feeders biting. Berley should trigger them into a bit of a feeding frenzy. You want your berley to be really thin, so

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they don’t fill up on it.

Trevally are getting pretty thick at the river mouth and around the bridges that hold good schools of bait this month.

Lures are working really well for these speedsters.

Blades, vibes, tiny micro jigs, hardbodies and small metals are catching some good fish. Try Boyds, Barneys, Jack Evans Anchorage, the wreck near the red marker, and around Green Bank Island rock walls for a bit of trev action.

Chopper tailor are sitting in current lines throughout the river. Run-in tides are fishing better for these toothy critters. Small metals, blades and small plastics are working. We used to make metals out of butter knives; the blade of the knife makes a great size and shape lure for targeting choppers in the river! A little shaping and a couple of holes in each end and a slight bend in the blade is all you need. St Vinnies has heaps of these knives for

about 10c each.

Some good flatties are available up in the skinny water. Plastics are still faring best for these fish.

Winter or diver whiting are sitting in the deeper channels and holes around the Tweed. Drifting bloodworm and beach worms is working best, but it can be hard to get past the bream in some holes.

BEACHES Most beaches and headlands are really starting to fire up. Westerlies and no swell has seen great

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conditions on the beaches this month. The mulloway, tailor, bream and flathead have moved into most gutters up the coast.

The mulloway in particular are sitting in the deeper gutters, headlands and rock walls waiting for the mullet and tailor to run up the coast and into the gutters. Soaking a large live bait of a night, a whole beach worm, ganged pilchard, a couple of white bait or large strip bait, should put you in the right area for a big mulloway. Berleying into these draining gutters will hold any fish in front of you and will bring any fish from down the beach to you. This will also bring up all the beach worms in front of you, which is what most species are feeding on in these gutters and will add to your berley. But be prepared to wait.

Tailor are starting to run up the coast and are best targeted from the headlands and rock walls with metals at dusk and dawn. Metals from 20-80g are working best. I like to run single hooks on most of my tailor metals. Since doing so my landing rate has increased tenfold. Try Snapper Rocks, the Tweed rock walls, Fingal Headland, The Causeway, Kingy rock wall and Black Rock at dusk and dawn for best results.

Soaking a ganged up whole pilchard of a night in the deeper gutters is also producing. The smaller gutters have been producing some great bream, dart, flathead and whiting.

Targeting these smaller gutters on the last of the run-out with light gear and small plastics is very fun and you would be surprised what actually sits in the skinny gutters. It’s always handy to have a few worms or a bag of white bait with you just in case they aren’t interested in lures, and this should see you still get a nice feed.

I like to start at one end of a beach gutter and work from one side of the gutter to the other. Don’t be scared to cast right up in the back bank and into the skinny water, and work your lures and baits off the sand

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Most fish will sit in this area waiting for prey to drop in front of their faces. A wellplaced bait won’t last long.

Light spin gear is perfect for these skinny gutters and because you’re not fighting fish in waves, you don’t need your big beach rod to fish them. In fact, a 6-10lb main line with a 2-8kg 7ft spin rod with 6-15lb leader allows you to use 1/6-1/2oz once jigheads. Thread some 2.5-5” plastics on these jigheads and you’re ready to fish these skinny gutters!

You might want to increase how often you re-scent your plastics. The sand will quickly steal the scent off your plastics. When fishing the river, I normally re-scent every 10-20 casts.

In these skinny gutters, I re-scent ever 5-8 casts.

NEXT MONTH Most anglers will still be on the hunt for big snapper and mixed reefies over the next month. The first few days after the full moon will fish better than before. The reason is that they spawn on close reefs on the full moon, so a few days before the full moon they will slow their

feeding down and start really filling their gut cavities with roe and milt. But after the spawn on the full moon they are starving and will have a longer bite period.

A nice river mulloway taken aboard a local charter.

As the schools of tailor and mullet run up the coast and over our close reefs, the mulloway, cobia and kings will hunt these packs and schools on the close reefs.

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Joshua Crabtree took this nighttime GT on a hardbody lure.

Fishing live baits over the next month will produce some beasts. The mulloway will start to sit more and more in the deeper holes in the rivers, beaches and headlands.

The tailor will come through in packs, so timing is crucial. Having a beach set-up in the car with a small box of lures means you are always ready for them.

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Great fishing set to continue with bait offshore SOUTHERN GOLD COAST

Mark Ward markward222@bigpond.com

It’s getting harder and harder to get out of that warm bed in the morning but the effort will be well rewarded this month.

The fishing has been excellent lately and it’s set to continue with loads of bait offshore, a good tailor run on the beaches and plenty of flathead in the shallows.

OFFSHORE We have seen the first of the flat winter seas, which means that almost anyone can get out and give the reefs a shot. Cobia have been found by live

baiting the close reefs and the bait schools have been getting carved up by just about every tuna species we see here in South East Queensland.

Spinning metal lures around the feeding tuna has produced some great catches. My son Cody and I spent a morning doing just and Cody had the time of his life.

Reports from the shallow reefs from 18-24 fathoms have been all about mixed bags. Mulloway have been biting after dark but bottom bashing has produced snapper, trag, tailor, spangled emperor and Moses perch. There has been plenty of bait on the bait grounds and dropping slimies and yakkas on a

Cody Ward with a bonito that was caught while spinning around a bait school.

26

JULY 2018

float line is a great way to land a big snapper. You have to experience the hit of a snapper nailing a live bait. I don’t think there is a fish that hits as hard.

The 36-Fathom Reef and Conrad Reef is another snapper hotspot with the added advantage of pearl perch and big tuskfish. Pearlies have also been landed around the 45 Fathom Reef east of Tweed Heads, so there are plenty of options for the offshore angler.

ESTUARY Flathead have been dominating catches over the past month. There are plenty of small fish about but the odd big one has been lurking in the shallows.

Drifting baits from a boat or casting with a slow retrieve from the shore works well.

Flathead don’t move around too much so keeping the bait moving is important.

That way the bait will find the fish instead of the fish finding the bait. Lures are also a great option and give anglers the ability to cast to weed edges, drop-offs and shallow water to entice the lizards to bite. Don’t ignore the deeper water around the mouth of the estuaries either, especially when we get closer to spring. The bigger fish will move into the deep water.

Bream have been biting around structure like bridges and rock walls.

This is another species that will take a lure, but they don’t like heavy line.

They are a lot smarter than anglers give them credit for and if you try to take shortcuts with your bream fishing, you will get found out very quickly. Fish with light fluorocarbon leaders and the lightest sinkers that you can get

Cool mornings mean lots of flathead.

Summer Ward landed this one by trolling a Micro Mullet along the weed edges. away with. We sometimes use small whitebait or live prawns unweighted and this is a deadly technique, especially after dark when they are more likely to be in the shallows.

Luderick are at their best at this time of year and are often schooled around Boyds Bay in the Tweed River. The trick to luderick fishing is the bait. The cold water means that the weed is full of protein and other nutrients, so luderick will feed on nothing else over winter; the better the weed, the better the results. Bright green weed is ideal and cabbage found on the ocean rocks is also a great bait.

Weed bought up from the colder areas like Sydney is also excellent bait and often out-fishes the local stuff. Use half the bait to

berley the fish up and the rest for bait.

Fishing the last of the run-out tide for luderick is best and almost any rock wall or area that has weed growing will produce the fish. Jack Evans Boat Harbour is another popular spot, as is the rockwall in the mouth of the river.

BEACHES Tailor have been caught from the beaches and the rocks with some good-sized fish showing up amongst all the choppers. Night fishing may well produce a mulloway or two as well, so it’s worth putting up with the cold. Daytime fishing will also see a few dart, bream and flathead in the gutters. The water is a little chilly on the toes but the fishing is fantastic at this time of year.

Get out of bed and get the winter woollies on and you’ll find that the Gold Coast can be a winter wonderland.

Summer Ward battling a flathead on light gear.

There will be plenty of flathead around this month.

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Fish those winter blues away JUMPINPIN

Mick Morris gembait@tpg.com

There is nothing better on a cool winter’s day than heading out for a fish and enjoying our wonderful Queensland weather, soaking up the sun and catching a few. The weather is nearly always good, and with westerlies kicking in at this time of year the Jumpinpin waters flatten out and it’s a joy to be on the water.

safe as possible. Wear your lifejackets and secure all the items on your boat.

There are a few reefs located about 10-20 minutes from the bar like Alfs, Sullys and the Dragon. All hold schools of bait, which in turn attract the larger predators. It’s not hard to pick up some live slimies and yakkas in those areas.

This month you can expect to catch mulloway, snapper, pearlies and the odd pelagic like bonito or tuna.

Bream will probably be the most heavily sought-after

of North Straddie, the eastern tip of Crusoe Island, Short Island, Stieglitz, Flat Rock, the Stockyards, the Powerlines, the north wall of the Seaway and the mouth of the Pimpama River. These spots always produce good quality fish and you even have a pretty good chance of landing a squire-size snapper as well.

Flathead are being caught on soft plastics from the Pandanus weed banks, Whalleys Gutter mouth, the bottom of Kangaroo Island, the sand flats at the top of South Straddie and Kalinga Bank. The water quality has been good, so both hard and soft lures have been working well. Try trolling the flats where you can see some weed on the dropping tide as the water falls off the banks, or tea bagging big vibes and plastics in the deeper water.

For the bait fishos, pillies and big fresh prawns are the go. Drifting seems to be the best method of tracking them down.

Some big elbow-slapper whiting have been caught from near Marks Rocks and Ageston Sands in the Logan River, Flat Rock, Slipping Sands and the Gold Bank.

Banana prawns have slowly disappeared after a fantastic prawning season, which saw heaps of quality prawns caught over the last few months. There may still be a few hanging around for those who love chasing a feed a prawns, but the larger schools have gone.

Tailor should be schooling up the coast, feeding on the schools of whitebait, pilchards and hardiheads. The tailor ball up these schools inside the Bar, breaching the surface as

Mac tuna cruise the coast at this time of year.

With the westerly winds expected it’s a great time to slip outside the ‘Pin Bar as long as the swell is small. The Bar is notorious for being one of the most dangerous to cross, as pressure waves can pop up on an outgoing tide, so be sure to be as

species in July as they are everywhere at the moment, taking yabbies, prawns, squid, small vibes, plastics and hitting lures on the troll. For bream you can’t go past the old favourite spots like Kalinga Bank, the dead trees off the bottom

A pie and a pearly. How good is fishing in Queensland!

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A fine example of a winter flathead caught trolling the flats near Cabbage Tree Point. they attack the bait, which makes them fairly easy to spot. There’s nothing quite like being in a tailor feeding frenzy, with the water boiling around the boat. If you head out during the week when there is less water traffic, you’ll have a better chance of this happening.

When you’re targeting tailor, try to use lures the same size as the bait they are feeding on. In most situations, 10-40g is the right size. Plastics get torn apart by tailor so unless you have an endless supply I’d stick to metal slugs. Other than that try floating lightly-weighted pillies or whitebait in the current, and a cruising tailor

should find it irresistible.

The beaches should be producing some good tailor as well, and casting further is a lot easier with those westerlies at your back.

There should be dart, bream and whiting hanging in those gutters as well. It never hurts to take another rod with a bream set-up, because if the tailor are quiet you still might be able to get some good fish off the beaches.

• 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.

Bumper bream abound in the Goldy canals GOLD COAST CANALS

Josh Dunn Instagram: @josh__dunn__

The cooler weather has well and truly set in, with some mornings hitting temperatures below 10ºC. July is a perfect month for a range of species – tailor, trevally, bream, mulloway, and plenty more are still on the bite.

Gold Coast is a wellknown city for a diverse range of fishing. There are a variety of areas to pick from, there are bass in the hinterlands, kingfish offshore, and plenty of estuarine species on offer.

The start of winter is one of my favourite months to fish, as this is when two seasons clash and a variety of unexpected species are thrown into the mix – it’s

possible to catch mangrove jack and tailor in the same session! I don’t know too many other locations where you can do that. Sometimes we can take this style of fishing and location we live in for granted!

As winter sets in we are seeing good numbers of bream throughout most waterways and the Broadwater, as well as the deeper holes such as the

Remember to use your sounder to scope out the area. Big bream won’t always be under pontoons but in a random area of the canal.

Will Smedley with a couple of keg bream taken from deep water on ZMan 2.5” GrubZ.

Seaway and Jumpinpin.

There are a few ways to catch them, but it’s important to keep in mind tides, time and water temperature, as they play a big role in catching them.

As much as you may think these factors don’t play a big role, they do, especially in winter when it’s prime spawning time.

Run-out tides always seem to work best, in particular the first and the last hour of the run-out; don’t be surprised to catch a mulloway when fishing for bream.

Fish your lures slowly.

Big bream can be lazy at times, especially the larger models. Also, mix it up – at times a blade might

catch twice as many fish as plastics, or vice versa.

Lastly, scent up! Smear your lures in scent, especially on a slow bite.

Overall, July is a great month for a mixed bag.

Braving the cold mornings for that early bite and being persistent is what will catch you the fish. See you on the water!

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29

Head wide for tasty pelagics GOLD COAST

David Green

This month should see the water temperature drop and the current slow. There should still be some pelagic activity on the wider grounds with yellowfin, striped marlin, and the odd blue marlin showing up.

Over the last few years, water temperatures haven’t dropped much in July and most years have remained around 22ºC. We have caught quite a few marlin in July in the past two years, especially if the weather remains calm and there is bait around.

The best area to chase striped marlin is between 150-200m with slightly

smaller lures. Sometimes there are also a few striped marlin on the 50 fathom line over the reef.

July is an excellent time to chase mulloway on the inshore reefs at night. The Pinnacles in 35-40m southeast of the Gold Coast Seaway and the artificial reefs northeast of the Seaway are all good options. Anchor up just

Warwick Isaacson with a decent blue marlin.

on dark and use live baits fished close to the bottom.

Most of these mulloway are between 95-115cm long and are great sport on light tackle and make very good eating. As well as mulloway expect teraglin, tailor and a few snapper. Mulloway are quite responsive to berley and chopped pilchards and fish frames are effective.

Snapper begin spawning this month and most of the bigger mature males take on a vivid reddish orange colour. The 24, 36 and 50 fathom reefs all hold good numbers of snapper this month but the key is to fish dawn, dusk and tide changes. Soft plastics are worth a try but the ever-reliable pilchard is often the mainstay of snapper fishing this month.

At times there are quite a few bonito available in July and, if you get one, fillet it immediately and cut it into strip baits. It is hard to find a better bait for snapper than fresh bonito.

In closer to shore, fishing for snapper tends to be at its best in low light conditions and into the night. It pays to fish very light line on the inshore grounds.

There should be plenty of flathead on the flats this month.

Cobia are another possible target species this month. The inshore reefs

on the 40m line east of Surfers Paradise are worth a look and the low gravel

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patch in 44m of water to the east of the Seaway often holds cobia. By anchoring up and berleying hard, it is often possible to have the fish come to you if you are patient. Large soft plastics, like Gulp Jerk Shads, are effective at times but large live baits like big slimy mackerel, tarwhine, tailor and teraglin are all very effective for cobia. In general, I have one bait attached to a lead close to the bottom and one bait free swimming.

The 50 fathom line fishes well for a wide range of bottom dwelling species this month. Jigged metals, deep soft plastics, paternoster rigs and floatlined pilchards and live baits all produce snapper, pearl perch, kingfish, amberjack, tuskfish and pigfish. A larger deepfished live bait is a good option if you are after larger amberjack and samsonfish.

Overall, July is probably the best month of the year for bottom fishing off the Gold Coast and if the water remains warm there will still be a few marlin out there.

ESTUARIES AND RIVERS

When the cold westerlies start to blow, the fishing generally improves and a lot of fish begin

Marl Frendin with a mulloway that took a soft vibe.

their spawning runs in the estuary. Mullet, luderick, bream and tiger mullet all school up in big numbers around the estuaries and this in turn attracts a range of other species. The flathead fishing improves markedly this month, particularly in calm conditions when the water is clean.

July is the best month of the year to chase big mulloway in the estuaries.

Fish over 120cm are relatively common at this time of year and most of them are caught on live baits at night. These fish usually move into the estuaries on the run-in tide at night and often feed on the surface when chasing mullet. A pretty reliable strategy to try is an unweighted live bait fished on the last of the run-in tide at night. The eddies around the Seaway walls and the mouth at Swan Bay near Jumpinpin are all worth a look, and the ideal high tide is between 7-11pm. If the mullet are around they can generally be easily caught with a cast net. Some really big mulloway turn up in the entrances in July, and fish over 25kg are caught every season.

Bream will start to school up in the entrances prior to moving out to sea to spawn on the beaches.

There can be great bream fishing at the Seaway and around Jumpinpin this month and deep jigging small blades and plastics can be very effective at times. A lot of these winter bream are over 800g with the odd 1kg fish also turning up.

Flathead fishing should be excellent with plenty of fish on the flats, weed beds and in the channels.

Lately we have had plenty of success deep jigging soft vibes in the deeper holes of the river systems, and have caught mulloway as well. Up on the shallow flats the flathead become a lot more active this month and trolling can be the best method to locate pods of feeding fish. I find side imaging very useful as well to locate patches of soft sand and mud and identify the edges of weed beds.

Squid are another tasty target this month. The Broadwater has both arrow and tiger squid. I like to use Yamashita squid jigs brown or orange. Fishing these jigs over weed beds at high tide can be very productive and some of the bigger calamari squid can weigh 800g and make a fine meal.

Overall, July is a cold but a bountiful month for Gold Coast anglers.

JULY 2018

31

Bait loving the cooler conditions SOUTHERN BAY

Nick Whyte

The southern bay has been fishing really well over the last month. As the temperatures have cooled, the masses of bait have moved south.

There has been good mulloway, snapper, whiting, flathead and a few late season spotties and longtail.

With the cooler weather, the juvenile snapper have really come out to play. Working the reef edges with small soft plastics and deep-diving hardbodies has been getting great results. Look for places that jut out in the reefs, as these areas disrupt the tidal flow and cause eddies and ambush points.

Finding the bait is another big factor to finding good numbers of fish. At this time of year, when you find the tailor schools feeding around the reef, the snapper will quite often be feeding under them and picking up the scraps.

The sunken reefs at the northwestern side of Peel Island, the northern side of Mud Island, and Potts Point have all been the standout

spots. Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef has been producing less fish but of better quality.

There’s been some good schools of mulloway around the southern bay and Brisbane River. Plenty of legal fish from 80cm to

areas holding bait have been giving the best results.

In the Brisbane River, the port section is still holding some decent fish, but up river will start producing a lot more numbers.

The winter whiting have been hard to miss,

Richie Lucker took this TT Switchblademunching cod off an isolated wreck. a metre have been reported in recent weeks. The Western Peel Artificial has been fishing well, along with some of the isolated wrecks. Once again, the

and Pelican Banks, Banana Banks and up the Rous Channel have all been on fire. Drifting until you start catching a few and then anchoring up on the school

Nick Hamilton-Smith with a nice southern bay mulloway that ate a 3” ZMan MinnowZ.

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will see good numbers in the boat.

Flathead are in great numbers up on the flats.

Pannikin and Garden islands have been worth a fish, and the best method has been to troll small hardbodied lures around until you find an active fish, before working the area over with a small soft plastics. With cleaner water around at the moment, I prefer to run natural colours.

There has been quite a few late season spotties and longtails down in the southern bay. They’re only in small schools, but there’s certainly enough to target. The longtails have been more on the eastern side towards Stradbroke and around Bird and Goat island. The mackerel have been more down the western side of Peel harassing the baitfish population. It’s worth having a small stickbait or slug rigged ready to go, as they are sporadic.

Bream are starting to show up in massive numbers in their yearly spawning run. Jumpinpin is riddled with them and any area over 10ft of water with

Now that’s a solid feed of Russel Island flatties! good current flow will see fish moving through. The point at Short Island, the hole along the northern side of Curusoa and along Kalinga Bank, are all worth a look. The wharves and rock walls at the mouth of the Brisbane River and also the Amity rock wall will also have great numbers over the next month or

so. To target these guys on lures, try small crab imitations or soft plastics with according jigheads for the depth and current.

If you have a great capture from the southern bay you would like to share, email them through to nick@techfishing.com.au.

Until next month, tech it easy!

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Fishing restrictions in place

along Logan River An infected prawn with white spot disease.

Fishing restrictions are in place around all prawn farms in the Logan River region.

Because fishing near these farms could introduce serious diseases, line fishing is prohibited within 100m of prawn farm water intake and outlet channels and all fishing is prohibited in drainage channels surrounding these prawn farms.

Crab pots, cast nets and yabby pumps can be used in waterways adjacent to prawn farms, unless signage states otherwise.

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

The fishing restrictions apply to waterways surrounding prawn farms

in Alberton, Coomera, Gilberton, Helensvale, Hope Island, Jacobs Well, Norwell, Ormeau, Pimpama, southern Moreton Bay islands, Stapylton, Steiglitz and Woongoolba.

Why are the fishing restrictions in place?

Prawn farms are a high-risk area for aquatic diseases. Fishing in these areas may increase the likelihood of a disease being introduced to the farm if contaminated bait is used.

How long will the restrictions be in place?

The fishing restrictions are in place indefinitely.

Where exactly are the restricted areas?

The restrictions apply to all prawn farms in the Logan River region. A map showing the locations of where fishing is now

Photo courtesy of Dr Ben Diggles.

restricted is available at daf.qld.gov.au/wsd.

What is white spot disease?

White spot disease is a highly contagious viral infection that affects crustaceans such as prawns, yabbies and marine worms.

When found in high intensity production areas, such as prawn farms, white spot disease results in the rapid mortality of prawns.

The virus that causes white spot disease does not affect humans at all, so prawns are safe to eat.

How do I report illegal fishing?

If you see illegal fishing please report it via the 24-hour Fishwatch hotline on 1800 017 116 or phone the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries on 13 25 23 or visit daf.qld. gov.au/wsd. – DAF

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Southern Junior

Tournament tips MORETON BAY

Ryan Smith

If you want to get into fishing competitions, here are some of my first experiences with tournaments, and some tips to make it enjoyable for you and your co-anglers.

Over the past couple of months, a few mates and I have been entering a few small social competitions. A recent competition was the Diztek Dash for Cash in the Brisbane River.

and the boat and gear ready to go, we called it for an early night.

The alarm went off at 3:30 the next morning, and the three of us were eager to fish. Arriving at the boat ramp 45 minutes early so we could have the boat ready ensured that there was no messing about. I always find that if you and your gear are ready before the starting time then you’re one step ahead of some people.

The morning brief concluded and we were the first boat to leave.

pylons and letting it sink, andwatching the line for taps was how we got our bag of five fish and many upgrades.

After a few hours of great fishing with plenty of fish caught, we decided to make our way back downstream with around two hours to go. We stopped off at small groups of pylons that lined the banks of the river, and they held a few fish, however there were no upgrades.

Having set a goal the night before to have a bag with every fish above

The author and his teammates managed to place 3rd in the competition.

The launch point of the competition was Colmslie boat ramp and the kick off time was 5:30am. The night prior to the comp day the three of us were rigging up rods and thinking of a game plan to fish an area none of us have ever fished before. This is something I highly recommend doing for someone wanting to participate in fishing competitions.

Following a plan and not second guessing yourself is important when tournament fishing. With this is mind, we headed to a small section of moored boats on the side of the river and this was our first stop. The three of us all threw lightly-weighted soft plastics that included Ecogear Bream Aquas, ZMan CrusteaZ and ZMan Slim SwimZ. In a short time of 10 minutes, we already

The team had a bag of five fish all above 30cm.

Next thing to think about is where you are going to fish, and with the target species being bream, we all thought to find some form of structure with current running through it. Google Maps is a useful tool when looking at an area that you have never fished before, and we used it to see if we could find some areas to fish. With all three of us agreeing on a game plan for the morning

had three fish measured, photographed and released.

The current began to slow as it reached the bottom of the tide, so we decided to gun it all the way to the mouth of the river and fish the pylons of Fishermans Island. We used similar techniques to before, however bumping up the jighead size to a 1/8oz was necessary. Getting the lure as close as possible to the

30cm was going to be tough, considering it was ourfirst time fishing the river. Listening to a few tournament fishers, they all set a goal for each day and I found it was a great idea.

Even if you don’t complete a goal, it is something to strive towards during the day.

Finishing with a bag of bream all above 31cm had our hopes up for a placing.

We ended up placing third for the day. All the fish were caught on soft plastics on a variety of different jighead weights. The plastics that proved the best were the Ecogear Aqua Bream Prawns, ZMan 2” CrusteaZ, ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ and the Keitech 3” Easy Shiners.

I would like to thank Dale from Diztek for running the competition and supplying the prizes, as well as all the other keen fishos who competed. If you enjoy your fishing and want to give a competition a go, I would highly recommend it as it is a whole lot of fun. If there is one thing that I would recommend to you if you ever decided to get involved in a competition, it’s to prepare all your gear the night before.

Having all your fishing gear and boat all ready to go the night before makes the morning less rushed and you can just think about where you’re going to fish.

Until next month, tight lines and screaming drags.

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35

Tips and tactics for prominent winter species BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

Anglers will now be noticing the prominence of species like tailor, mulloway, luderick, squid, snapper, bream and others. Many of these species will be caught by anglers fishing general techniques and baits, however specific targeting can greatly increase results. If you want to catch more of any species then understanding their habitat, feeding habits and preferences can greatly increase results. Let’s look a little closer at a few of the species, which are highly prevalent during the colder months.

BREAM Although they are a species that can be caught year round, greater numbers of larger bream show up during the winter months. Large silver slabs of bream (often referred to as snowies) come into the estuaries from the ocean to breed. These inshore migrations historically occur on the lead up to the full moon.

In years past, anglers would fish all night to fill hessian bags with glutinous numbers of bream. Luckily these days, anglers are more environmentally friendly and adhere to the reduced bag limits or don’t keep any at all.

Bream have become more of a sportfish and less of a table fish and this has helped to resurrect their flailing numbers.

Bream are a very common species for those fishing the rivers, estuaries and other inshore waters year round.

There is definitely nothing

wrong with securing a feed of tasty bream fillets, however limiting your catch is a good idea to ensure fish for the future, because bream are a very slow-growing species. A 28cm specimen is commonly 7-11 years old, depending on the abundance of food in their habitat.

Due to their aggressive, scavenging nature, bream can be caught on a broad array of baits and lures. While quality baits such as marine worms, yabbies, fresh prawns and fillet strips are the best offerings, baits such as frozen bait shop offerings, chicken fillet, dough baits and even luncheon meats can all produce – more than one thumping bream has been caught by a kid with a handcaster and hook baited with a bit of leftover Christmas ham. Almost any rig can work, however finesse rigging with small sharp hooks, light sinkers and fluorocarbon leaders will heighten your chances, especially with the more wary, larger specimens.

Lure fishing for bream has developed into quite an art form with many new finesse techniques and lures developed over the last decade or so. Soft plastics, micro minnow lures, tiny topwater offerings and realistic crustacean imitations are popular offerings amongst seasoned tournament breamers. The Cranka Crab is a great one for fishing the canals, docks and jetties. Cast upcurrent, let it sink slowly and drift under the structure with the current. Impart a few twitches and the bream will soon savage it.

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Curtis ‘Reggie’ Green with one of the better specimens from a great early season bag. crushing the claws. Clever design has the treble hooks in the Cranka’s claws and hook-ups are usually easy.

Small soft plastics such as curl-tail grubs can be used in the same way and presented to the bream residing under the jetties in the shade as they pick morsels from the underside. These are also ideal to sink into deeper areas such as around bridge pylons and along sunken walls.

Shallow structured areas such as oyster leases and rubble ground can be fished with shallow diving minnow lures rolled just above it.

Floating lures can be paused and allowed to float over any obstructions. Blades and small vibration baits are great for fishing deeper waters such as rock walls, wharfs, jetties and the like. Just put the lure in front of the fish and work it well; it’s often as simple as that.

At this time of the year, efforts are best concentrated around the artificial reefs, mouths of the estuaries and the shallows of the bay islands, however any inshore area can produce. The sunken wall at the mouth of the Brisbane River, the rock walls and shallows of Mud Island, the Bill Turner Artificial, the shallows of the Green, Mud and Goat islands, the residential canals and many other areas are worth fishing.

Bream numbers will be on the increase over the next month or so, so now is a great time to target them.

TAILOR More than a few anglers have tailor on their wish list during the cooler months.

These voracious predators will smash almost anything in their path, however a wellpresented baitfish is a prime offering. Whole pilchards, whitebait, hardiheads, herring and gar plus fillet strips from bonito, tuna and mullet are

all prime offerings. A broad array of lures including chromed slices, minnow lures and topwater offerings will be smashed with gusto.

The open beaches aren’t fishing that well, however tailor can be found around the estuary mouths, shallow inshore reefs, river mouths and rock walls. In the Brisbane River, tailor are commonly taken along the retaining wall at the mouth, Claras Rocks, the sunken wall and lighted areas at night around the jetties, Gateway Bridge and Lytton Road Bridge.

The shallows of Mud Island and Green Island are

Red Beach at Bribie Island can produce some nice tailor on the early morning and late afternoon high tides and can be reached with a short walk. Other areas along the eastern facing beach of Bribie can also be good, however you will need a 4X4 and a permit to access these areas.

Whiting, bream and dart are also common captures from the Bribie Beach during this time of the year. You might even snag a good mulloway.

SNAPPER So far the bay snapper fishing has been fairly good with some decent numbers of quality fish on offer. The

most fillet baits will work well.

Salting your fillet baits will increase their toughness and enable them to withstand the pickers until the larger snapper lurking on the fringes decide to come in and have a crack at the bait.

In the Brisbane River anglers fishing live baits such as herring, mullet and banana prawns will often score quality snapper to over 70cm in length. Live baits are also prime offerings out in the bay, however slimy mackerel, yakkas and gar are more commonly used. Drifting the artificial reefs and rubble grounds with these livies close to the bottom is likely to reap rewards in the form of snapper, sweetlip, mackerel, tailor, mulloway, cod and others.

Lures work exceptionally well on snapper, allowing you to probe waters of all depths and cover broad areas. Mostly anglers use cast and retrieve offerings like soft plastics of numerous types and vibration baits. These are best cast upcurrent and retrieved back with the current. Deeper waters can be probed with micro-jigs in the 30-60g range.

Even when drifting and fishing plastics I will have a micro-jig outfit ready to deploy. If I notice a good showing on the sounder then I quickly deploy the jig to the mark. Jigging around structures on the artificial reefs with micro-jigs can be very successful. Just because you can distinguish a fish on the sounder doesn’t mean that there isn’t one lurking amongst the hard structure of concrete pipes, car bodies and scuttled

A brace of fat Brisbane River luderick that the author tempted on weed baits. worth checking out on the early morning high tides.

Land-based locations such as the Amity Rock Wall, Woody Point Jetty, Scarborough Jetty, Manly Harbour Rock Wall, Gateway Bridge and Victoria Point Jetty are worthwhile checking out.

artificial reefs and shallows of the bay islands have offered anglers easy access to quality snapper. The bait fishers have been doing well around the tide changes when deploying lightly weighted baits close to the bottom. Squid, pilchards, whiting heads and frames and

vessels, ready to pounce on your jig.

Around the bay islands, snapper will roam fairly wide of any structure, especially if schools of garfish, hardiheads and other baitfish are present.

The larger snapper are more likely to be far from structure

close to the surface. At times they may even be sighted attacking bait, their fins and the top of their heads sometimes protruding from the water. A quick cast to any slight surface disturbance or boil will often be engulfed as it sinks.

Drifting the island fringes and casting soft plastics on jigheads (usually 1/6-1/4oz will suffice) is a great way to probe the entire water column and cover a good area. Areas with depth change or prominent structure will often hold greater numbers of snapper, however I usually find the larger specimens a little wider of the main congregation.

A soft plastic with action (such as a paddle-tail or curltail) drifted behind the boat will also produce a few good fish. This is usually fished with the rod in the holder. Due to the ferocity of the strike a rod lanyard is advised. The gentle lift and rock of the boat also helps to impart some subtle action into the plastic. We have got several months of quality snapper fishing ahead of us so you have plenty of time to get amongst them.

LUDERICK With water temperatures now quite low and clean conditions throughout most estuarine zones, luderick fishing will be great. Drifting weed baits along the estuarine rock walls and steeper oceanic

rock ledges is likely to work well. Check out the June issue of QFM for info on all the tackle you will require plus a few hints on targeting luderick.

Basically anywhere that you can find green cabbage weed growing on the rocks is likely to produce a few luderick on the higher stages.

Locally, the sunken wall of the Brisbane River, rock walls at

SQUID Westerly winds have promoted clear conditions inshore and this has increased the numbers of squid lurking along the bay foreshore and shallows of the bay islands. Tiger squid and arrow squid are the two most common with the tigers generally being the more aggressive.

squidder, these will include the rock walls of the harbours and lighted areas around the various harbours and canals.

Night sessions are usually more productive as the squid can be found closer to the surface, however plenty can be caught during daylight hours.

At night, many use highly powered LED head torches to locate squid before they

Bream are common fare in the canals. Jordan Zappala with a few nice specimens taken on Cranka Crabs while casting from his kayak recently. the mouths of the canal estates, harbour walls and around the Gateway Bridge pylons are all worth prospecting. Weed is easily gathered from any pontoon, jetty pylon, buoy or other object that is constantly in touch with the water.

Egi (prawn profiled squid jigs) are commonly cast to likely areas such as weed beds or shallow waters, which flow over reef, rock and rubble.

Squid will lurk in areas where small baitfish and crustaceans can be found. For the inshore

even cast at them. However this can also make the squid somewhat wary and hard to tempt. The higher stages of the tide are generally best, as this is when the water is the cleanest. However I have also had some cracking sessions

towards the bottom of the tide in the right conditions. From a slightly elevated position you can sometimes spot squid during the day.

Casting an egi wide of them and retrieving it with a slow wind and pause or aggressive hops will generally get their interest. Sometimes several squid can be taken from a small area before they wise up and move away. Bird and Goat islands just southeast of Peel Island are well worth checking out towards the top of the tide and first few hours of the run-out.

The weed beds along the western side of Moreton can also hold some quality squid. The Rous Channel and Rainbow Channel will produce both tiger and arrow squid. For some reason in this area I find the arrows can be a bit pedantic as far as catching them on egi goes, yet they will ferociously attack a skewer baited with a pilchard.

This baited skewer combo is also a good option when drifting around the bay islands casting plastics for snapper or drifting the sand flats chasing whiting. When drifted behind the boat under a near neutral buoyancy float, a baited skewer can tempt any squid or cuttlefish in the area. When the float is pulled under, a slow retrieve is all you need to secure your cephalopod prize.

MULLOWAY The Brisbane River has continued to produce plenty of quality mulloway for anglers fishing the reaches below the Gateway Bridge. These have been taken on live baits and lures predominately. A live mullet, large herring, pike or banana prawn is highly likely to get eaten when fished around the dredge holes at the mouth, the holes around the Gateway Bridge or adjacent the numerous jetties.

Snapper and threadfin are always a welcome by-catch when chasing mulloway in the Brisbane River. Lures fished in these same zones can also be highly productive. Quality sounders will allow you to locate mulloway easily and you can sometimes catch a few before they move on.

Out in the bay, mulloway have been taken on lures and live baits around the artificial reefs and a few other locales.

The Peel Artificial, Harry Atkinson and Bill Turner are all worth trying.

CONCLUSION With so much on offer throughout the bay, rivers and estuaries, anglers will be keen to brave the cold conditions to get amongst the action.

Once the thermos is filled, the beanie donned and a few warm layers are applied, it’s time to head out and get amongst your desired species.

JULY 2018

37

Extra flow gets the fish firing BRISBANE OFFSHORE

John Gooding

Around the full moon late in May we had our first real cold snap of the year, and we also had a bit of current come in, after not having too much flow in the water for around a month. That old saying of ‘no run, no fun’ is right on the money. Although we had been getting some solid catches on charter before the change, that bit of extra flow

in the water really got the fish firing for us.

There have been plenty of solid juvenile snapper on the wider reefs and on the days my clients have wanted to live bait, we got solid amberjack in the 4-8kg range along with a few yellowtail king and quality pearl perch.

With the water temperature cooling a little more this month, large schools of spawning snapper should push in on most of our reef systems, and switched-on freespool

fishing anglers shouldn’t have any problem getting their bag limit of nice snapper.

The wider grounds such as Deep Tempest, the 90m line southeast of Tempest, and the 42 fathom line will see good numbers of fish in the 35-50cm bracket caught. However, most of the real quality snapper will get caught on the closer lines of reef such as the 29, 33 and 35 fathom reefs off Moreton Island, and the Cathedrals off North Stradbroke Island. You can still pick up the odd quality

There have still been plenty of amberjack and kingfish around of late.

one out wide but I think the smaller ones just beat them to the bait. When there’s a bit of current around, you can usually get a nice drift along the reef, and the use of a sea anchor will keep you in the zone for longer.

I know I’ve said this before, but if you drop your bait over the side and it falls straight down, you’re fishing too heavy. Lighten your lead up and get a nice angle away from the boat. This will keep the bait up in the strike zone for longer. When there’s a bit of current on, the snapper will sit up higher in the water column as the current brings them tucker. Also, when you’ve had a successful drift, don’t drive back over your drift line. If

A pair of 3kg pearlies that ate live baits. you go wide of your line as you’re motoring you’ll have a better chance of keeping the fish chewing for longer.

For those anglers who like chasing Spanish mackerel,

A bag out of juvenile snapper from the wider grounds.

there will still be some quality winter fish around.

The Flinders Reef area can sometimes fire up at this time of year. Try large troll baits such as bonito or tailor, or any of the larger live baits.

The closer reefs around Point Lookout, such as the One Mile and the Halfway have been producing good mixed bags of reef species of late. If you like a bit of colour in the ice box, it would be well worth the effort.

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

n o e b o t t Wan f o r e v o C the ? y l h t n o M Fishing Do you love your monthly issue of Fishing Monthly?

Do you think it’s about time you were on the cover?

Well, we think that too, and are offering you the chance to do just that. The June, July and August issues of Queensland, NSW and Victoria/Tasmania FMs will all feature readers’ pics on the front covers.

And there’s no reason why it can’t be you...

Entry is simple. Email us your cover-worthy pic. Remember, though, that it needs to be the right composition and resolution to work. After that, it just needs to get through the Grumpy Old Men committee (Steve Morgan and Matt Drinkall) and then BOOM, you’re the latest cover model.

Be creative - we like images that aren’t just ‘person holding fish’.

• • • • • • •

Other parameters of which you need to take note: Portrait format (photo must be taller than it is wide).

Leave enough room for a magazine masthead at the top of of the image.

Leave enough room for the bottom banner and bar code area.

Shoot in the highest resolution your camera can take.

Use fill-in flash to help remove any shadows under caps or biminis.

Live fish look way better than dead ones.

Any fish must be legally captured (within season/size limits).

Head not too high in the shot to allow for Masthead Portrait format

And then email your image to: frontcovercomp@fishingmonthly.com.au with a description of the what/when/where/how of the capture.

Be sure to include your details, too, because we’ll post out a framed copy of the winning covers to the entrant.

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Winter: the good, the bad, and the UGG-ly NORTHERN BAY

Grayson Fong graysonfong@bigpond.com

What’s that sound? Yes, it’s my teeth chattering!

Call me dramatic, but how great is this sudden onset of cold weather that sees some Brisbanites diving into cupboards for their winter woolies like they have never seen a winter before.

For us diehard anglers, we see the sunshine amongst the clouds, knowing that this cool weather is brought on by brisk westerly winds, letting anglers who like to fish inshore and estuaries to get out to their favourite spots. During westerlies, the land acts as a good buffer for the wind, keeping areas like the mouth of the Pine River, Redcliffe Peninsula, Cooks Rocks and Red Beach accessible for anglers, even those with smaller boats. So at this time of year there is definitely no excuse not to be on the water!

Scott Whitfield enjoying some winter breaming.

FLATHEAD Flathead numbers are definitely on the rise as the onset of the cooler weather has started to bring the larger spawners into our

rivers. These are closely accompanied by smaller males, giving anglers a field day when fishing tide lines, run-offs and creek mouths, as often 3-4

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flathead are pulled from one area.

Anglers are having equal success with both baits and soft plastics.

Choosing to anchor up at river mouths and fishing baits is working well, while anglers drifting or moving with an electric motor are using soft plastics to good effect. Good reports lately have come from the mouth of the Pine River, Clontarf foreshore near the newly renovated boat ramp, Shields Street at Scarborough, the mouth of Caboolture River and on the last of the run-out tide the mouths of Ningi and Glasshouse creeks are also good options.

BREAM Bream activity has been really good lately, with anglers being rewarded in both shallow and deeper waters. Numbers have become less widespread and more concentrated as bream start to look at spawning times in these cooler months.

Bream quality has been exceptional over the past month with the increased bait schools fattening the bream up, giving them a good lead into their annual spawn.

There have been good reports coming from all corners of the bay, with fishing being better on the flooded tides at dusk and dawn.

Pumicestone Passage has reported good healthy bream around the Ningi Flats, the mouth of Poverty and Glasshouse creeks and Cooks and Tiger rocks, with the higher tides during the moon phases producing the better fish.

At the Redcliffe Peninsula, try Drury and Osbourne points, The Wells

on the ebb tide, North Reef, the pylons of the Ted Smout Bridge and the eastern side of Woody Point Jetty.

Crankbaits have been the recipe for a good time for the lure fanatics, with lures worth a throw being the Atomic Crank 38 (in the clearer colours), Cranka Crabs, Pontoon 21 Crack Jack 48SP and OSP Power Dunk 48SP. For the plastics throwers, ZMan GrubZ, Plazos, 2.75” Jerk Minnows, Squidgy 80mm Wrigglers and ZMan 4” Curly Tail StreakZ on light jigheads seem to be the ticket.

SNAPPER Good juvenile snapper are still being caught around Scarborough and the Redcliffe Peninsula, with areas resembling Chermside shopping centre carpark on the weekends as both boaties and kayakers jostle to get their slice of the pie.

Bait and soft plastics have both been working well, with bait anglers finding success with fresh, lightly-weighted baits. For the lure rats, not getting your hands dirty and choosing the soft plastic option has also worked

well, with popularity swinging towards shad and minnow style plastics.

Plastics like ZMan 5” StreakZ, Fish Arrow 4” J Splits and Castaic 5” Jerky J Swimmers have been topping the ranks, with the old faithfuls like Atomic 4” Prongs and Gulp 4” Minnows working well as always.

SQUID Wi t h water temperatures on the slide, this is one of my favourite times of the year to chase the dinner table favourite, the tiger squid!

Usually found around the shallower reefs on the Redcliffe Peninsula, this month has definitely seen an increase in numbers, with these cephalopods feeding both on flooding and receding tides.

Slow rolling squid jigs has been the preferred technique of late, but ensure line tension is kept at all times, as squid are often lost when swimming in after their initial few lunges, as most squid jigs on the market are only fitted with barbless prongs for quick removal.

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River anglers cleaning up on winter species!

NOOSA

Peter Wells

Even though the cooler weather has set in, anglers have been braving the chilly mornings and enjoying all that the local rivers have to offer.

Flathead fishing has been outstanding in the Tewantin Ski Run stretches of the Noosa River. The deeper channels around the river mouth have also produced good numbers of fish. Fishing live baits like herring, mullet and prawns close to the bottom on a run-out tide has been the best strategy.

For those who love soft plastics, Weyba Creek and the lower end of the river has been the most productive. Vanilla ice and apple juice Chasebait Curly Baits in the 2.5” and 3” sizes are working well. Whiting have been taken in good numbers with some great catches reported in Weyba Creek and the Noosa River mouth flats. The last of the run out tide seems to work best in these areas. Live

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worms, peeled prawns and squid tentacles have been the go to bait.

Bream have been in great numbers with some really large breeding fish being caught. It is always a good idea to return these fish as they are the breeding fish that ensure future of the species.

Fishing the river mouth and the jetties along the river should see you come across

and the best baits are mullet gut, white bait and pilchards.

Both the Woods Bays have fished well for trevally, tailor and queenfish, with outstanding surface action.

Try lures like Strada Virals, Nomad Chug Norris and Storm Chug Bugs in the low light periods. As the sun gets a little higher these fish will tend to hold a bit closer to the bottom, so give prawn

Amanda Smart got on a charter out of Noosa and headed to the reefs off Double Island. She was very happy with this monster pearl perch.

Noah Brown got this monster queenfish at the mouth of the Maroochy River casting a small slug.

Noah managed the fish on just 12lb braid. some good bream. For the lure anglers, heavy Cranka Crabs in sand colour have again smashed the bream,

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profile soft plastics a go. The new Chasebaits Flick Prawn from River2Sea has been a show stopper, with some outstanding fish taken.

In the Maroochy River the bream are really starting to fire, with the river mouth right up to Bli Bli Bridge producing good fish. Bream over the 30cm mark are plentiful, and they hit like a freight train.

Other popular species have been in good numbers in the river, with trevally, tailor and queenies all beating up bait schools as they come into the river on the rising tide. Areas like the Jet Ski Run, the current line around the tip of Goat Island and of course the pylons under the traffic bridge have all been hotspots.

Flathead have been in good numbers, with the area around Oyster Bank Road working well for the locals.

Quality table fish around the 40-50cm mark have been happy to take small baits like hardiheads, prawns and small pilchards. Soft plastics have also been a popular choice, with pink and red colours perfect for the job. Give the ZMan StreakZ Curly TailZ a go in the bleeding banana and coco ice colours.

OFFSHORE Snapper are really starting to make their presence felt with some quality fish boated over the last month. Sunshine Reef has fished well for pearl perch right on dusk, and there have also been good cobia, tuskfish, big sweetlip and of course snapper.

With the outstanding conditions we get at this time of year, larger craft will do the miles to the Barwon Banks and the Hards, which are both fishing extremely well. The Banks are producing snapper, cobia, tuskfish, Moses perch and pearlies, and The Hards

Offshore out of Mooloolaba, squire and sweetlip have been plentiful with some nice larger snapper amongst them. The Gneerings is the place to be, with anglers that are berleying up seeing the best results. The key to berley is to not overdo it, as you will attract critters you don’t want.

Another reef that’s often forgotten is Currimundi Reef, which holds some great sweetlip, snapper and the odd tusky. Because the reef is quite shallow, soft plastics work a treat. Fishing ZMan scented Jerk ShadZ on light

Stann Anderson got this sweet snapper on a ZMan soft plastic from the Gneerings just off Mooloolaba. have fished well for tuskfish, nannygai, pearl perch, hussar, cobia and Maori cod.

North Reef is another spot on the radar, with cobia, pearl perch, Moses perch, snapper and tuskfish on the chew. Those doing the run to the Double Island Reefs can expect to see big snapper, red emperor, tuskfish, pearl perch, cod and monster cobia.

jigheads has delivered some outstanding results.

BEACHES On the beach there are plenty of good gutters, with large bream schooling up and snacking on passing baitfish.

Add to the mix some nice whiting and tailor and the odd mulloway, and the beach fishers have been having a fine old time.

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Those anglers who have been braving the cool mornings have been picking up some nice tailor at the mouth of the rivers. They are feeding on small baitfish that are brought in on the tide. Rather than bait, give the Halco Spinner a go; it’s perfect for tailor. Cast as far as you can and retrieve at speed. As the lure spins and moves through the water it leaves a trail like a fleeing baitfish, which is the main course for a hungry tailor.

FRESHWATER In the fresh, Borumba Dam has fished well for bass, yellowbelly and saratoga.

The bays and upper reaches of the two main arms have also fished well, with schools of fish holding in the deeper water.

Lake Macdonald has also fished really well. A lot of bass have been taken around the Botanical Gardens and in the north facing bays across from the dam wall. Frys Run in the upper reaches has delivered quality bass and the nearby weed beds have fished well for bass and saratoga. If you are going to fish these areas target the surface as it is more productive particularly at dawn and dusk.

• Don’t forget to check in to www.fishingnoosa.com.au for all the latest up to date info on fishing and bar crossings.

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ADVERTORIAL

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opens on the Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast boaters and ski riders are the big winners with the opening of the Coast’s newest marine dealership, Sunshine Coast Yamaha, at Warana.

Offering a strong line-up of new Stessco aluminium boat packages, Yamaha outboards and Yamaha WaveRunners – Sunshine Coast Yamaha has everyone covered, from the casual family boater and ski rider to the hardcore offshore fishers and thrill seeker.

Located in a brand new purpose-built building, the dealership has been designed around a modern vehicle dealership, with a massive range of boats, outboards and WaveRunners all housed undercover in a family-friendly showroom.

The dealership is co-owned by South African ex-pats Grant Fordyce and Stephen

Dold, who have a long history working together and running a large Yamaha dealership back in South Africa.

Grant Fordyce said, “We set out to design a unique customer experience rarely seen in the marine industry, with lounges, coffee facilities and all our marine products completely under cover.

“Our aim is to make families just as comfortable coming into a marine dealership as the most experienced boater.”

The dealership offers customers a complete one-stop shop, including Yamaha finance and insurance, a state-of-the-art fullservice mechanical workshop, and a strong marine parts and accessories range covering all the big name marine electronics and equipment brands.

“As part of the customer experience we will also be launching personal watercraft ride days which will be open to all ski brands, not just Yamaha. This is a great way for owners to meet other like-minded people in a fun and social environment.

“We will also be offering on-water testing of boats and WaveRunners, which gives our customers the chance to try-beforethey-buy, ensuring they are matched to the right vessel for long-term boating enjoyment,” Grant said.

For more information regarding Sunshine Coast Yamaha contact: Grant Fordyce (Co-Owner) 0477 540 808 grant@sunshinecoastyamaha.com.au www.sunshinecoastyamaha.com.au

Sunshine Coast Yamaha owners Stephen Dold and Grant Fordyce.

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QLD fishery reforms WEIPA

Dave Donald

The collapse of the Northern Territory’s commercial barramundi fishery has been all over the news. The market price for wild-caught barra has dropped over 50% this year Australia-wide and in the process has made the harvesting of that species unviable. While the effects on Queensland commercial operators haven’t been quite as severe due to their fishery being more a multispecies operation, there have been fishers on the Weipa/ Karumba area of the Gulf forced to suspend their netting activities as well.

Most of the media circus has focussed on the plight of the individuals rather than the causes of the marketing crisis. These fishers are doing it very tough and deserve our sympathy but their problems haven’t just come out of the blue. Any Fisheries manager worth their salt should have seen this dilemma coming years ago!

Let’s look at some figures; the Northern Territory barramundi fishery produces approximately 800t of product per year – mostly frozen fillets.

In Queensland, our harvest of barramundi is similar, around 700t – again mainly fillets.

Most of that frozen fish is sent to southern-based wholesale markets in the major centres, then more commonly to restaurants rather than fish and chip shops. Some goes overseas to high-end markets in Asia. In spite of the questionable data being spruiked by some of our commercial fishers, very little of their barra is actually sold locally along the Queensland coast north of the metropolitan area. Where this product goes is purely an economic decision.

Now, compare what has happened in regards to the commercial farming of barramundi over the past 20 years. Members of the Australian Barramundi Farmers Association have been stepping up production of farmed fish in recent years, particularly those based in the Northern Territory. Last year, they produced around 7000t of whole fish and, thanks to a recent injection of funds from the federal government, are expecting to ramp that up to 20,000t by 2025.

A decade ago, farmed barra were considered bland or muddy tasting, but recently significant improvements in farming methods have resulted in a much higher quality product. Market-sized fish are harvested live and immediately immersed in an ice brine slurry to ensure there is no deterioration in flesh calibre, ensuring that the fish arrive in the very best condition every time. This surety of quality,

along with year-round supply and consistent pricing, has endeared the farmed product to increasing numbers of customers in recent years to the detriment of wild-caught fish.

When this uniform quality is compared to the variables affecting net-caught fish, it’s not all that difficult to understand consumers moving towards farmed fish.

With attendance rules at nets allowing fishers to be well out of sight of their sets, fish often end up dead and unbled in gillnets in tepid water for long periods – a situation hardly conducive to the presentation of premium product. Then there have been reports over the years of price gouging by the industry, another reason that wholesalers may be alienated when an alternative supply comes along.

With all these trends and figures openly available, the question must be asked as to why the commercial fishing organizations didn’t see this crisis coming!

Of course, as the TV salesman says, ‘Wait, there’s more!’

Consider the fact that Australia now imports 70% of the fish consumed by the community (and, don’t forget, exports around 50% of our prime wild harvest product).

Price is the key, and in practical terms, this means that most of the fish sold in the major supermarkets comes from overseas, much of it cheap farmed product from sometimes dubious Asian sources. Obviously, this is also going to have a marked effect on the demand for locally caught species, including barramundi.

There have been many complaints from the fishing industry about inadequate labelling of seafood for sale, whether it be local or imported, wild-caught or farmed, and this is a major problem. It’s just another factor influencing the downturn in demand for the NT’s and Queensland’s barramundi. Many consumers would probably favour wildcaught fish over farmed ones but without a compulsory effective labelling system are not really given the best information to make an informed choice. The industry itself must take some of the blame for not pursuing this anomaly aggressively.

The bad news is that commercial netters of barramundi Australia-wide are currently facing an industry crisis that threatens to shut down their livelihood at least for the foreseeable future.

If there is anything good to come out of this situation in Queensland, it’s the fact that it has happened before the Fisheries Reform process has been finalized, and this should add a very important tangent to the process.

In the NT’s case, their move towards encouraging recreational fishing tourism to that state by excluding commercial fishing from large areas now seems to have been an extremely timely economic initiative. Even if the commercial barra fishery output is severely impacted, the increasing revenue from the tourism sector will stop their economy taking too much of a hit. Couple that with the prospects of their major barra farms tripling production in the next 5-6 years and their situation looks very rosy indeed.

Over here in the ‘smart’ state, there are now plenty of extra issues on the review table. Our fishing tourism industry has been hamstrung, undermined by a Fisheries structure completely at odds with tourism development centred around recreational and charter fishing – no short-term prospects there!

Add to this the fact that the development of our fish farms have been forever bogged down in red tape and unwieldy regulations and the probability of Queensland quickly salvaging the economic loss resulting from a wild-caught barramundi market downturn is looking very poor indeed.

However, there are some positives to come from the situation. Now would appear to be the perfect time to reduce the number of nets and licenses along the east and Gulf coasts (as the NT started to do over 20 years ago) to try and give any remaining fishers some sort of long-term viability. The crash in barramundi prices will be reflected by a similar plunge in commercial net license values, so the need to establish a buy-out is urgent.

Conversely, there needs to be a major shift of focus in Fisheries and political circles concerning the development of recreational fishing tourism in our state. There is no use promoting fishing as an activity unless there are plenty of fish to catch. This message has been falling on deaf ears in Fisheries and tourism departments for decades. There is no need to look further than the state to the west of us for confirmation of that statement.

As mentioned last month, the effectiveness of monofilament nets is now being questioned worldwide as stocks are being depleted on a monumental scale. Maybe the greatly improved techniques in barramundi fish farming are about to replace their use in tropical areas of Australia.

Another scenario would have a small boutique wild fishery with a very limited number of nets supported by a high-end marketing promotion.

The Fishery Review has plenty to think about here!

Short-term manoeuvres are definitely not on the agenda.

JULY 2018

45

Hervey Bay still red-hot HERVEY BAY

Dane Radosevic

Slip on your winter woollies and stoke the fireplace, as it looks like we are set to experience quite a long and cold winter. Fingers crossed this should see water temperatures drop below 20°C and prompt the snapper to migrate inshore from out on the shelf, so we can all get to experience a red-hot snapper bite.

A few whispers have leaked that the Burrum Eight Mile Reef has been producing some nice snapper early on in the season, with grunter and school mackerel amongst the by-catch. Bait fishers have had the greatest success, undoubtedly due to the smaller and more sporadic patches of fish. As the snapper begin to congregate and school up in these areas, working soft plastics and micro-jigs will become a very effective method. The 25 fathom area around this time of year typically starts to hold larger numbers of fish, and the afternoon bite on dusk is renowned for producing some incredible specimens.

The grounds off Rooneys Point such as Red Neds and the Coral Patch have started to see promising schools of yakka move, which should have snapper hot on their tails. As they work their way further into the bay, the closer grounds off Wathumba will start to attract bigger numbers of fish. It’s hard to beat

floatlining a pilchard, pencil squid or a live yakka down a berley trail, however for the lure addicts working a ZMan 5” Jerk ShadZ or 5” Curly Tail StreakZ in coconut ice or electric chicken will pay dividends.

A variety of quality pelagic species have also been terrorising the bait balls in the same areas, with queenfish, golden trevally, tea leaf trevally and some exceptionally large cobia being amongst the mix. Most of the successful anglers have taken the time to sound out the desired area and located the larger schools of bait and larger predatory species before peppering the

Who doesn’t like seeing gold? Corey with a Hervey Bay golden trevally. area with a mixture of soft plastics and micro jigs.

It has been hard to predict what the weather is going to do based on previous years, with some unseasonal behaviour from the wind. For the majority of smaller vessels, it has been difficult to find a patch of good weather to

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venture offshore, although for the larger charter operators that have been able to punch their way out, the fishing has been fantastic. From recent reports, the shallower reefs have been producing some quality mixed bags of green jobfish, sweetlip, red throat emperor, tuskfish, cod, nannygai, Maori cod, snapper, jacks and the odd red.

Pearlies have also been a welcomed catch for the punters, with consistent numbers being caught out on the shelf. Depths ranging from 120-160m seem to be holding the larger schools of fish. Pelagic species such as kingfish and amberjack often roam these same depths in

large numbers. Kingies love to intercept your baits on the way down. Jigging metal jigs ranging from 150-300g can be a good technique to get you hooked onto and punished by these brutes.

The Southern and Northern gutters by most reports have been hit and miss, however a feed has been achievable.

The majority of the catch has been sweetlip, stripey, tuskfish, cod and the odd trout. Spanish mackerel and cobia have also been found on the ledges of the gutters, as these are holding the larger masses of bait. The predators have been intercepting dead baits and soft plastics on the fall, however they are suckers for a live pike or yakka if you wish to target them on bait.

For most, the inshore waters have been the best opportunity to wet a line with the consistent winds blowing.

Mackerel have been a viable option, and good reports have come from those targeting them, with school and Spanish mackerel terrorising areas including the Fairway Buoy, NU2 beacon, Moon Ledge and Six Mile Arch Cliffs. Float lining or setting a bottom bait with a pilchard or live herring is a very simple yet effective technique that will get you hooked onto a few speedsters.

The upgrades to the River Heads boat ramp have aided in the launching and retrieving of vessels and it has been getting quite a work out. Mulloway have been congregating in large numbers around the rocky outcrops and headlands, and targeting the

Jamie Lineburg took this solid lizard while working the gin clear flats with a soft plastic. back eddies with live squid or soft vibes has been rewarding most anglers. Their numbers should continue to increase throughout the Straits, with areas such as Kingfisher Jetty, Ungowa Ledge and the coffee rock ledges all being worthy prospects.

At this time of year we often have a run of chopper tailor that move in and terrorise the herring and hardihead populations around the main river mouths including the Burrum River, River Heads and down throughout the Straits. Locating them is often made easy by staying observant and watching for the schools of baitfish breaking the surface as the tailor them up and gorge themselves on the helpless prey. Most reports thus far have come from the mouth of the Burrum River, with some solid models to 50cm being caught on a variety of baits and lures. A rapidly retrieved soft plastic, metal slug or small hardbody will all work a treat, however an early morning topwater

great results. Flathead are often a welcome by-catch while working these areas, and can test even the most experienced anglers on the lighter leaders.

I always pack a few 2.5 size squid jigs in the tackle box at this time of year, as it is common to come across a patch of squid while fishing throughout the bay and down the Straits, although this year so far has been challenging, with the majority of anglers working hard to get a bag of half a dozen squid per trip.

Time will tell if the drop in water temperature will make a difference.

We have had a reasonably patchy start on the winter whiting, with reports of some anglers bagging out in an hour some days and others struggling to catch a feed, however whiting have finally turned up in quite large numbers off Gatakers Bay, with the area directly out from Eli Creek and towards Toogoom producing the better catches. Very few reports

Even with the dropping water temperatures, clued up anglers can get stuck into a few solid deep water trout. session using small walkthe-dog stickbaits can provide some great fun.

Dust off the silly string outfits and bring on the finesse drags! Bream have started to congregate in certain areas more so than others, with the rocky flats and outcrops around River Heads producing some quality fish, along with the southern flats of Big Woody and various creek mouths scattered throughout the Straits. Smaller soft plastic presentations rigged on light jigheads is a very simple yet effective technique. Slow rolling small crankbaits and twitching the ever-popular Cranka Crab also produces

have come from areas such as the NU2, the southern side of Big Woody and down the Straits as yet, however as the season progresses we should see more schools migrate into

these areas. As usual, small pieces of squid, prawns and worms have been working a treat, and artificial worm imitations are becoming quite popular as well.

The iconic Urangan Pier has been fishing quite well for those targeting pelagics, with school mackerel and grey mackerel being the main target species, taking both live baits and spoons. The annual winter run of mac and longtail tuna shouldn’t be too far off, with a few early season reports of schools sighted working bait out off the end of the pier.

Bream are starting to stack up in quite large numbers around the pylons of the pier, and are best targeted with cubes of fresh herring. Early morning or late afternoon sessions and into the night have been producing the better quality fish, with some people reporting 20 fish or more in a session. While fishing the pier at night during this time of year, it is well worth leaving a live bait out on the heavier gear, as mulloway are a viable target species, as they also stack up along the pylons.

There have been limited reports from the eastern side of Fraser Island, however as more anglers venture across on their annual trips we should get more up to date reports.

Expect to encounter whiting, tarwhine, dart and flathead while fishing the gutters with worms or pipis. It is relatively early days to make any accurate predictions, however expect to encounter the first of the annual tailor soon, which can be best targeted with a running ball sinker rig to a set of gangs. Pilchards are the preferred bait. Casting and burning back 60-100g metal slugs is also another productive technique to experiment with.

Ben Ryan with a solid cobia he caught whilst hopping a soft plastic around a bait ball.

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Offshore and snapper fishing RAINBOW BEACH

Ed Falconer

Weather conditions still have plenty of room to improve but the fishing remains great.

Offshore we have had a brilliant run of pearl perch with many bag-outs of these beautiful table fish. The pearlies haven’t been fussy and are taking all kinds of bait and soft plastics. The bigger fish are falling to the plastics.

Snapper are also becoming more active, and the good news is you don’t have to travel far to round up a nice catch. Again, soft

A great pair of coral trout caught on the Keely Rose.

plastics are attracting the quality fish. Other species on the bite include coral trout, scarlet perch and loads of tuskfish.

On the beach there has been some great fishing, particularly if you target flathead. There are some nice big fish to be caught.

Soft plastics and hardbody lures are working well.

The highlight in the Great Sandy Straits is definitely squid, with huge catches of these guys recently. Prawn-type jigs are doing the trick. July is one of my favourite months, especially for snapper, and going off last year it’s the best month for these great

Jeremy with some beautiful pearl perch – a common catch for this time of year. sport and table fish.

• To enjoy a day on the water with Keely Rose Fishing Charters phone

Ed Falconer 0407 146 151 or visit www. keelyrosefishingcharters .com.au.

Bundy has best of both worlds BUNDABERG

Jason Medcalf topwater@bigpond.com

Queensland certainly got an early winter blast last month and the locals really felt it. By the locals I mean the fish, although we humans were certainly rugged up against those cold westerlies. So with winter set in, it’s time to target the more temperate species that move into our area with the cooler water temperature. This is why Bundy is so great to fish, as we do have the best of both worlds.

THE BURNETT RIVER The Burnett has been producing some great fishing lately and this won’t change any time

soon. The only thing that will change is the species, and the water will get clearer and cooler. The grunter that have been a regular catch for the bait fishos will still be around this month, but as the water clears you may have to switch to lighter leaders and live yabbies or prawns to get the good ones.

We will see the bream move in and start to fatten up as they get ready for their spawning run, and they too will take live offerings and fresh bait on light tackle.

The mouth has seen schools of small tuna chasing baitfish and they have had both Spanish and school mackerel with them. Trolling lures or baits around the leads should see you get into some great pelagic action.

WOODGATE The prawns have been on again at Woodgate, and this really gets the boats moving.

Just remember the possession limit on prawns is a 10L bucket.

The Gregory River has been producing some nice whiting, bream and flathead around its mouth and as the weather cools this should only improve.

Upstream there have been some nice grunter caught mostly on bait, but there have been a few keen anglers getting them on soft plastics.

Theodolite Creek saw a lot of traffic last month, but this should have recovered by now, so pump some fresh yabbies and chase those whiting and flathead on the flats as the tide rises.

Off the beach the whiting, dart and flathead have been

regular captures and, surprise surprise, fresh prawns seem to be the gun bait.

OFFSHORE The weather has been very patchy, but there have been a few windows where the big boats have managed to get amongst the reef fish.

Coral trout, red throat emperor, hussar and tuskfish have all been on the menu and with the exception of the trout, they should all keep biting during June.

The wrecks offshore have plenty of cobia and Spanish mackerel on them at the moment, and live baits have been best. The sharks have been giving anglers a hard time in the last few months, but as the water temperatures drop, hopefully they will move around a bit and give us a chance to get

The area around the mouth of the Burnett has seen plenty of mackerel chasing the baitfish schools. the big fish to the boat.

I saw a great tip for those guys using messy bait like cuttlefish heads, and that is to take ziplock lunch bags with you and once you have broken open the block, divide the bait

up in the bags and put them back into the esky. This way, they stay fresher and if you don’t use them they can just go straight in the freezer when you get home ready for the next trip.

Barramundi will be an easy target in July LAKE MONDURAN

Rob Howell

With winter now upon us the barra will head to the shallows to keep warm, making them an easy

target at this time of year.

Given the right weather conditions these barra will bite, as they school up in big numbers at the backs of windward bays and on shallow points.

When approaching

Big barra are a definite possibility this month.

48

JULY 2018

these areas you need to exercise as much stealth as possible so you don’t spook them.

LURES Small shallow diving hardbody minnows and suspending minnows are very effective through winter. Rapala X-Raps, Shadow Raps and Storm Twitch Stix and Thunder Barras are good diving minnows.

When it comes to suspending lures, I’ve had good results on the Jackall Squirrel and Smash Minnow in the boney and pink eye suji colours.

Jigging soft vibes like the Zerek Fish Traps has also been another successful method used lately.

If the barra are playing hard to get, bass are also a great target species through winter. There are a couple of different options to

Stealth is the key to catching big barra.

choose from when chasing bass. Bass will school with the barra through winter, so one option is to target shallow points and bays, the same way you would barra.

The second option is to find the bass suspended in deeper water, and the best way to catch these fish is by using live shrimp. Live shrimp can be found in and along Monduran’s vast weed edges, and can caught using opera house traps.

There’s something for everyone at Lake Monduran. Besides fishing, there’s kayaking/canoeing, water skiing, bushwalking, exploring, photography and visiting local attractions.

For further fishing info or accommodation and camping enquiries, email us at info@lakem.com.au, visit www.lakem.com.au or phone 07 4157 3881.

Glassed-out conditions great for small boats GLADSTONE

Liam Jones

Winter has brought with it those cool westerly mornings and glass-out inshore conditions. This has opened up the opportunity for those with smaller trailer boats to venture out for the morning chasing inshore reef species and the abundance of pelagics that turn up with the cool weather.

Spotted and school mackerel are as thick as I have seen them in a long time. From Cape Capricorn, the north entrance and down to Bustard Head all the usual spots have been holding fish.

Throwing chrome slugs is accounting for most of the fish once located. Remember the bag limit in these guys is only 10 per person. It’s quiet easy to sit there and catch as many as you want once these guys school up, so keep an eye on the number you’ve kept and only take enough for a feed.

The Spanish have turned up alongside the spotted and school macks and the big fellas have moved in with the schoolsized fish. Over the past month several over 30kg have been

bit of weight to them like the Shimano Ocea Pencils, Zerek Zappelins and Yakamito Sub Minnows. They can generally be found throughout the harbour and through the entire shipping channel if you don’t want to travel far.

GTs are out in force crunching big stickbaits and poppers on all the usual spots.

They have been in good numbers on most of the outer shipping channel leads so long as they’re holding bait.

Keeping them away from lead once hooked is the big challenge. These fish know exactly where the safety of the lead is and will head straight back for it after crunching a lure at a rate of knots. Big reels and quality drag systems are a must when chasing these brutes!

On the reef the largemouth nannygai have been on fire on the inshore rubble patches, wrecks and wonky holes. Anglers who spend the time sounding over several bits of ground and actually finding the more congested schools have been rewarded with better catches than anglers just going to spots where they’ve caught them before and waiting for a bite.

hard they will rise to within 10m of the surface. I’ve even heard reports of them busting the surface in 40m of water.

Anglers arrived on a school thinking they were mackerel or tuna only to be rewarded with large-mouth nannygai hitting the deck one after the other.

Red emperor have been on the chew around the full and new moons on the wider fern grounds, Big baits like whole hussar fillets and whole big squid have been

and fern patches in 50m of water or more.

In the harbour the blue salmon have turned up in schools and seem to be a bigger-sized fish on average than in previous years.

Natural coloured soft vibes and suspending hardbodies are doing the trick at the moment. Any rubble or rock patches with moving water are holding the fish. Finding the bait and energised water is the key to finding these fish in Dylan Garlando with a 29kg Spanish caught on a slow trolled wolf herring. starting to produce big flatheads in numbers. These fish should begin to school more and more as they spawn over the winter months. Small natural plastics like Keitech Easy Shiners are my favourite along with deep diving hardbodies like the Zerek Tango Shads.

As we move into the next month expect the pelagics to remain and the salmon and flathead numbers to continue.

It really is a beautiful time of

This is the fourth juvenile red emperor landed in the marina in the past three weeks. It’s refreshing to see how healthy the harbour is with these guys turning up regularly.

Les Jones with a black jewfish caught on a fresh whole squid. landed with an absolute beast of a fish at 37kg being landed by local angler Jimmy Muir.

It fell to well-presented gar rigged on one of Jimmy’s homemade wogheads. Jimmy is one of those anglers who’s always tinkering and altering rigs to get the best performance. It seems he got it right with this one!

The bigger fish have generally been falling to trolled wolf herring or school mackerel rigged on a chin guard and a set of number 9/0s or 10/0s ganged to suit the size of the fish. For an informative video on how to rig your wolf herring for the best performance, scan the QR code on this page.

Longtail tuna are schooling up in very close with some massive schools busting the surface in the mouth of the Boyne River over recent weeks. Stand-out lures have been slim stickbaits with a

Nannygai can look quiet interesting on the sounder at times and once you’ve fished for them for a long time you can generally tell when they are schooled straight away. At times when they are feeding

picking out the bigger fish from the school-sized reds.

Surprisingly over the past two or three months I’ve been seeing more and more reds fall to slow pitch jigs.

Whether this is due to the fact there are more and more anglers fishing this style of fishing or because we are adapting to suit the needs of different species with our techniques, I don’t know; it’s certainly not something I’m complaining about and neither are the anglers landing big reds on light jigging gear. The crew aboard the charter vessel Mikat have become experts at this over the past year and are at the stage where they won’t even use bait when drifting those isolated bommies

Jimmy Muir with a 37kg Spanish caught on a trolled gar only a few miles from the harbour.

numbers rather than the odd one or two.

Reports are the hot water outlet is beginning to fire with a couple of 1m+ fish being landed already. There are plenty on 70cm fish getting around, but I think everyone who fishes the hot water outlet fishes there in hope of landing that big 120cm that it has become renowned for.

The key to this is big baits and big lures. Happy Rock Softies Big Willy has become a favourite for anglers over the past few years due to its big size, weight (so you can cast a long distance) and the fact it can be worked at such a slow roll. Others that work well are Castaic Jerky J shads in the 7” and Lunker City Shakers from 6” all the way up to the big 8” models.

Black jewfish are still hanging around in the harbour in all your likely spots. Once again the key to a reasonable day on these is fresh baits.

Squid, cuttlefish heads and fresh mullet are the standouts.

Whiting schools are turning up throughout Colosseum, Seven-Mile and Turkey Beach and can be found on most shallow yabby beds. I had an absolute ball a few weeks ago using small poppers in 1ft of water catching them one after the other. That day the 50mm Shimano Risepop in the clear was doing the damage!

The same areas are

year in our region for boaties and fishers with the cool, calm mornings and plenty of quality fish to go with them.

• For more information on what’s biting, or to stock up with all the tackle and bait you need, drop into LJ’s Compleat Angler Gladstone at the Gladstone Marina on Bryan Jordan Drive. You can also check out the latest news, photos and specials at Facebook Compleat Angler Gladstone.

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Prime weather for fishing in CQ ROCKHAMPTON

Clayton Nicholls clay94_fishing@live.com.au

Over the past month the weather has been exceptional and allowed many anglers to push out to the reef with ease. It seems the only issue lately is the parking facilities at the Marina.

The king threadfin fishing in the Fitzroy keeps getting better and better, as the water stays clear and the prawns are running. The river is also producing a good amount of other species like barra and grunter. Out along the Capricorn Coast, you can also expect a good variety of species from queenies to jewies.

THE FITZROY The river has been going strong, as is usual for this time of year, with king threadfin being everyone’s key target. Finding them is fairly easy with the aid of good electronics, and sitting on the school working soft plastics and 95mm 20g soft vibes of various brands have been very successful methods.

A good selection of jigheads

The author with a 75cm flathead caught up one of the local creeks on a Savage Gear 20g soft vibe in purple haze.

you head up to the typical marks like Finlays or just fish lures around Double Heads, they seem to be in good size and numbers just about everywhere.

There have been goodsized trout caught at the Keppel Group on the shallow reef areas, and 5” soft plastics have been doing the trick.

The squid have been holding around the Keppels and will pick up with the next full moon. Some killer jigs lately have been from the Yamashita and Molix stables.

The islands have had some great baitfish activity, with many large schools holding over rises and structure.

is required when fishing with plastics. I take with me heads from 3/8-3/4oz, and this allows me to fish the plastics at any stage of the tide. As always, the lighter you can go the better.

The barra have been holding tight to the rocky structure but can be targeted with the same lures.

The blue salmon can be easily found schooled up in the channels, and fast-worked soft or metal vibes are a great

This chunky blue salmon was a first for David Roberts, and a stonker at that!

Matt Hildebrandt with a nice barra from one of the local creeks. This one went 64cm, and was a lot of fun on bream gear.

way to target these fish. If live baiting is your preferred method, there is a good amount of prawns in the river that are a great bait size, and rigging these through the tail and sending them out with a light weight will do you well.

INSHORE REGIONS Keppel Bay has had some great fishing opportunities lately, from mackerel and GTs to squid and coral trout.

There have been showings of jewfish around at the moment, and whether

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Troy Newman was put onto his first thready in the Fitzroy, and this one was taken on an InFish vibe.

ESTUARIES The flathead have certainly been on the move, with some large models being caught. A great place to fish for these is any drop-off in creeks and any of the channels out in the mouths of the estuary. You just need to think of where a fish can sit easily waiting for bait to go past, and chances are there will be a flathead laying there.

Another way of chasing these fish is doing a low tide inspection, and a great example of this is the mouth of the Causeway. At low tide you can walk around the sand and see where they lay on a higher tide; they leave very distinctive marks in the sand.

Bait lures the predators YEPPOON

Scott Lynch ifishcq2@bigpond.com

After the cool snap early in June the temps didn’t drop as much as we wanted them to. Snapper normally come into the bay after a full or new moon as soon as the water is cool enough, and we know when they’re coming because they start to turn up in catches of reds and nannies just out from Yeppoon. They come into places like Conical, Outer Rock, Forty Acre and Man & Wife. Light gear is your best option, and baits like pilchards, prawns and fresh

flesh strips are the top choice.

Snapper respond very well to berley and can come quite close to the boat when it is quiet. Mashed pillies and bread are my favourite berley, and a frozen 1kg lump can last over four hours in a berley pot, letting out a small, steady stream. Plastics, bucktails and octos are all pretty handy and can get the fish going when they are slow.

We must be due for a good run of nannygai. They have been around in small quantities and by now the bigger schools should be moving into the closer grounds up the coast.

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You can then come back at high tide and lure them up.

There are two lure types that anglers have had good success with on the flathead lately, and those are 4” soft plastics and 20g soft vibes.

CRABBING Crabs have been running well, with many captures of big bucks around the Narrows and Curtis Island. Leftover reef fish frames make great crab pot bait. GPS tagging your pots can be very useful for deterring crab pot thieves. You can delete the marks when you are done, and you can save the good marks and start working out patterns to further improve your crabbing success.

Renee Shaw with an 83cm barra that took out the Biggest Senior Barramundi title at the Corio Classic.

have increased in catches at a number of local spots including Findlays, The Barge, The Rama and The Pinnacles. Quartz and Cape Capricorn are also well worth a try. With better sounders and structure scans, finding local wrecks has been much easier and they all seem to hold jew, grunter or nannies at times.

Squid, pillies, prawns and flesh strips are the best baits. I have been trying more vibes offshore but the places I have been fishing lately aren’t very lure friendly, especially with swinging hooks, and my lure tray is looking a bit empty.

The moon phases play a big part in the number of grunter around, and a few days before or after the full and new moons is the best.

Like jewies, night time is the right time. As soon as the sun drops or the moon pokes over the horizon it triggers the bite period.

Grunter are a fairly lazy fish and will hide under, behind or in front of structure so they can hold their position with little effort.

Most people will anchor so they can fish the eddy at the back of a structure, but I prefer the pressure wave at the front or on top of To page 51

A great mix of reefies is keeping anglers happy STANAGE BAY

Von Ireland

Visitors are always welcome at Stanage Bay to explore, fish and crab the estuary, rocks, beaches and islands.

In the estuary anglers have found monster muddies, barra and big bream, and on the reef there has been a pleasant mix of coral trout and coastal (bar-cheek) trout, cod, trevally, grassy sweetlip and a few red emperor with scatterings of nannygai.

The Stanage Bay road is always a talking point and needs plenty of respect at the moment. With the dry weather and loads of traffic, both in and out, the corrugation is beyond funny. Find your sweet speed and try to stick to it, which is very hard, as the potholes are always growing bigger.

The grids are still a challenge, so please slow down upon From page 50

the structure’s leading edge.

At one particular spot just offshore from Yeppoon the grunter sit in a line right across the top, facing towards the current. Their only movement is sideways or up as a bit food passes.

Barramundi do the same thing at one particular bridge in Gladstone.

There have been lots of black jew around from the town reaches of the Fitzroy River to the inshore

There’s been plenty of action out on the reef. comes up, however.

Jew tend to circle the holes or structures with almost monotonous regularity. If you get to a spot and you can’t locate them straight away, you only have to wait a bit and they will pass.

The spells of good weather have arrived and so have more schools of bait, and with them even more pelagics. The lesser mackerel are finding form around the area, and any time that the weather plays the game at the moment there

Mark Thompson scored this top eating stripey at the Keppels. grounds. Usually in winter when we get that first drop in temperature they begin to school. Spots such as The Pinnacles, The Corio Heads, Double Heads and Iron Pot are the pick at present. Any of the headlands with a deeper hole are likely areas to try.

Several of the local plastics guys have been picking up decent size jew in the Fitzroy while vibing for barramundi.

Either side of the moon phases, on and after dark are the best times as a rule.

The bite definitely gets a bit later each night as the moon

will a fair supply of them at many of the closer grounds.

Stevensons Point, The Rosslyn Bay Harbour wall, The Bluff Rocks, North Keppel, South Keppel, Forty Acre Paddock, Conical Rocks, Outer, Man & Wife, Half Tide Rocks, Rita Mada, Iron Pot, Farnborough, Bangalee, Claytons, The Septic Tank, Pelican, Wedge, Divide, Cave and Quartz are all perfect spots just offshore.

Barren, that bit further out, has doggies for longer periods than the other spots, but these fish don’t always hang in the same area. Whenever we see

schools of bait on the sounder the first thing we do is to throw a couple of Flashas or Taipans out. Time after time you will get a follow straight away. Then it pays to have a floating pilly out while you are bottom fishing, or persisting with the chromies.

The huge school of king threadfin salmon in the Fitzroy has broken up into lots of decent schools from Nerimbera, past Gavial, then right up into the town reaches. The schools are working sections of shallows and channels feasting on the massive amount of jelly prawns covering the bottom of the river. Threadies will take live baits and lures, but sometimes getting them to look at anything that isn’t a jelly prawn can be hard. They may take vibes for a while, then switch onto small paddle tails and then onto small prawn lures. If you don’t keep changing your gear you can miss out completely.

Similarly, I found that what I thought was the perfect action soon needed to be changed also. It really pays to vary your retrieve with longer pauses, or change your speed from slow to very slow. Often the kings will ignore a moving lure in favour of a lure that is lying still on the bottom.

For a change, the many boats fishing for threadies are picking up barramundi as a bycatch instead of the other way around. Most of the salmon are released with only the odd one taken for a feed.

Barra continue to be found in reasonable numbers. They have dropped off from the previous hot months though, and you need to work a bit harder for them. I think that winter gets you trying different methods and styles, and probably improves your skills. The majority of the barra caught at present in town

approaching and crossing each grid. It may take a little longer to get to your rental, however you will arrive in one piece.

All the predictions in the last report came to fruition, and the future should shine too. Expect to pull in huge monster muddies, threadfin and blue salmon, better-thanlegal barramundi and 40cm bream in the creeks in Thirsty Sound estuary.

You can expect to catch your limits of most reef fish around the islands, reef and wrecks. Head north to Sail and South Sail for coral trout and mackerel. Try trolling or usingdead bait, depending on the time of the tide.

Heading south, don’t forget about some of the creeks of Shoalwater Bay and Oyster Creek at this time of year, as they can be awesome for big blue salmon. If you’re happy to have loads of fun with catch and release for juvenile reef

fish, try Head Creek. Check with the army prior to your adventure and make sure it is open to the public. If you want to experience the closest thing to heaven, set your GPS plotter and camp for a few nights at the Percy Isles. There is a charge for camping, so please ring Kate or John, at Percy Island.

have been slightly smaller than the summertime metre fish, but there have been more big fish down from town. The smaller systems around the area are going quite well, with definite shorter bite periods, as expected.

Flathead are on the chew everywhere, and the average size seems to be larger than in previous years. The flatties are right up in the shallows, and we have been scoring good strikes in 200mm or less of water.

I don’t go with the ‘action instead of colour’ theory that some guys have, as I have found that flathead will go for a particular colour on a particular day. I don’t know what determines the exact colour, but time has shown that one day they will take virtually nothing other than pink, and another day it will only be gold, and so forth. I always take my few favourite lures in several colours, and try varying depths and colours until I find a standout.

That’s the one that usually works all day.

• Book into your Stanage Bay rental – all the rentals are set up for fishers and are budget priced – bring some camping gear with you and spend a night or two on the islands. Many fisher rentals

are continually improving.

Once it used to be simply the basics, however now it’s about the amount of toilets, fishcleaning areas and parking, not to mention the closeness to the boat ramp, pub, fuel and tackle shop. Call Von on (07) 4937 3145 or email stanagebaymarine@bigpond. com for any further queries on

Several goldspot cod have been caught recently.

Stanage Bay. Until next time, enjoy the photos. For more pics, find them on the Stanage Bay Marine & Accommodation Facebook or anywhere on the web.

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51

Comfortable, dry weather improves fishing MACKAY

Keith Day habdays@bigpond.net.au

So here we are in the depths of winter and as I put this report together we have had a few cold nights, but daytime temperatures have been between 20 and 25°C, which is great fishing weather, with little wind and plenty of sunshine.

July will see more coolish weather and around the full moon local anglers will be out in force. No, they won’t be chasing barra in the dams, rather they will be haunting local hotspots seeking black jew. Mackay Harbour has been a regular haunt for jew anglers for well over 50 years and still produces the goods during winter, but there are now areas which are off limits.

Unfortunately for shore-based anglers, the south breakwall is closed to all traffic except bicycles but you can still park, gather your gear and hike out to the end of the wall.

Small boat anglers can easily take up a position near the end of the wall at the small bay on the dogleg. Plenty of jew are also caught along the seaward side of the south wall, but to fish there at night the

weather has to be kind with little wind. The jew are mostly caught at night on either live mullet, whiting and the everreliable squid.

Slade, and Flat and Roundtop islands will all produce fish if the weather is flat. Further north around Newry Island is another fairly handy spot for the small boat angler, while further offshore Prudhoe Island and the North and South Overfall rocks are renowned jew spots.

Also on the saltwater scene, there are good size queenfish working bait schools off the harbour walls and the mouth of the Pioneer River. The queenies will work right upstream with the tide in the river, and many 8-10kg fish are scored off the fishing platform near the Base Hospital. Live baits and lures account for most of the queenies. Smaller models are also available and are heaps of fun on light gear.

There have been a few grunter caught in the river over the last couple of weeks, but the best runs of grunter come later in the year.

The Pioneer River continues to serve up good numbers of whiting with a few genuine elbow slappers among them. Yabbies can be pumped in the river and also over in

The NFZ is proving to be a boon for grunter like this one Tyrell Ahwang caught using a Gulp Shrimp worked over a rubble bottom close inshore.

Bassett Basin, and they are rarely ignored by whiting. The best trick is to secure bait at low tide then move upriver with the tide. Fish a spot for about 20 minutes, then drift up a short distance and again anchor up. That way the angler stays in touch with the schools of whiting. Around Cullen Island between the bridges is possibly the most reliable spot in the Pioneer.

The Net Free Zone is still throwing up good fish and there are still a few barra being

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caught with the relatively hot days. Seaforth is right in the centre of the NFZ, and regulars reckon it is the best fishing they have had in the area for 20 or more years. Solid feedback on the worth of the NFZ and the fishing will continue to improve as years roll by.

Barra are still moving around the district waters, and one has made a monumental journey. MAFSA Inc released a tagged 257mm long barra above Marian Weir on the Pioneer River on 27/09/2015.

952 days later and after growing to 660mm long, the same barra was caught in the centre of Rockhampton in the Fitzroy River some 450km south of Mackay. That’s quite a swim for a small barra! And the tag returns are turning up interesting growth rates and fish movements. That particular barra was again released by the Rockhampton angler, so it may yet turn up elsewhere and provide more info on its travels.

There have been a few windows of calm weather lately and these should continue off and on through July. The calm weather has seen an early run of longtail tuna up off Seaforth and out from the harbour. While some of these fish are juniors, there are enough 8-10kg fish among

them to make life interesting.

Small slugs and trolled hardbodies are accounting for most of them, but soft plastic stickbaits are also scoring well.

Again these longtails will hang about while the winds are calm and the bait schools are in close. They are normally around from midyear to about Christmas before heading off south, so anglers will get plenty of chances at them over the next few months.

The small mackerel are yet to put in an appearance, but won’t be far away, as the same bait schools that attract the longtails also bring in the macks. The small mackerel are a bonanza for the tinny anglers, but I urge anglers to run with a self imposed limit of three fish, as that will give plenty of good feeds and when you run out there is a readymade excuse to go chase some more. It doesn’t take long for the word to get around when the small macks are here, and a visit to a local tackle shop will get up to date info.

For the bread and butter species, Mackay’s winter gives anglers good choices of species. I have already mentioned the whiting in the river, but they are found in all our creek systems and also along our beaches and estuaries. They are quite

prolific and can be caught on very low-tech gear. A yabby pump will provide plenty of top quality baits, and a light rod, simple rig and a bit of wading in the shallows should turn up a feed or two.

Pikey bream will be into their breeding cycle shortly and they get fairly aggressive and will bite freely on baits and lures. Pikies generally like to hang in the snags while silver bream are more often found in open waters. Both are top tucker, but watch the minimum sizes and the bag limits.

Flathead were fairly quiet coming into winter, but I expect there to be plenty of lizards about during July.

Steelbacks will also be around in the creeks and estuaries and provide some fast and furious action. Using light gear on these little speedsters ramps up the fun factor, and although they’re not the best eating fish in the sea, bled straight away and iced down they are quite acceptable.

King threadfin and blue salmon have been about, with the blues being more commonly caught. Because they school, the blues can be picked up fairly easily on a sounder and it is usually mayhem before the school moves on. Again they are not the greatest fish on the plate, but looked after and with care in the prep and cooking they are not half bad.

The freshwater scene has gone a bit quiet with the change to cooler weather, but the barra and sooties still have to eat whether in the dams or the river. The best times are hot still days, just make sure you fish a couple of hours before nightfall while concentrating on shallower and warmer water. It’s not impossible, but it’s definitely challenging fishing and good fun for those prepared to put in the effort.

If you like lovely warm days around 20°C and relatively cool nights, then head to paradise and join us.

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52

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Catches plentiful when conditions allow The only real hindrance to the fishing over the last month has been the pesky southeast trade breezes, which have been relentless, and on most days they have limited fishing opportunities to the inshore grounds close to home. We are so lucky here at Hydeaway Bay that these are offshore breezes and that we still have plenty of quality sheltered water to enjoy a fish in.

Over the last month catches on the shallow

WHITSUNDAYS

Mick Underwood

I got the Spanish mackerel monkey off my back early this year, with first-time client on Reel Addiction Jake Kerr landing a cracker in shallow water.

Here at Hydeaway Bay, to say that the last two Spanish mackerel seasons have been tough would be a ridiculous understatement.

However, this year everything is looking good

making up for it.

Hunting around on our inshore rubble patches has been producing scores of school mackerel that have provided plenty of clients with a tasty dinner or two.

Mixed in with them have been some XOS golden trevally. I just love these fish, and they are perfect for introducing people to light tackle sportfishing.

July can be a great time to be out and amongst it, as long as the weather gods shine upon us. Being the

It’s pretty cool introducing kids to sportfishing. Here’s Jamie proudly holding up his son Luke’s first big goldy.

This golden trevally fell to a hard lure. for a bumper season. The water temperatures have dropped nicely, big schools of herring have begun to gather together inshore, and plenty of big pelagics have moved in with them to enjoy the scaly smorgasbord on offer.

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A

R

reefs have been dominated by some nice coral trout, which is great to see. The grassy sweetlip, which normally snap their heads off in the cooling water, have been noticeably quiet this year, but thankfully the coral trout have been

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peak of the trade breeze season, we will have to rely on getting a few calm days to make it out to around the outer edges of the islands to get at the better fish. Out on this country there will be a plethora of pelagic options on offer. Both mac

and longtail tuna will be around, as well as multiple species of mackerel and trevally. A few little black marlin have already began to make their presence known, so it would be nice to think that we’ll get a couple of those as well.

I have no doubt that the Spaniards will be at the forefront of most anglers’ minds, as they are just a brilliant sportfish and when a hunt is successful, the results are plentiful and tasty. There are so many ways to target these speedsters, but trolling ribbonfish or garfish are age old favourites and I envisage that that’s how most locals will be trying

netting off the beach at Cape Gloucester, and I intend to rig some of the better specimens as light swim baits to run off the outriggers. Off the short corner and downrigger lines, I’m going to tow some big fat school mackerel also rigged as swim baits.

My reasoning for doing this is that even though trolling ribbonfish is a well known big fish winner, they need to be trolled so slowly and it takes forever to cover any likely looking country.

By switching to trolling a combination of herring and school mackerel, I’ll be able to zip around at 4-5knots and home in on any active fish a lot faster.

and reefy patches will come to life and provide anglers with plenty of opportunities for some tasty table fare. In amongst the culprits on offer there will be jewfish, nannygai, grunter and golden snapper (fingermark) to name just a few. Muscling up big reefies from the depths is loads of fun, but it does put plenty of strain on tackle, so good gear preparation is paramount to success with this style of fishing.

To avoid disappointment, make sure that your drag systems are running smooth, your line and leader are fresh and in good nick and that there are no flaws in your knot tying

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59 HUNDRED

The shallow trout fishing has been pretty consistent recently. Sarah got this pretty one on a strip bait.

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to get their share again this year. On Reel Addiction I intend to break the mould a little this season and try a couple of different baits. Just recently a good mate and myself caught some huge herring cast

I’ll be sure to let you know in a future issue how things go.

Out around the outer edges of the islands, big pelagics will not be the only viable targets. The deeper rubble, weed, fern

technique. I find that the best times to target most of the above-mentioned species are when the tide has plenty of run in it.

Around slack water I find that a lot of these fish clam To page 57

Phillips Camp flathead back on the bite AYR

Steve Farmer

Regular readers might remember that last month, my daughter Aimee and I had missed out on luring up a few lizards at Phillips Camp because of murky water conditions. As we headed home totally fishless that day, I predicted that in a couple of weeks things could be different. I’m pleased to say I was right.

Two weeks later Aimee and I returned, accompanied by my son Matt, for a session luring the flats. The change wasn’t spectacular. The water wasn’t as clear as it could have been and the morning

started quietly. We flushed a number of lizards and Aimee and Matt landed and released undersized bream and flathead. I couldn’t even raise a fish and for a while it looked like I was going to be outgunned by my offspring. Slowly the fishing warmed up, possibly due to the tail-end of the rising tide, which is usually our preferred time to lure for flathead.

We ended the short session with five keeper duskies between the three of us. Ranging from around 44-55cm in length, they certainly weren’t trophy fish, but we still ended up with a couple of feeds of tasty flathead fillets in the ice box – a lot better than we had managed just two

short weeks earlier.

Flathead numbers and sizes should improve over the next few months across Burdekin estuaries and beaches. Most baits – yabbies, prawns, slabbed or whole baitfish and particularly small live baits – will produce a lizard or two, especially if you keep the bait moving slowly across the flats.

The old flatty is often equally casual about which lure it ambushes.

Small, diving hardbodies, soft plastics, metal slugs and flies will all take fish with varying effectiveness on different days. I reckon if the lizards are lying in shallow water a surface lure could also be dynamite, especially early

Matt lured up and released a small bream early in the morning.

From page 56

up and in particular the largemouth nannygai, which locally are one of our most abundant deep water species.

If you don’t have access to a boat, or if

tearing around the ocean isn’t your thing, then you won’t be left out this month, as there will be shore-based options aplenty. The beaches around the Cape Gloucester region are well known for

in the morning or late in the afternoon, or maybe even after dark.

However you like to get your fishing action (lures, baits and variations of each), flathead will often be pleased to accommodate you.

The flathead’s running mate, the whiting, is also a popular target at this time of the year, but these fish have been a little patchy over the past month or so. Anglers reported some quality fish around mid-May, but catches have tapered off in sizes and numbers lately.

Hopefully this will improve over the next few months.

The number one tip for catching quality whiting is to use freshly-caught yabby baits – no surprises there!

What has been surprising is that the fishing grapevine tells of a number of mangrove jack taken across the delta, with the Burdekin River, Phillips Camp and Morriseys Creek all featuring in the gossip.

However, by the time you read this, jack numbers should be well down with the winter chill. It’s hard not to have a flick at any enticing structure you might come across, so good luck.

The bluewater scene has been pretty quiet over the past month, mainly because of consistently strong southeasterly winds.

The Seabreeze forecast has been flatlining at 20knots+ for the past three or four

The flathead weren’t trophy fish, but they were an improvement on the previous session luring the flats. weeks at least, keeping the annual run of Spanish mackerel safe from Burdekin anglers.

July should be a good month for the macks, provided we get a few windows of that magic North Queensland winter weather. Keen mackerel fishers have their boats fuelled, tackle tuned and blocks of pillies in the freezer just waiting to go.

When you do manage to get out on the bluewater, remember that whales will be sharing the watery highways with the

Spaniards, so keep an eye out, enjoy the spectacle and stay a safe distance from them.

We are yet to feel winter’s true chill, which might explain the number of barra being taken from the freshwater reaches of the Burdekin River.

The details are carefully guarded secrets, which is fair enough! I can’t tell you where or how they were taken. However I do understand some were up in the 80cm+ range and they looked to be good, clean fish.

holding good numbers of squid during winter.

Dingo Beach, Hydeaway Bay and Nelly Bay all hold good flathead and it doesn’t really matter which one of our local beaches that you go for a wander

A few dark and gloomy days haven’t bothered the golden trevally. Ebony snared this one on a soft vibe.

Lee Tapian, a visiting angler from New Mexico, with his first ever coral trout. This nice 4kg model fell for a soft prawn.

along, there’s normally a school of whiting lurking somewhere nearby.

I might be a bit biased but in my opinion the Cape Gloucester/Hydeaway Bay region boasts some of the most user-friendly

and picturesque beaches in North Queensland. When I can get a few moments away from a busy charter schedule one of my favourite things in the world is grab a light spin stick, a pocketful of soft plastics and just simply

go for a stroll along one of our many beautiful beaches. It cleanses the mind and helps to imbed an appreciation for just how special our backyard really is. I call this therapy fishing.

JULY 2018

57

Pelagics and barra are the cooler targets in July TOWNSVILLE

Dave Hodge

Cooler nights and windy days have dropped the water temperatures quickly, and those winter species are now really making their presence felt. Offshore the mackerel and tuna are on the move and some big specimens are being taken on all of the normal techniques. Trolling wolfies is accepted as the most widely used technique for targeting the Spanish, and the smaller doggies and school mackerel are considered the best bait for targeting true trophysized Spanish.

While using a 70cm doggie mackerel for a troll bait may seem wrong to some people, the facts are they’re thick and just part of the food chain, so it’s a very effective way to chase the monsters.

I concede that mackerel

The water temperature has dropped considerably and this is the time to break out the light gear and small lures – 6lb braid and 20lb fluorocarbon leaders are perfect.

CLOSER IN Once this weather stabilises a little bit and the wind backs off, smaller 4-4.5m boats will be able to get out in the bay more regularly. With the size of some of the grunter that have

If you’re targeting barra on the lighter tackle, it’s sometimes best to head for the shallows when the sharks are bad. This one just made it to the net in time, and the slice down its side is evidence of how close a call it had. can be annoying when you’re chasing deeper dwelling species with plastics; it’s not uncommon to lose a dozen plastics and jigheads or even more over a day on the water to these damn things. Pelagics aren’t my favourite eating fish either. Still, they’re one of the most popular fish in the north, and there are plenty of people getting excited at the moment with the numbers and sizes showing up. Spanish up to 30kg+ have been reported, and there are massive schools in some areas.

Apart from smashing trolled baits, they have been taking deep jigs, cast slugs, and trolled lures.

Longtail tuna are about in schools also, and are taking small 20-60g lures. These surface speedster species used to be able to be targeted on the smaller gear for sport, they are now best targeted on heavier gear to try to beat the damn sharks.

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JULY 2018

been showing up, anglers will no doubt catch some great fish.

Over the last couple of years there has been a lot

of interest in grunter hunting with plastics, and we often go out in search of them when the weather is good, and the conditions just right. The best tides and times are a debate that I’ll leave for another time.

When it comes to what lures and techniques work the best, I’m a big believer in the jellybean theory, not just for grunter, but many of the winter target species, including flatties, barra, jacks and the mentioned grunter.

It’s all about getting the head weight just right with the softie size so as to be able to keep in contact with the bottom, but still have a lifelike presentation. For example, if we’re in an area that we think is holding fish, we’ll often throw a small 3 1/4” paddletail or 4” prawn imitation lure on a 1/4oz jighead. The hook size has to match the plastic size to get a reasonable hook-up ratio, so it’s usually a 1/0 to 1 size hook.

Personally I like the Atomic Seeker jigheads with the ‘H’ for heavy gauge hook, as you don’t know when that oversized barra is going to suck it in. Winter is often associated with clearer water, and this is usually a great time to use the more naturalcoloured plastics, particularly in the shallower areas where the sunlight penetrates more

Big black sooties like this one pull hard on the light gear and often slam a lure like a jack. Hopping a small 40mm Atomic Semi Hardz vibe brought this one undone.

brightly. The deeper you go, say 4-5m+, the more fluoro colours are used, such as bright pink.

Barra are as much a target species in winter as they are in summer, just with smaller lures. Obviously, you can’t throw tiny stuff on heavy line, so you’re going to have to break out the light gear for them too. Leaders and their appropriate breaking strains are another typical topic of debate, but I usually stick with a rod length of quality 20lb fluorocarbon leader.

The simple fact here is that the more strain you put on a leader, the easier you’ll rub thwrough it in the sandpaper-like jawline of barra. With light line and limited maximum pressure achievable on the light gear, leaders actually hold up quite well. If you do have

When it comes to shallow water hardbodies, the Laser Pro 120 is a good option. Worked slowly and just under the surface it can get a great response.

This one has been customised with Trick Bitz Scale transferred to match the water colour. anglers ‘in the know’ don’t usually like talking about it.

This is supposedly because the fewer people who target barra in winter, the more fish there are for fishers with the time and gear to target them.

While far from rare, it’s still surprising when you get two fish on the one lure. In this case it was the specialist sooty colour, the blood red Scorpion 52mm, and it came on the young fella’s first cast for the day. issues, add about 6” of 30lb bite leader.

Barra don’t have too much stamina and the more hurt you put on them in the initial stages of a fight, the more they’ll give you back, so smooth rod work with light line stops them from panicking as much and heading for the snags. Let them do their fighting out in the open, because the more they run, the more they tire.

It will amaze you how many decent fish get landed on this cobweb-type gear.

Where they’re going to be sitting is the hardest bit of the game plan to sort, but on the times of lesser tide run, the 1/4oz head can be used in 0.5-4m of water effectively.

Simply cast up current and allow it to sink, then work the lure back towards you with the tide flow. The bite will be the normal ‘thump’ from a barra, and hook sets need to positive and firm with the light gear so it sinks to the barb, ensuring it doesn’t fly out during the fight and subsequent jumps and head thrashing.

Winter barra fishing with light line has long been a thing that has been left out of the press, and those

I disagree with this though, because those anglers who take the time and spend the money on quality tackle to take the light line route are usually sportfishers, and are mostly into catch and release anyway.

The one thing I will say is that the light line thing is best done in the shallows, as the sharks are now thick in the rivers as well. As with offshore, the longer you have to fight a fish, the more likely it is to get eaten. I have lost a few approximately 70cm fish to the bloody sharks over the last few trips, along with some close encounters.

If you are losing fish to sharks, target the fish in the shallower areas if you can find them.

You will often encounter bigger flatties in the same water as the barra, and it’s these cooler months that deliver the most consistent flathead numbers. The size also gets bigger on average in winter. There’s no need to change the gear though, as the same stuff outlined for barra is perfect for the flatties as well. The last of the run-out tide is the best, and any small drain is prime.

That 3m radius around the

entrance of the drain is best.

If the tide bottoms out but still has around 30cm of water that starts to clear and settle before the incoming tide, you may want to have a go at the flatties on surface lures. It’s not the most effective way to target them, but it is one of those personal challenges that you may spend a long time trying to achieve, just because you can.

Catching flathead off the surface is actually more achievable than you might think, and a surface stickbait walked across the flats and around drain mouths can get intercepted by what is normally regarded as a soft plastic or diving minnow target. The usual lures and techniques can get a bit mundane sometimes, and setting yourself a challenge such as a flathead on surface can give you a long-term goal to achieve.

Setting these sorts of fishing goals will sound stupid to some people. I’ve had people ask me why I make fishing harder, and it’s simple really: I like the challenge of succeeding at something out of the ordinary, especially if I don’t need a fish for the table.

Challenges are fun, and get us thinking outside the square a bit. Winter is a great time to have a go at this sort of thing because the areas that are more productive stand out much better in the clear waters of the cool months.

Now is a good time of year for the tourists to break out the camera gear and get some pics of the resident crocs that will be laying up on the mud banks at low tide soaking up the rays. Keep an eye out at least a couple of hundred metres in front of you as you’re underway for the best photo opportunity and have the camera ready, as most crocs will bolt back into the water if you go past, turn and come back.

There are some stonkers around our local waters, but don’t get too close for the picture if you’re in a smaller boat, as some will get very aggressive if they keep being interrupted during their sun baking.

Find those fish and stick to them like glue!

HINCHINBROOK

Ryan Moody info@ryanmoodyfishing.com

I’m so glad I’m not doing fishing charters anymore, especially in recent weeks, but I have to feel sorry for my brother out there in what seems like constant 25knot windy, rainy, cold weather. Welcome to the world of fishing charters brother! But I have had many a time over the years when it has been like this. Sometimes, it is the last place you want to be and quite often the fish think the same, as they try to get used to the changing seasons.

Winter brings with it so much more instability than the warmer months, and this plays havoc on the fish. Sometimes a 20-30knot wind front can cool the water by 4°C overnight and even more over a couple of days. It can take a couple of weeks of sunny days with light winds to get that temperature to rise again, and this explains the constant battle anglers are having in the north at the moment.

Bite periods become shorter and less frequent during the

School-sized jewies frequent the golden snapper spots at times and make for a nice surprise. winter period as well, so it’s imperative to get to know your target species inside out and get ready for the smaller periods of activity.

One advantage in winter with barra is that they aggregate more readily, but sometimes that also means they will be in fewer areas.

When they are finicky, try live prawns for bait, but if you prefer lures I like the Keitech Swing Impact FAT. I managed a nice metrey just a few hundred metres from the boat ramp after observing some telltale big barra criteria happening. It just goes to show once you

know the signs, you don’t have to go far.

My brother Ian Moody has been getting some nice school size barra for his clients too, and has been practicing being patient with fish. As I said before, you have to be where the fish are and be ready for the shorter periods, and that can be tricky at times, even for experienced anglers. Ian has also been catching the odd black jewfish while targeting golde snapper (fingermark).

I have had a couple of my golden snapper students doing pretty well at night, but reports from

the daylight hours have been less favourable. The golden snapper are generally caught through the winter when they aggregate in numbers like many demersal species do, and targeting them can be easy, but everything has to be in your favour. A 25 knot plus wind does make it hard to fish the open areas where these fish hang out, so here’s hoping the weather settles somewhat in coming weeks.

Just before the rubbish weather arrived, we went and had a play with the pelagics around the headlands and while they were in good numbers, so

were the giant bull and bronze whalers. After losing the first few, we left them alone. There’s no point in continuing to fish with that many sharks around as you are just wasting good fish for nothing. This has been an ever-increasing problem in North Queensland.

I know what needs to be done, but I try and stay out of the politics these days.

In July I would expect the reef to really fire up and I’m looking forward to some jigging trips. The making tides up to the moons should get most species ticking, especially

The result of a bit of observation was this 102cm Hinchinbrook barra.

the coral trout. The only downer could be more bad weather, but I’m sure we will get some breaks.

The inshore Spaniards will be around the islands in numbers too, and some of these fish reach the 30kg mark and over! The bigger ones can be an eating risk unfortunately, as ciguatera can be common in fish that size. Even Spaniards around 15kg have been known to carry the disease too!

Estuaries will remain patchy, being good at times and difficult at other times.

My advice is to fish hard in areas where you do find fish and wait for the shorter bite periods instead of racing around trying to find other areas. You could easily miss a bite period while doing this.

• You can learn about bite periods in our free online workshops, or to get the complete roadmap on finding barra, we have a special mid-year intake happening for our course Barra Basics for the first week in July. You can take a look at all our courses and sign up for our free workshops and online presentations at www. ryanmoodyfishing.com/shop

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JULY 2018

59

Marauding mackerel will be the main target CAIRNS

Garry Smith garrysmith@fishingmonthly.com.au

The constant southeasters have kept small boats off the water for most of the time since the big wet finished.

The few times recreational boaties have managed to get outside have proven fruitful, so once the weather pattern settles there should be a flurry of activity and fishing action after months of little pressure on fish stocks.

Large charter boats have braved the conditions at the reef with good results on the usual suspects like coral trout, largemouth nannygai and red emperor. Mackerel

have been around in good numbers for those who have braved the winds to pursue them. Estuary fishing has slowed with the sharp drop in water temperature, although mangrove jack and golden snapper continue to be caught.

The first sign of a flat weekend will see a mass of boats head to the reef, with the very limited boat ramp facilities in the Cairns area stretched to bursting. When the first good weekend in a while comes along, be prepared and head out well before daylight to avoid the queues and mayhem at the boat ramps.

The sea surface temperature off Cairns dipped

Mackerel, especially Spanish like this beauty, are the most popular target species at this time of year.

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SEASON

5

to 22°C in late May, two months ahead of schedule, and continued to drop in early July. Normally it doesn’t get below 23°C until July. This sudden and significant drop in water temperature will have two effects. Firstly, the tropical species, especially barra, will become much harder to target, while the typical winter species of bream, mackerel and reds will become more active. If early indications are anything to go by, it should be a bumper mackerel season off Cairns.

The few reports that have come from the reef indicate that the reds are schooling up in the deep water and trout are feeding well up shallow. Less common species such as reef mangrove jack, Robertson sea bream, long-nosed emperor and Moses perch should also make up the padding in the catch.

The ever-present and underrated spangled emperor will also be around in good numbers. While spangled emperor, in most northern anglers’ eyes, aren’t the best table fare, they are very flavoursome fish. The issue arises with some fish being very tough and there’s no real way of telling the good from the bad. The indicators of quality spangles I use are size and colour. Generally, fish under 2kg or light coloured specimens are quite soft in the flesh. If unsure, sliver your fillets down to a maximum of 5mm thick before cooking.

Even if they are tough, the thin fillet makes them quite palatable and the flavour is right up there.

Mackerel, especially Spanish, are the most popular target species this month and most anglers with a boat and plenty who are land-based will be trying to nail their share of these silver bullets.

Land-based mackerel fishing in the Cairns area is pretty limited, with Palm Cove Jetty and the outside edge of Trinity Wharf the only spots that regularly produce mackerel for non-boaties. To be in with a chance from these locations, you need a number of ingredients to coincide: clear water, which pretty well means light winds as well, sardine schools and a high tide. The making tides on the weekend of 7 and 8 July and

IS HERE!

Every Saturday 4.30pm on 60

JULY 2018

the full moon tides on 28 and 29 July will be your best bets, if the winds are down and the water is clear. Normally the new moon tides are best for mackerel, but because of the massive run on the evening high tide, which hits 3.3m on the night of the new moon, the water will be dirty because of the current stirring up the mud.

Out wider in boat territory, the new moon weekend of 14 and 15 July will be the best weekend to chase mackerel.

The land-based anglers just need the schools of sardines to also be around and they are in with a good chance of nailing a mackerel.

The other ingredient to increase your chances is the bait. Without live sardines or another live bait caught onsite, your chances are minimal, unless they are really going off, which does happen occasionally. Catch your sardines using a bait jig or cast net and swim them out under a float, if you’re using a few rods. If you are just using one rod and actively fishing, it’s better to toss the live sardine out with no sinker or float and let it slowly sink to the bottom. If you leave it too long, it will sink into the mud, if there is little current.

Trinity Wharf usually has plenty of run, except on the turn of the tide, so it’s not such an issue there.

When rigging your bait, a small single hook through the shoulder or in front of the tail will allow the sardine to swim more naturally, but I have found you miss a lot of strikes using this set up.

Boaties will have a myriad of choices of where

Less common species such as reef mangrove jack, like this ripper caught by Ben Fielding, should also make up the padding in the catch this month. to chase mackerel, from the Trinity Inlet channel leads, to the inshore wrecks, reefs and islands, out to the reef and beyond. The only restriction will be the wind. The methods of attack are also as varied as the locations, but some tend to do better than others.

Trolling whole wolf herring, gar and mullet are certainly up there, but trolling live baits is another level again.

After that it is drifting live baits, either in the current or with the boat, and then comes floated dead baits.

Luring is another popular and very effective plan of attack, with everything from soft plastics, soft and

This is a good way to rig live sardines so they swim reasonably well, and maximise your chance of a hook up.

hard vibes, jigs, slices and hardbodied lures all having their day in the sun, at various times. Trolling with a spread that covers various depths and lure sizes is a good starting point, until fish are located.

If fishing specific structure, like wrecks and pinnacles, it is often better to anchor up, berley and toss lures. Don’t under estimate the power of berley to bring mackerel in and get them on the bite.

Cobia, trevally, tuna and queenfish will also be around and can offer a lot of fun and variety to your catch.

Sometimes they can be the dominant species at a location and don’t allow the mackerel to get a shot at your offering, which can be frustrating if you are chasing a feed. Cobia are good eating, but the other species mentioned I rate below mackerel on the table.

They are quite edible though.

Fishing for more tropical species will be slower, but still an option. I prefer to go chase barra and golden snapper on those calm, warm, winter days. It only needs a slight lift in water temperature to bring on a bite, so don’t give up on these species during winter.

It’s just a matter of being a bit more selective about when and where you target them.

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Bigger catches caught in colder conditions PORT DOUGLAS

Lynton Heffer www.fishingportdouglas.com.au

The reality of winter was very apparent recently with cooler days and overcast and windy conditions prevailing.

Water temperatures plummeted and the fishing changed, particularly for our rivers and estuaries.

Notably some fish slowed right down overnight, including barramundi and to a certain degree mangrove jack and golden snapper. On the other side of the coin, species such as big bream, grunter and mid-sized trevally seemed to be everywhere and have turned into a dominant catch.

Bigger queenfish at the river mouths and deeper sections of the system also relished the cooler conditions.

Suspended live baits have been very successful on the queenfish and trevally, with surface poppers offering some action as well. With the water often dirty, smelly dead baits have been best for your bream and grunter and still enticing enough to coax out a mangrove

jack or two. If you want to catch a barra, revert back to small soft plastics or lures and fish the shallow banks or mangrove edges that have received the most sunlight.

Barra are always looking to nestle somewhere slightly warmer in temperature.

Along the coast, our inshore reefs and wrecks are brimming with nannygai schools, trevally and island trout, and the mackerel family are very familiar with the same spots. If you can coincide your day off with some nice, calm weather, you don’t need to travel too far to enjoy an action-packed day. Keep it simple for the bottom species; try a paternoster rig loaded with a combination of pilchard and squid to offer a bit of resistance.

For your mackerel it’s a must at this time of the year to have a floating gang pilchard suspended out the back of the boat. If you start to sound up what appears to be mackerel schools, jigging a metal slice down the water column will pay dividends. I’ve experimented with all sorts of different coloured slices but

Fraser Allen unexpectedly caught this 25kg giant trevally on Dragon Lady Charters while targeting nannygai in the deeper water. have found that something that is predominantly silver in colour will out-play all others.

The outer reef has been ticking over very nicely with all species firing on all cylinders. Deep and shallower water hangs are producing fish, and it can be a mixed

bag of fish that you bring home. A typical day on our charters will see coral trout, nannygai, spangled emperor, trevally, stripies, sweetlip and a mackerel or two come back to the docks. Other species to add a bit of spice have been cattle dog cod, cobia and in recent

times we have seen a lot more long-nose emperor.

On the pelagic scene the Spanish mackerel are swarming the outer reefs harassing bait schools that have pushed up against a pressure point on the reef or on an isolated bommie. If stationed,

you can’t beat a live fusilier under a float; they simply can’t resist them.

Being on the move and trolling will see you catch better numbers and experience double hook-ups. Mixing up your spread is key to establishing the depth where they are holding. If you are able to run three or four outfits, you’re best to run a deep diving hardbody lure, a shallow diving lure and one or two skipping garfish on a woghead assembly. You’ll soon work out what the preference is on that particular day.

An extra bonus at this time of year for pelagic fishers is the arrival of the juvenile black marlin on our wide grounds. They have been here since late May but are now starting to peak in numbers. It can take a bit of exploration to find them, but the key is to find concentrated bait schools in a current line.

Plough the area over and you should come up trumps, even possibly catching multiple billfish.

As one door shuts another opens up – that’s the beauty of fishing in the tropics.

Persistent anglers are finding quality fish the creeks of the NFZ and small minnow style lures like ZMan Diesel MinnowZ cast tight to snags will be the

CAIRNS

Dan Kaggelis dkaggelis@gmail.com

The winter months are always a tough slog in the creeks and rivers in the NFZ as the colder water temperatures cause the fish to feed less.

Bite windows become shorter, which means less time to convert those bites. Anglers who have persisted have still caught some awesome fish, including some cracking barramundi.

The inlet seems to be the most consistent place to find barramundi and a good sounder is a muchneeded to tool in this system. Over the cooler months I spend a lot of

months; they are great fun on light line and taste pretty good fresh. If you can locate these fish, you

Spot locking using the Minn Kota over schools of barra is a great way to hook up in winter. time cruising these rivers staring at the screen of my Humminbird Mega looking for larger concentrations of both fish and bait to target.

Blue salmon are bread and butter at this time of year.

Barra in particular seem to school tighter during these cooler months in the NFZ systems and when you find them it’s a simple matter of spot locking over them with the electric motor and targeting them using small plastics or vibes.

Using light line is also a way to get them to bite as the more natural the presentation, the better.

Sometimes it can take a couple of hours for them to switch on, so you will need to be patient. The Barron River has also been producing some large barramundi around the bridges on the same technique. Live baits are also worth a shot at this time of year and prawns and small mullet are a very good option.

Jacks are also on the menu for anglers fishing

Big jacks are on the cards using small minnow-style plastics. best option. You will need to get right into the timber this time of year so weedless rigs are the go and strong leaders will be needed to keep connected. These fish prefer a slow simple roll retrieve at this time of year, so keep it simple. You may also need to put in multiple casts, so take the time to work over snags using spot lock.

The other species that will be in abundance, especially off the beaches will be the blue salmon.

Blue salmon are one of our bread and butter species up here during the winter

can usually get into some pretty good numbers.

Special mention must go to the Cairns Fish Stocking Association run by the John and Jennifer Mondora who put in over 1000 barramundi into both the Barron and the inlet in June. This will bring a much-needed boost to these systems, which have limited catchments, which in turn limit the recruitment of barramundi numbers.

The other good news is that the Cairns Recreational Fishing Strategy has been drafted, which I have been a part of. This will bring a muchneeded boost in funding and strategic direction to our fishery, especially the NFZ. Stay tuned for this draft to be made public and to have your say.

This down imaging shot from the Humminbrid Mega is what you want to be looking for to target barra in the NFZ during the cooler months.

JULY 2018

61

The going gets a little tougher further north LUCINDA

Jeff Wilton jeffwilton83@hotmail.com

It’s been tough this last month, as the southerly trade winds have been persistent and as I type this we are looking at another forecast of fresh to frightening. This weather makes fishing tough and pushes everyone into the sheltered areas.

Having the Hinchinbrook channel as our backyard is a real blessing at this time of year, as it offers plenty of options to escape the wind. The channel itself is massive and offers deep water, so even bigger boats can head out and give the motor a run while trying their luck for a few fish. July would be one of the more difficult months to catch fish consistently, as the water is cold and clear and there will be an abundance of small baitfish. Anglers need to pick their times and rely on a little luck, but even if the fishing is slow, the scenery is world-class, with the majestic rainforest

Timing and effort will mean barra can still be on the cards. mountains of Hinchinbrook as your backdrop.

HINCHINBROOK CHANNEL Grunter and golden snapper (fingermark) along with blue salmon are probably the best bet to target, as all these fish don’t mind the water conditions.

Fresh bait is the secret, and some effort put into cast netting some sardines or prawns is a big step in the right direction. Fresh bait will always out fish frozen store bought bait, so if you want results, a cast net is a great investment and you

Even when the fishing is slower, Hinchy still dishes up perfection.

would be hard pressed to find a local that doesn’t have at least one cast net.

Smaller tides that fall a few weeks after the full and new moon are best times, as the tidal movement is smaller. You still want some run between tide changes, but differences of around 1-1.5m means you can fish comfortably without having to resort to massive sinkers to hold bottom.

Fishing at night will also offer better chances at bigger fish. During the day most spots will have small fish willing to bite, but come evening and night the larger fish get active.

Golden snapper are great fish. They fight hard and also are one of the best to eat. Be careful if you find a good spot that holds fish, as they can be ‘fished out’, and it is best to pull a few fish before moving on to another spot.

The barra fishing will be slow and tough, as the cold water will mean they are not as willing to feed. In winter, barra can be found in bigger schools and less spread out, and normally they will be hugging the bottom in a

sort of hibernation or moving together to known feeding spots. If you’re lucky enough to find a good school on the sounder, or can visually see them in the clear water, then it pays to give them a good working over with plenty of different lures or plastics to see if you can stir some action.

Mangrove jack will also be harder to catch, as they don’t really like the cooler temperatures. As they are aggressive by nature, you can still catch them, but cricket score days are hard to come by.

JETTY, ISLANDS AND REEF It’s time to think about fast fish. It’s pelagic time and the mighty Spanish mackerel will be out terrorising bait schools. The end of the sugar loader jetty is a good place to have a go at these fish, and this means the small boats get a chance. Pick your weather and head out early morning.

At first light, mackerel feed close to the surface and as the sun rises they will normally head deeper.

A good sounder will help find schools of bait and the mackerel will be in close proximity.

Trolling is a simple and effective technique to catch fish and both lures and rigged baits both work well.

Make sure you are trolling hardbodied lures that can withstand higher speed, as sometimes mackerel will respond better to fast moving baits.

Using poppers and stickbaits early morning and late afternoon is addictive fishing. Mackerel will get fully airborne in their attempts to eat your popper, and the heights they

reach are ridiculous! It is a little scary at times, as you don’t know when they are going to launch an attack or in what direction.

Queenfish and GTs will be hanging out in amongst the jetty pylons and a well-worked plastic dropped to the bottom and ripped up with speed normally draws attention.

personally had them jump into the boat on more then one occasion. Dropping ZMan 5” Jerk ShadZ on 3/4oz jigheads is an easy and effective way to get hooked up. Drop them to the bottom and rip them up at speed with the odd pause or rod tip movement. The same plastic can also be

Queenies are one of the best sportfish, so hang on and enjoy.

Queenies in particular love speed, so if you are not getting any action then speed up.

The jetty is a wellknown hot spot for the run of big queenfish, so if there is a lot of boat traffic, please be courteous of others. Most people have electric motors these days, which makes things a lot easier, but some people need to rely on drifting through schools to hook up. Fighting these fish can also be pretty crazy, especially when there are a few boats around. They have the ability to rip braid off reels very quickly and change direction. There aerial displays are also spectacular, and I have

hopped over the bottom for golden snapper and other bottom feeders.

For those wanting to just cruise around checking out some stunning scenery, I would suggest heading out to the Palm Islands and weather permitting, a little further! At this time of year the humpback whales should be in full migration and witnessing them majestically play and travel by is a memory that won’t be forgotten. I like to throw a few skirts over the side along with the teaser and troll for a lucky marlin while in search for whales. It is also this time that the juvenile blacks turn up and hopefully in big numbers.

Rivers an option when the winds pick up and a few jacks and golden snapper as well.

Live baiting the river snags can be fun, but cod and Queensland grouper can be a menace eating everything cast in there

WEIPA

Mark Bargenquast

We have had freezing morning temperatures (for up here) of 17°C, but by 9am it’s a balmy 30°C – typical FNQ winter temperatures.

The downside is the strong south-southeasterly winds forced up from the high-pressure systems down south. If these winds blow strong in the bottom of the gulf they push up a nasty swell, which makes beach and offshore fishing impossible at times.

The saving grace is our river systems, which have been quite good with grunter, jacks, barra, threadfin and blue salmon as well as the ever-present 62

JULY 2018

some days. They can pull really hard and be over 20kg – a real handful in tight country. Grouper must be released by Queensland Fisheries law, but we still see the odd one on the

A big brassy trevally taken from a reef edge on a Williamson Jet Popper. queenfish in good numbers.

The shallow drains have been throwing up quite a few nice barra to 80cm and

threadies to 1m, which are nice fish. Bait fishing the deeper rocky holes has seen plenty of grunter to 60cm

A nice queeny taken on fly.

caravan park cleaning bench taken by southern visitors who don’t know the laws up here.

Offshore, Spanish mackerel, grey mackerel, tuna and cobia are showing up in numbers and some big brassy trevally have been on the reefs. Some good GTs are on the reef edges as well and will take poppers and stickbaits cast in the right spots.

Next month the commercial line mackerel boats will appear as the Spaniards arrive in force; these guys know their stuff and can catch over 100 Spaniards per day line fishing with gars as bait – a much better option compared to drift netters who kill everything and are still allowed to operate up here!

Extracting reefies in the cold, windy weather CAPE YORK

Tim O’Reilly wildrivercompany@gmail.com

Many anglers around the Cape will be lamenting the cold and often windy weather throughout July.

Rather than complain and curl up around the campfire, what are the best options during this

tiny scads, herring and tiny glassies up in the top 10m of water, predators will also be up on top of the reefs giving chase.

Further to this, damselfish and fusiliers in many sizes and shapes will ripple the surface against reef edges. Fishers ready to throw surface lures, soft plastics and metals across these herded up baitfish

Let’s start with the most sought-after – the territorial coral trout. Any diver will attest to the territorial nature of these fish. Anything that looks a little out of place will get their attention and that goes equally for any small fish isolated without cover.

Island trout, which have the larger elongated spots on the head, are especially common on the shallow reefs off the western Cape.

Also found up through the Torres Strait and down the coastal islands and shallow reefs of the east coast, these

prolific fish are always hungry and ready to pounce on both bait and lures.

Multiple species of cod enjoy the shallows thoughout the Cape. These fish are greedy-guts if there ever were any; most cod will have an aggressive swipe at almost any bait within their area. Despite what many think, a medium-sized cod around the 2-3kg mark is brilliant eating if bled and iced down immediately.

A range of snappers and sweetlip will call the shallow reef and sandy lagoons home throughout the winter

Shallow reef country should fish well in the colder months. middle month of winter?

The first consideration might be that warmer temperatures in the upper water column out on the reef can bring great concentrations of fish into the shallows. This can produce brilliant fishing for those who fish shoal country and shallow reef zones in pockets of calm weather.

With concentrations of baitfish such as sardines,

will be rewarded with a solid hook-up.

Silver flanked fish will be the mainstay on these shallow reef edges. The full range of trevally and mackerel species, as well as the prized GTs and Spanish mackerel will be firing up in relatively shallow water.

A host of reef species will be biting their heads off in July down both the east and west coasts of the Cape.

The spotted face of a common trout.

A lovely Maori wrasse caught vertical jigging prior to release.

months. Numbers of grassy sweetlip and spangled emperor will use tide changes and tiny changes in conditions to come on and off the bite. Anglers will find a session out on the reef punctuated by intense feeding periods followed by lulls. Spanish flag, Moses perch and hussar will feed similarly in just a couple of meters of water.

Out on the wider reefs on the east coast, fishing for a range of

red fish will come into vogue this time of year.

With nannygai and red emperor actively feeding up on shallower rubbly grounds, early mornings will often produce the best bite coinciding with more favourable wind conditions.

• For information on remote charter operations for tailored fishing adventures, please email Tim on wildrivercompany @gmail.com

Plenty of variety and big pelagics in Weipa WEIPA

Jackson Bargenquast

Finally the cooler months have arrived up here in the Cape and although the temperature has been well above 15°C, the mornings and nights are much fresher and cooler with less humidity in the air.

The fishing has been pretty good lately with some pretty varied action occurring in our waterways from schools of bait being hacked by pelagics to the good old creeks producing barramundi and quality threadfin. The colder temperatures result in the water being a little frosty, however most predatory fish still feed regularly, with the exception of barramundi that can shut down in cold snaps.

The low temperatures mean that it isn’t an uncommon sight to see several large toothy reptiles laying along mud flats on a good low tide. The crocodiles can be boat-shy but are great to see and are usually not a nuisance

with only a couple of cases every year where they may eat an anger’s barra or jack boatside.

Speaking of big lows, they are a common occurrence at this time of the year and are perfect for barramundi fishing. Whether you’re throwing a lure around some structure or casting a livie into a mud drain, you can get results. Of course, barra aren’t the only fish on the menu and a variety of other species can turn up like big queenfish, trevally, huge catfish, stingrays and even

the occasional black jewfish.

Barramundi can be kept at this time of the year, however be mindful of bag limits and remember any larger fish are not only poor eating quality, but are the breeding females and should be treated with respect to ensure the success of the barramundi population in the rivers.

On the pelagic side of the action the usual candidates including big old cobia, speedy Spanish mackerel and torpedos like longtail tuna are out in force messing up some

The author’s school teacher Mrs. Maskill with a cracker coral trout from the Gulf of Carpentaria.

A few pelagics such as this hunky cobia have been kicking around lately. baitfishes’ futures. With the cooler weather some other apex predators of the gulf have been around such as both Bryde’s whales and false killer whales that have chased schools of bait into the gulf. Brydes whales are a baleen species and measure around 30-40ft, while false killer whales (also known as ‘pilot whales’) on the other hand are really just oversized toothy dolphins hunting all kinds of fish from small bait to large pelagics. They can grow to around 20ft and are

very social animals, almost always found in large pods.

The end of the wet has blessed us with some betterthan-average freshwater fishing while chasing species such as sooty grunter and saratoga. This is awesome fun on fly and light spin gear in narrow creeks. The experience only gets better when a large mob of wild pigs comes waltzing down to the river for a drink and whether it’s a rifle or a camera in your hand, memories are made.

Despite the fun of such

skinny water fishing, be very mindful of crocs; these savage ancient reptiles are perfectly adapted to blend-in amongst the tangle mass of structure in freshwater creeks and aren’t picky, whether it’s a pig, wallaby or fisher in their mouths. Just stay back from the water’s edge and there won’t be a problem with Mother Nature’s most finely tuned killers.

Good luck to all anglers in the upcoming months and don’t forget to think like a fish!

JULY 2018

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Still plenty of options as the mercury drops TOOWOOMBA

Jason Ehrlich fishability1@bigpond.com

It happens almost every year. The cold weather causes a lot of the freshwater fishing to slow right down. When you think about it, we are a bit the same as the fish. It’s harder to get out of bed and get motivated when it’s cold outside. Fish tend to find the most comfortable spot in the water column and don’t do too much.

Feeding windows are shorter but they still need to eat and when conditions are right, they will.

Golden perch are tough to fool on lures over winter.

The southern lakes are the hardest ones to catch them in. Below the range is a little warmer and as you head into the South Burnett region they seem to be just a bit more willing to take an artificial offering.

Baits like live shrimp and saltwater yabbies are definitely the way to go if you want to catch them.

Bass have been pretty easy to find in the lakes but are tough to entice at the moment. There will be the occasional hot session here

and there, but expect the action to remain slow until the later part of next month.

Around spring, all hell will break loose. Make sure you’re stocked up with gear and ready to jump when the action kicks into gear.

It will go from a case of not knowing where to fish because they won’t bite to not knowing where to go because there are so many options to catch them.

Barra tend to be tough to catch over the winter months but in the past few years, Monduran Dam has fished very well. Time your trips to coincide with the warmer days with less wind and you will be in with a much better shot.

Good numbers of fish can be caught, but you will need to work out their whereabouts. Monduran is a massive lake and the fish seem to find little pockets where they hold together.

This makes some spots very fishy while other areas can be totally barren. Local knowledge certainly helps, so call into Barra Havoc in Gin Gin or talk to Rob at the Tourist Park.

While I may have placed a cloud of doom over the freshwater fishing scene, all is not lost.

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND CRESSBROOK CLOSEST TOWN: CROWS NEST Cressbrook Dam remains closed due to the algae outbreak. Hopefully this cooler weather kills the algae off and it will reopen. The water quality is being constantly monitored by the council.

For updates on the dam check the Toowoomba Region Council website in case the dam reopens.

The fish haven’t seen

a boat or lure now for months, so the action should be pretty good.

When the lake reopens to water-based activities, just remember there is a speed limit of 8 knots and a restricted area around the pump tower. 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 7am-6pm over the winter months.

There is one fish that gets everyone excited enough to brave the cold – the Murray cod will happily feed and smash lures over the winter period.

Winter sees a lot of people go a little crazy going out on the icy mornings. They stock up their tackle collection with all manner of big cod offerings in the hope of catching a true monster.

Cod can be caught yearround in many locations but it’s the huge 1m+ fish that can be caught around one and a half hours south of the border at Copeton Dam that anglers are drooling over.

These big Murray cod move into the shallows to feed in the mornings, night and late afternoons.

Tossing big surface lures and swimbaits can tempt them during the magic hours, but during the day you’ll need to look a little deeper to get the bites.

Pull out the winter woollies and dress accordingly. A calm, sunny day is a good day to be out fishing and it doesn’t take long before you can start shedding some layers.

Until next month, buckled rods from the Colonel!

SOMERSET CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, KILCOY The bass action has been slow at Somerset Dam. The fish are easy to find around the Pelican Point flats and drop-offs but they just don’t want to bite.

This has been the case for the last couple of months.

Occasionally there will be a better day where good numbers are caught, but usually it’s tough with only smaller models wanting to have a crack at lures. We had a 30 fish day a bit over a month ago but it didn’t

Gympie

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14 31

Weipa

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Toowoomba

BRISBANE 21

23 IMPOUNDMENT DAM

feel like we pulled many as most were tiny with only half a dozen respectable fish around 40cm+.

Despite the tough bite, a lot of different lures are working to fool a few fish. Soft plastics, Mask Vibes, blade baits, tail spinners and spoons are all producing. On a few of the tougher bites, some of the boys testing the new Gang Banger G2 spoons found the smaller profile was ideal and turned a fishless day around.

Gold Coast

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24 1 Tinaroo Falls Dam 2 Peter Faust Dam 3 Burdekin Falls Dam 4 Eungella Dam 5 Teemburra Dam 6 Kinchant Dam 7 Cania Dam 8 Lake Monduran 9 Isis Balancing Storage 10 Wuruma Dam 11 Lenthalls Dam 12 Boondooma Dam 13 Bjelke-Petersen Dam 14 Lake MacDonald 15 Gordonbrook Dam 16 Borumba Dam 17 Somerset Dam 18 Wivenhoe Dam 19 Pindari Dam 20 Copeton Dam 21 Moogerah Dam 22 Maroon Dam 23 Leslie Dam 24 Connolly Dam 25 Coolmunda Dam 26 Clarrie Hall Dam (NSW) 27 Hinze Dam 28 Lake Cressbrook 29 Callide Dam 30 Lake Awoonga 31 Lake Samsonvale 32 Fairbairn Dam 33 Koombooloomba Dam 34 Cooby Dam

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25

Cairns 1

26

19

33

20

Townsville 2

3 4

Proserpine 6 Mackay

5

32

Rockhampton

Emerald 29 7

10

Highlighted dams are covered in this issue

Gladstone

30 8

Bundaberg 9

11

Maryborough

Roma

Some winters on Somerset are tough and as we head into the coldest part it looks like it could be one of those years. On these tough bites, the fish schools can actually break up. They will migrate to the edges of the lake where they will hold shallower around 5m deep. If these fish can be found, they will still be hard to fool, but from these schools, active fish move up even shallower to feed.

Casting lipless

BRISBANE

crankbaits, blades and spinnerbaits to the edges around any schooling fish can sometimes be the only way to get a bite when the deep schools don’t play the game.

Only time will tell if the fish make this move.

Based on the sheer numbers being found last month at Pelican Point it may not occur. If they don’t transition to the edges it will just be a case of grinding it out on To page 65

WATER STORAGE LEVELS Dam............................ % Full

        

DAMS Atkinson Awoonga Bjelke-Petersen Boondooma Borumba Burdekin Falls Callide Cania Clarendon Cooby Coolmunda

APR MAY JUNE 14 11 8 96 95 93 22 21 20 40 38 36 100 100 100 104 100 971 77 75 70 98 97 95 3 2 2 45 45 44 45 43 41

Dam............................ % Full           

Copeton Cressbrook Dyer/Bill Gunn Eungella Fairbairn Glenlyon Hinze Julius Kinchant Koombooloomba Leslie Macdonald

29 27 27 56 55 53 8 5 5 100 100 99 26 25 24 54 50 49 100 99 98 98 95 93 97 99 100 98 87 71 10 9 9 102 102 103

Dam............................ % Full           

Maroon 100 99 97 Monduran/Fred Haigh 100 99 98 Moogerah 88 87 84 North Pine/Samsonvale 90 89 87 Peter Faust/Proserpine 78 72 70 Pindari 59 59 59 Somerset 79 77 77 Teemburra 98 98 99 Tinaroo 95 97 96 Toonumbar 100 100 101 Wivenhoe 77 77 75 Wuruma 99 98 97

For fortnightly updates on Sunwater dams visit www.sunwater.com.au This symbol indicates that a Stocked Impoundment Permit is required to fish these dams.

All figures are % readings Current as of 15/06/18

(All levels correct at time of going to press. Dam levels can change at any time, so please check with local authorities to ensure safe boating and fishing.)

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From page 64

the deep spots.

Redclaw crayfish have been thick for the last few months. The cold weather will now slow them down. You can still catch a feed by leaving your pots in longer between checking. Setting them late in the afternoon and then checking first thing in the morning may be rewarding. The ideal depth to place them has been around 5m deep.

Somerset Tackle has their store based at the area above the day use boat ramp. The store is open over holidays and from Friday to Sunday.

Orders can also be made online. They have an excellent range of gear suited to fishing for bass and golden perch.

WIVENHOE CLOSEST TOWNS: FERNVALE, ESK Wivenhoe produced some good bass and golden perch last month.

Schooling bass in the deep water have been very mobile and hard to find.

Most of the action has been coming from around the edges of the lake.

Casting and trolling lures will fool the fish and you have a couple of options as to where to fish.

The steep banks and points between Billies Bay and opposite Logans Inlet are all worth exploring.

Use the electric to move along while casting and

Small bass have been the most active at Somerset Dam. The new Gang Banger G2 has been fooling quite a few. retrieving lures. Searching with faster presentations is the best way to locate fishy spots. The Jackall TN60 is perfect for working out from the edges.

C o n ce n trate on fishing out from the edge following the contour and then keeping the lure

DARLING DOWNS GRANITE BELT REGION COOBY CLOSEST TOWNS: HIGHFIELDS, TOOWOOMBA It’s going to be very tough at Cooby over the next two months. The predominant species, the

golden perch, feels the effects of the cold and becomes very lethargic.

Apart from possibly hopping up a few with small blades like the ZX40, lure fishing for them will be a waste of time. Bait

around 3-4m deep for the remainder of the retrieve.

Once fish are located, you can switch to deep suspending jerkbaits to increase the number of bites. Fish will school below the boat if you give them the opportunity, so try to stay on the move fishing with live shrimp or saltwater yabbies is the best way to put a fish in the boat. The yabbies are a good option over the winter months and can actually outperform the live shrimp. The bites can be very subtle as the fish move in to suck To page 66

if possible. These boatfollowing fish get very hard to catch. Once the action is over, move away from a spot and rest it for a while before returning.

Trolling the edges with 3-5m diving lures is another way to cover plenty of water in search of fish. I prefer to stay away from the steeper banks on the eastern side and fish those to the north. This area holds plenty of bass and the occasional golden perch. Above Logans Inlet, the steep banks tend to hold the reverse – more goldens and fewer bass.

Another place to explore for lure trollers is the many well-formed weed edges. These vertical walls of weed appear on shallower tapering banks around Billies Bay. The weed edges are below the surface and not visible to the eye, so you will need to rely on your sounder to follow this sharp weed drop-off. The edge of the

weed seems to thrive in 5-6m of water, which is the perfect depth to find fish. Trolling is the easy way to explore and fish this invisible weed. If fish are found in numbers, it would also be the perfect place to have a cast.

Wivenhoe is a massive lake and you can use outboards that are 4-strokes or low-emission (direct injection) 2-strokes.

Despite the huge amount of water, the speed limit is 6 knots. Stick to the rules and keep everybody happy and fishing. It has taken a long time to be allowed to even use an outboard on the lake. The two spots for boat launching in the lower end of the lake are Billies Bay and Logans Inlet.

MAROON CLOSEST TOWNS: BOONAH, BEAUDESERT Maroon’s water is extremely clear. If it wasn’t so cold, you could jump in with a snorkel and fins and just about see the fish swimming around. One of the best ways to catch fish at this time of year is jerkbaiting the weed edges.

You can start shallow in the mornings and work your way deeper as the sun starts to come up, until you are probing deeper water up to 4m deep. The fish will rise a long way to take a lure due to the clarity, so allow long pauses between aggressive twitches.

Another option is to use lightly-weighted paddle-tail plastics. Fish these down the weed face and allow them to touch it before popping them out and retrieving for a while.

By fishing lighter than 1/4oz jigheads, you will be able to slow the retrieve and touch the weed a lot more often.

MOOGERAH CLOSEST TOWNS: RATHDOWNEY, BOONAH Moogerah has been a bit hit and miss. Some days the bass are on the job and others they can be very hard to get interested.

When they are chewing, they are loving spoons and blade baits hopped along

the bottom. The new Gang Banger G2 will be ideal for this type of bite. Being a smaller profile than other spoons of similar weight, they draw strikes from less aggressive fish. Downsizing is often the answer when things are tough.

Look for schooling fish on the edge of the timber and out from the Palms. Concentrate on searching flats near the drop off and focus on water 7-11m deep.

There were fish up at the Spit as well but reports on catches here have slowed right down. It will definitely pay to check the area though.

DYER CLOSEST TOWNS: GATTON, LAIDLEY Little Lake Dyer is another option for bass and yellowbelly fishers over the winter months.

The water level is very low and fishing is best from the shore or from a kayak. No boats can access the dam due to the very low level.

Fish can be found along the shoreline of the deepest bank, which is just to the left of the boat ramp. The deep water starts just after the bay and you will see the wellworn track where people have been cutting a path around the edges of the lake. Most of the dam is too shallow to hold fish but this section of deep water runs for a few hundred metres and the fish are never too far away. From kayaks, winter options will be trolling and casting shallow diving hardbodies and TN60 Jackalls. Hopping blades will also work well on the golden perch.

From the shore, bait fishing and lure casting are both successful. The bottom isn’t very snaggy so you can cast lures like TN60 Jackalls and spinnerbaits. Let these lures hit the bottom and then slowly wind them back in. Try to keep the lure deep, but speed it up if it starts dragging along the bottom too much.

Gary’s Marine Centre

As the water in Coolmunda clears over winter, expect the cod to fire up more on lures. It’s hard to beat a spinnerbait like this 1oz Sudsy’s.

3201 6232

217 Pine Mountain Road, BRASSALL JULY 2018

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From page 65

at these juicy morsels.

Let them take the bait by fishing it vertically under the boat. When a bite is felt, lower the rod tip up to 30cm to give some slack line and encourage the fish to take the bait inside its mouth. A small rod lift is all that is required to set the hook if the fish has taken the bait. An aggressive strike only spooks the fish away and you may not get a second chance.

Murray cod can still be caught on lures over the winter months.

Cooby has some huge cod, but unfortunately they don’t turn up in the same numbers as the lakes further south. The clear waters of this lake open up the assortment of lures you can throw for them. Big spinnerbaits, swimbaits and soft plastic swimbaits are all options.

As to where you’ll find these big fish, only time on the lake and thousands of casts are likely to tell.

Working the shallows early and late before moving to deeper water in the daylight makes sense.

You can pick up all your bait fishing supplies and some quality locally made and designed lures at Craig’s Home Hardware in Highfields. Cooby is an electric motor dam only and ideal for kayaks.

Take extra care in the winter months and wear a lifejacket. The freezing water is the last place you would want to be if you happen to fall out. The gate hours are 7am-6pm, so if you were to stay until the last minute, you would have a chance to work some shallow water swimbaits or even topwater lures in the twilight hours.

LESLIE CLOSEST TOWN: WARWICK The water dirtied up at Leslie last month, so hopefully this was just a roll over event and now out of the way. Being in sandy country, the dam generally clears quite quickly. Bait fishers have been having more success than the lure guys. Fishing from the edges of the dam in the Washpool area or from boats with live shrimp or

Vibing with Jackall Masks in Coolmunda and Leslie dams is a good way to hook Murray cod. Work structure on the sounder for best results. frozen saltwater yabbies has seen a few golden perch caught. Numbers won’t be great but for this time of year, Leslie is one of the better options for targeting golden perch.

Lure fishers may be able to entice a few fish by hopping ZX40 blades or soft vibes tight to the bottom. Try to target rocky structure or drowned timber when doing this.

Work the lure vertically as much as possible to keep it in front of the fish for longer and provoke a strike.

Along with getting a fishing report, stock up on all your gear while at Warwick Outdoor and Sports at 115 Palmerin Street, Warwick. For a small store, it carries a great range at a very competitive price. Warwick is only a ten-minute drive from the dam and you can pick up any supplies you might need.

COOLMUNDA CLOSEST TOWN: INGLEWOOD Coolmunda has been fishing poorly over the last month and a half. The dam had a roll over where the water started to bubble before turning. This dirtied the dam and restricted visibility making lure fishing tough. Coolmunda is the type of dam that takes a long time to clear up. The cold of winter is

often a good thing – it tends to help clear dirty water faster as algae dies off and sediments settles.

Having this roll over in the water early in the cold period may be just what we needed to see some exceptional fishing in late winter and early spring.

Finger crossed, the water will clear up fast and we will be back into the fish soon.

By the end of this month, the water should be clear enough to consistently catch Murray cod. The lake level is low at the moment so take care when navigating up into the Macintyre section.

There are still deep channels from the main creek and another gully up there and these will have cod around the drop-offs and old stumps that line them.

At the opposite end of the dam, the old stumps either side of the island along the creek drop-off are worth a troll with bigger diving lures. Control the amount of line out so the lures are just banging the stumps or bottom occasionally. You will be quickly snagged if you are dragging bottom too much.

Further up the dam, you will enter the visible standing timber. These trees can be fished with 1oz cod spinnerbaits like Sudsy’s or Bassman Codmans. There were some big metre plus cod spotted on the surface

in this area prior to the dam rolling and becoming dirty, so it’s just a matter of time until somebody catches one. Water clarity will play a big part and if we are lucky enough, we could have a year like three years ago when it cleared to a point that cod could also be caught regularly on swimbaits as well.

Do yourself a favour and jump onto satellite images on Google Maps. The pictures are of the dam at an even lower level. This gives a good indication as to where to navigate and fish now and also shows

where you will be fishing (now out of the water) when the dam fills again.

The Coolmunda Caravan Park is only around 1km away from the lake. The park is just off the Cunningham Highway and 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 wheelchairfriendly 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, give the park a call on (07) 4652 4171.

GLENLYON CLOSEST TOWNS: TEXAS, STANTHORPE There were some big cod over 1m long caught last month. These bigger models fell to two different techniques. One was caught on a Jackall Pompadour and the other on a spinnerbait.

The colder weather should see more of these big fish moving up into the shallows around dawn and dusk. This is the time to try your luck with surface lures and swimbaits. As the light increases, move out wider and probe deeper water with spinnerbaits and heavier, big soft plastics.

Trolling is a very

Murray cod, like this Pindari model, are one fish that won’t say no to a lure over winter. This was one of several fish to eat the Big Tosser surface lure.

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JULY 2018

effective way to catch Glenlyon cod.

Work stretches of bank in 4-6m of water and try to keep your lures close to the bottom. In this depth, not all cod will be tight to structure. The steeper timbered banks may look very fishy but you can do quite well in the open water by trolling a particular contour line around points and along big, straight runs.

Keeping the lure in the water is the key to catching fish and I think that is why the trolling on the more open banks works. There are very few obstacles and snags to slow you down, so it’s easy to work a lot of water in a session.

When trolling, Aussiemade timber lures are perfect.

You can get these from the kiosk if you can’t source any prior to the trip. Another good lure that has worked for me there in the past has been the 5m Poltergeist.

The kiosk at the lake has a great range of cod lures.

They pride themselves in stocking quality Australianmade lures that work. If you’re staying at the lake, you can book a cabin (not self-contained), power or an unpowered site. There are BBQs, a playground, two boat ramps (depending on level) and ice, fuel, bait, and lunchtime food like wraps, pies, hotdogs and tea and coffee. No domestic pets are allowed at Glenlyon Tourist Park and Brian and Debbie can be contacted on (02) 6737 5266.

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WIDE BAY AND SOUTH BURNETT REGION BOONDOOMA CLOSEST TOWNS: PROSTON, KINGAROY The fishing at Boondooma was great last month, so hopefully the action holds on a little longer than it has in the other bass and golden perch lakes. Healthy weed beds can be found all around the edges of the lake. These are holding stacks of smaller bass and a few golden perch.

Casting lipless crankbaits, small spinnerbaits, blades and suspending deep jerkbaits will get the bites. Keep powering along these edges on the electric until you find a section holding numbers of fish. The only way to do this is by heaps of casting and rotating through lures. If you don’t find any action on one edge, make a move and stay mobile until a hotspot is found.

Better quality bass seem to be coming from deeper water. Sounding around in 7-11m of water should reveal these schooling fish. The Pelican Point and Liesegangs Ledge areas have been holding good numbers. Once found, the fish should respond well to blades, spoons, Mask Vibes and soft plastics. Between these four lure styles you should find a pattern that dominates catches. If the cold shuts them down a bit more, soft plastics may be the best option.

Boondooma is a great place to camp right near the water, sit by the fire and enjoy the view. You could also stay in more style and comfort by booking into one of the cabins overlooking the dam. The kiosk at the main office does hot food and other basic items including an excellent range of proven fishing tackle.

For campsites, cabins and

SUNSHINE COAST REGION BORUMBA CLOSEST TOWNS: IMBIL, NOOSA The cold hasn’t totally shut this fishery down yet.

It can get very tough in the middle of winter but bass and saratoga are still being caught by lure tossers.

Spinnerbaits and heavy rigged soft plastics cast to the edges up in the timbered arms have scored a mixed bag of bass and saratoga.

Bass are quite fond of the steeper banks while toga will be encountered anywhere around structure in the form of trees and aquatic vegetation.

Surface lures will be a bit slower due to the cold but are still worth chucking early in the mornings.

Spinnerbaits make a good all-round lure as you can target bass and the toga on them. Other artificials like beetle spin rigged plastics, soft plastics and small hardbodies will draw strikes from the saratoga. To catch these bony mouthed predators you need extra sharp hooks to ensure they penetrate and find a solid grip.

Out in the basin of the lake, it’s worth checking out the major points and

bunkhouse rooms call (07) 4168 9694.

For the latest information jump onto Facebook and check out Matthew Mott Sport Fishing for Motty’s latest fishing reports.

BJELKE CLOSEST TOWNS: MURGON, GOOMERI The fishing at Bjelke has been tough. The lake level remains low and continues to fall, so the fish are still in the bottom half of the lake. Schools can be found between the boat ramps and out from the Quarry. Tempting these fish has been hard work and things aren’t likely to improve too much over the winter period. Bait fishing with live shrimp will see them picking away and you may entice a few to actually find the hook. With lures, fish tight to the bottom with smaller blade baits and ice jigs.

Around the edges of the lake, spinnerbaits, Jackall TN’s and blade baits will be up on the Borumba Flat at the back of the basin just before the timber at the Junction. Sound these areas for schooling bass, as there were a few about around a month ago. The cold could have course moved them on or made them less cooperative. The weed beds in the basin of the lake seem to be holding smaller bass than those found up in the Yabba Arm. Davos at Noosaville has all the gear you’ll need to tackle the fish at Borumba and Lake MacDonald. The store caters well for fresh and saltwater anglers. They can be found in the Homemaker Centre on the corner of Mary and Thomas streets.

William Cahalan battled this metre long golden trevally out on the Nelson Wreck. William was using a 125mm Squidgy Whip Bait.

worth a shot. The mornings and afternoons are the best times to try your luck up shallower. Try the Bass Point area and below the wineries.

For help catching Bjelke and Boondooma fish, call into Bass 2 Barra. The store stocks an awesome range of gear suited to chasing our freshwater fish and the boys have all the knowledge to guide you on how to use it. You’ll find the stores at 119 Youngman Street Kingaroy. Matthew Mott also runs fishing charters on the dams and you can reach him through the store for bookings and enquiries on (07) 4162 7555.

The Yallakool kiosk is all set up with a great range of tackle if you don’t happen to have the right lure or lose one. Be sure to call in and check it out. Give them a call for accommodation and camping bookings on (07) 4168 4746.

CANIA CLOSEST TOWNS: MONTO, BILOELA The bass fishing has been good at Cania over the last month. Fish can be found around the islands on the way up to the timber and also in the start of the trees. Spinnerbaits and vibing lures will work well around the structure. If fish are found schooling up in

Assist hooks are a good idea. The fish sometimes pick at the lure rather than trying to eat it properly.

The assists convert these timid bites into hook-ups. the timber near the old creek bed drop-off, they can often be caught on spoons, tail spinners and blades.

Cania can get very cold

in winter and if these cooler days shut the fish down, slow winding soft plastics is one of the best ways to keep the bites coming.

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Fish shallow for sooties LAKE TINAROO

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Warwick Lyndon

Winter has set in here on the Tablelands and it’s likely both air and water temperatures will be at their lowest for the year this month. With this in mind, Tinaroo fishers should remember the golden rules of winter impoundment fishing mentioned last month.

These include being stealthy and fishing shallow, wind-blown areas, as well as persevering where bait is present or fish are marked. While this doesn’t guarantee success, it will increase your chances of getting connected to a barra during the cooler times.

The barra definitely become more difficult to tempt during the cooler months, although it is widely accepted that the sooty grunter (locally named ‘black bream’) will still bite well throughout the cooler months. With this in mind, I will outline a few basics of targeting these little balls of

A solid sooty grunter taken on a spinnerbait. sources of food as they hold bait and crayfish, as well as holding warmth as the sun heats up the rocks during the day.

If you can find an area that has both timber and rocks in close proximity

This is how solid and aggressive a 50cm+ sooty is in Tinaroo. There’s a 110mm vibe in there somewhere! aggression within Tinaroo’s vast waters.

There are several key factors that will make an area likely to hold an aggregation of sooties. The first of these is structure in the form of rocks and timber. Like barra, sooties love the protective structure, break in current and ambush opportunities that laydown timber provides, although even better than this are piles or stacks of timber that offer dense cover.

There are several areas in Tinaroo where these structures are present, and once sooties are located on these, they should continue to fish well again and again.

Big, freestanding trees are also hotspots for sooties, especially if birds roost and/or nest in the branches above the water.

Rocky areas provide

to relatively shallow water, you are certainly in with a good chance of locating some aggressive sooties, as well as the odd stray barra looking for warmer water and cover.

I like to target sooties on lures, and as per barra fishing in Tinaroo, it’s best to use what you are confident in, and fish it with persistence. Having said this, I regularly have multiple rods rigged with different luring options, so that I can try new things or alter my approach depending on what structure I am targeting. While sooties are extremely aggressive and will attack most things that come within range of their hideout, I prefer two methods of catching them on lures: using mediumsized soft vibes and heavy, bass spinnerbaits.

I prefer to fish these on light baitcast rods so that I can cast accurately at structure and thumb the spool during the initial run if necessary. I usually load up with 20lb braid and 30-40lb leader when fishing for sooties, as the fish in Tinaroo can be of a substantial size (3kg+) and I fish heavy timber a lot.

It also pays to fish with a decent leader, as it will at least give you a chance at landing the rogue barra that you might encounter.

Those who have caught sooty grunter before will know that the fight is quite unique. Sooties hit hard and will attempt to run straight back into the structure they came from. If this first stage of the battle is won by the angler, however, sooties are usually relatively easy

to subdue. A trophy-sized sooty grunter in Tinaroo is anything over 50cm in length, and you can be happy with anything over 40cm.

Most of the fish that come from the dam are in remarkable condition, and are usually far longer, thicker and heavier than their relatives encountered in the wild rivers and streams.

When you try to pick one up (and particularly when trying to hold a big one for a photo), you will notice how dense and strongly built they are. I hope you catch a few in your next session at lake Tinaroo.

If you’d like to keep up with more of my adventures from FNQ, like my Facebook blog ‘Wazza’s Fishing Page’ or subscribe to ‘Wazza’s Fishing’ on YouTube.

Another spinnerbait-munching Tinaroo sooty.

Action to get better from now on SOMERSET DAM

Matthew Taylor

While the recent fishing at Lake Somerset has been hot and cold, we will see it get better and better in the coming weeks.

If you are a regular reader of this report, you will most likely have noticed that there has been a trend with the fishing over the recent months

More specifically, 3” Sliders have caught a number of bass up to 50cm in length. While there have been many different successful spoons, the new Hot Bite Gangbanger G2 has been going off. Already it is becoming a go-to spoon for many anglers. Similarly, the 18g Hot Bite Jets has been the most successful tailspinner.

Ice jigs are a sure way to catch big bass and lots of them while it is cold. Perhaps

BRAIDS LINES and

FLUOROCARBON

Big bass should be biting hard this month, just make sure you’re fishing during periods of low water traffic for best results.

While a number of different brands manufacture ice jigs, the Smak is probably the most proven and successful on the market. The blue ice and polar bear coloured Glider version have caught many good fish recently.

Another fish species that many people have been catching is the tilapia. While they don’t receive a lot of exposure in the media, they

are still fun to catch and a great way to get kids hooked on the sport. Somerset Fishing Tackle recently held a tilapia competition weekend. With the huge success of this event, another one will be held again in October, so keep an eye out for the dates.

Make sure to always abide to the lake opening hours, which are 6:00am to 5:30pm between May and August.

CLEARANCE

EVERY SATURDAY

Connor Baker took this prime example of a Lake Somerset winter bass. It is not unusual to catch many fish like this during winter.

– it has been very tough.

While this can be attributed to several factors, the most prominent is the transition phase that the lake recently underwent, which caused the fishing to shut down.

The transition causes two main changes to occur. The first is that the bass will move deeper. Once this occurs, you will generally find bass sitting hard on the bottom anywhere from about 30-50ft. Secondly, while impoundment bass cannot complete the spawning process, they still undergo the same changes. The bass become full of roe when this occurs, meaning that a 2kg fish can become much heavier over winter and spring.

For anglers, the cool weather and the changes it brings are welcomed, as with them comes many fishing options. While there are deepschooled fish, you will also catch good numbers of bass on the edges, particularly from now until the end of spring.

Also, large fish and good numbers of them will become very regular. However, as the fishing becomes good over this time, the angling pressure increases with it.

Hence, I cannot stress enough how important it is to fish during the week if you want serious results.

Over winter, the reaction bite disappears, which means that more subtle lures and presentations are the best option. So it is no surprise that lures like soft plastics, spoons and tailspinners have been very successful lately.

this is because the schools are so large and it makes them compete, and maybe it is because the fish are sitting on the bottom and it is in right in front of their face, and it could also be that it just annoys them.

I do not know the real answer to this, but what I do know is that they do work, and very well at that. In recent years I have caught cricket scores of big bass on this lure type, so it is one that you would be crazy to not try out.

Spoons should be in every bass angler’s box this month.

The author caught these bass at neighbouring Lake Wivenhoe. When the fishing is tough, trying your luck on the edges is always worth a go at Wivenhoe and Somerset.

• On your next trip to Lake Somerset, make sure to drop in and g’day to the team at Somerset Fishing Tackle, located in the Lake Somerset Holiday Park. With a wealth of knowledge and experience on the dam, they will be able to help and answer any questions you have. Stocking a huge range of competitively priced fishing tackle, they have everything for your bass and yellowbelly needs. Be sure to like their Facebook page, @SomersetFishing, and follow them on Instagram, @ SomersetFishingTackle. With new products like Meegs Lures in stock, it’s a store that you have to check out. Between May and August, opening hours are 6am to 5.30pm.

There are two main boat ramps available for use: one located at the Spit and the other at the Lake Somerset Holiday Park.

To see more from Matt, you can find him on Instagram (@matthew____ taylor) and Facebook (@ matthewtaylorfishing).

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VW’s four cylinder Amarok diesel a winner BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

A few months back I had the opportunity to review a VW Amarok V6 diesel and was impressed mightily with the flexibility of the powerful 3.0L V6 engine, seamlessly smooth ratio changes from the eight speed ZF gear box and the modern, car like, interior finish of what is essentially designated a work ute.

2L ENGINE – THE ORIGINAL Not surprisingly, I was more than slightly interested to see how the four cylinder diesel – the original Amarok offering arriving on our shores a few years ago – would stack up

The Amarok’s 2.0L engine punched well above its weight when towing the author’s boat. throughout the cabin and the generally high quality finish was a cut above what I was accustomed to in utes within this market segment.

The quality finish throughout, those soft plastics and very smart interior layout saw me reminding myself I was in a plain Jane work ute, not a

area and to tart up the entertainment there’s USB input, AUX and SD card slot, CD player linked to a six speaker sound system, App Connect, Bluetooth phone connectivity and audio streaming. I liked the digital speedo within the well set out instrument cluster, as well.

In the rear seating department the extra cabin width of the Amarok when compared to most rivals is obvious and three passengers would hardly rub shoulders although longer legged occupants might find their legs a bit close to the two front seats.

Plenty of depth in the rear seat to provide maximum thigh support provides extra comfort but impinges a little on additional legroom.

POWERFUL BI TURBO ENGINE On the road and with the selector in ‘D’ position, the 8-speed ZF MAN gearbox seamlessly changed ratios while magically keeping the 2.0L engine revs at around 1750rpm, ensuring maximum turbo input at all times. The engine isn’t the same as those found in any

from the 2L engine were undeniably impressive at 132kW and 420Nm of torque, and provided a very spirited performance.

There is an optional ‘Sport’ mode for extra quick take-off around town, but simply putting the Amarok in D for drive will see it moving off very smartly, whether you’re at the lights, the boat ramp or want to overtake. Still, if you want to show off a little, Sport mode will provide the kicks.

The brilliant powerto-weight secret is in the engine’s turbo charging arrangement. The smaller turbo initially spools up to provide maximum boost at lower revs, with the larger secondary turbo providing boost input around the middle of the torque curve.

There’s a change in engine output at the slightest pressure on the accelerator, which makes traffic work and highway overtaking brisk and easy.

This four-cylinder engine with its bi-turbo boosting is more than capable of handling any day-to-day duties around the work site. And with the

Some of the Core’s extras are on show here, including mega bling wheel treatment, side steps and trendy roll bar behind the cabin. by comparison.

True, the ultra smooth ZF eight speed auto shifter would still obviously make driving very easy but with a capacity of a mere 2L I was keen to see how the four cylinder bi turbo oil burner might fare against competitors within the market segment.

The Amarok reviewed

CLASS LEADING INTERIOR The side steps made climbing into the Core’s spacious cabin a breeze and for mine these steps are one option a lot of Core Amarok owners would be keen on. Seated behind the wheel of the Amarok the extensive use of soft – rather than hardened – plastics

was a ‘Core’ (base) model although dressed up for the occasion with side steps, black wheel arch flares and a snazzy roll bar over the rear cargo carry section.

In all, with the chunky looking Amarok sides, impressive looking front area that typifies this year’s ‘Rok’ the 2.0L ute was certainly easy on the eye.

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Wide, comfortable and supportive seating is an Amarok feature and the base Core certainly does not miss out on these attributes.

VW passenger car. The cabin interior is simply vast in all Amaroks with the Core also spoiling occupants in that regard. Seating was plush, positively supportive and very comfortable on a fourhour stint at the wheel. Note too, that the steering wheel in this base model Amarok also offers both Height and Reach adjustment. I put the question: how many base model utes offer this feature?

There was also a very sleek piano black trim around the radio and air vents as well as the spokes of the leather-trimmed steering wheel with its suite of controls for various functions.

A very clear colour screen highlights the dash

of the VW passenger cars; it’s a dedicated commercial grade unit designed to work hard yet still provide a long and productive life.

The output figures

Amarok’s tow rating of 3t for braked trailers or 750kg for unbraked units, a lot of campers, caravans and boats would sit easily on the tow bar.

The Amarok has a very efficient and smooth 2.0L bi turbo engine.

The Amarok’s dash layout has well thought out features that make it more like a passenger car than a work ute. It has easily identifiable features and is user-friendly.

OUTSTANDING RIDE Next is the Amarok’s ride, which is a long way ahead of most rivals in my book. The all-wheeldrive set up (40/60 torque between front and rear axles) provides a feeling of solidarity along with incredible grip and handling in corners. It’s hard to believe that Volkswagen could engineer a ride so

compliant and free of bumps with a leaf spring live axle set up under the rear cargo tray. Even our rough potholed and patched lesser roads didn’t upset the ride, but I guess it’s the European heritage at work here.

On a run to Borumba Dam and with my Galeforce on the Amarok’s towbar, the highway work was very easy. I found it hard to

believe that all that power was outputting from a mere 2L of engine under the shapely Amarok bonnet.

Flexibility of the gearbox was outstanding and I noted that at 85km – with the boat on – the ZF unit still remained in eighth gear while travelling very freely.

The Amarok’s tank capacity is 80L, and fuel consumption on that trip

was a very generous 11.2L per 100km.

GEARING INSTEAD OF LOW RANGE Exploring forestry trails around Borumba Dam (without the boat, of course) saw the Amarok’s eight-speed gear box, smart electronics and rear diff lock showing me what can be achieved without the necessity of a low range gear box and transfer case in the drive line.

With off-road driving mode plus the diff lock engaged, throttle settings changed, and the lower two of the eight gear ratios stepped forward for duty.

At the merest hint of loss of grip from a wheel, drive was immediately transferred to the others. As easy as that!

Selecting manual gear 1 or 2 allowed the ute to crawl down a hill slowly and steadily as though a low range box was in use.

From my experience the combination of diff lock and gear selection, linked to those ultra-smart electronics and change in throttle sensitivity to minimize wheel spin, are a set-up that Amarok owners will warm to.

The diff lock will remain engaged at over 100km. This means that when you’re driving on the beach and an incoming wave indicates the car should be higher up the beach and maybe into softer sand, the diff lock’s prior engagement means there’s little chance of bogging.

SUMMING UP The Core Amarok is currently priced at around $42,000. With the suite of convenient features offered,

the remarkably good ride and handling, and a standard of cabin interior more akin to a VW family sedan than a work ute, you get a lot for your money. It’s some of the lesser-mentioned things that matter as well. Features such as adjustable level headlights, one touch up or down windows, special calibration of the ABS system when off-roading, plus a three-year unlimited kilometre warranty all come into the equation.

At 162cm wide, 156cm long and 50cm deep the Amarok’s rear cargo tray means business. The cabin light is designed to shine into the tray at night.

THE SHEIK OF THE CREEK

Time to open up the crate for another year BRISBANE

The Sheik of the Creek

One of the things my father passed on to me is a hatred of losing to our southern neighbours at Crate of Oranges time.

It’s now many years since our players were dressed in blue shirts and made to play against their mates and face the smug satisfaction coming from south of the border, but for us now older generation, the passion is still there.

There are plenty of readers who follow cross country basketball, or kiss and kick, or those other winter ball games, and that’s fine, but for our mob, the annual maroon vs blue matchup is what lights the fires.

So that’s why a trip out in the tinny or the boat with the other Dudds around this time of the year inevitably results in a thorough dissection of the possible candidates, and probable outcomes in those three games.

All the Dudds are Queenslanders, so we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet, even though Skipper supports the Doggies, and Doughers supports the Saints. We forgive them for that, especially Skipper, as things have been pretty ordinary for what used

to be a strong club. We hardly ever call him a loser.

Actually, we do, but no more than once an hour, and not always for being a Doggies fan. But when it comes to maroon, we’re all in line, and at this time of the year, the anxiety levels increase, and the discussions go long and hard.

Unfortunately for me, Stuffer, Pommers and Manboobs, the Cows are our favoured team, so it’s been a sad few months while we cope with weekend after weekend of disappointment.

If you’re resigned before the season to more losses than wins you can cope, but when you’re expecting better things, it can be heartbreaking. Now that we’ve all agreed to write off the season, we can turn our attention to the really important stuff. Crate of Oranges!

So Boobies and I were out on the reef, trying to settle a few selection dilemmas, but being constantly interrupted by fish. If they’d been good fish, that’s one thing, but these were rats. The backline was pretty much sorted before we’d even got baits down, so it was onto the forwards. So just when we thought we’d got the backrow candidates done and dusted, up would pop a rat squire, a grassy or Moses perch. Then the fish would have to

be chucked back, hooks rebaited, leads dropped down. We’d then go back to the discussion, isolate who had form and whether that form was permanent or part-time, only to be interrupted by another rat.

All those little interruptions that prevent a seamless selection meeting!

Nevertheless, by the time we’d chucked down our last pilly, and flung our last squiddlydiddly, we’d narrowed the list down to a pretty tight team. And as it turns out, pretty much a match for what Kevvie, Locky and Geno came up with a few weeks ago.

It got me wondering whether the Maroon selectors have to worry about constant disruptions when they’re working out the playing sheet. When exactly do they sit down and pick the boys that are going to do the state proud?

Are they interrupted by undersized reefies?

On considering this situation, and comparing their team with ours, I think they could do worse than pop out with us on a Saturday night. Given our track record, they could wait for our call, then just rubber stamp it before we head back in to the ramp.

The only requirement would be that given Geno’s size and reputation, that they supply the chillybin and contents. Win win.

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REC FISHER CONVOY TO SAVE CURRENT POSSESSION LIMITS I don’t understand why there is any discussion at all about reducing the current possession limits of recreational fishers or adding multispecies or boat limits.

In the ECIFF of 2009 recreational fishers received possession limits to manage our notional quota.

Commercial fishers – in particular, gill-netters – have no limits placed on them and can take as much as they want as often as they want.

Since the introduction of our possession limits the number of recreational fishers has decreased by 100,000 and no recreationally caught species has been identified as overfished by FRDC in their Stock Status Reports.

In addition, I have recently had access to weigh-in data from some of the largest SEQ fishing clubs that shows 89% of recreational fishing days in SEQ result in catches of 0-5 fish, 7% result in catches of 6-10 fish and only 4% can get their possession limit in one fishing trip.

Remember that club fishers fish for an average of 16 hours per trip to the family recreational fisher who would fish 4-6 hours. Club fishers also have their fishing trips chosen by seasoned club members who pick the right location, the best tide, the best moon phase and then share the best rigs, techniques and bait to use.

What this means is that any further reductions on recreational possession limits would have a very negligible impact on current fish stocks. So why reduce them if it is of no benefit to the stocks?

The only problem with inshore fish stocks is localized depletions caused by excessive gill netting not recreational fishers.

Focus should be on maintaining our existing catch share. Once the harvest strategy is in place and only then, if a specific fish species needs reduced effort to get to the magic biomass number and that reduction is for example 10% then our possession limit on that species could be reduced by 10% as long as the TACC is also reduced by 10%, which means ITQ’s reduced by 10% at the same time.

maximize commercial take at any cost, regardless of the return.

Within the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy of the five discussion papers there are more than 20 instances suggesting reductions in take on recreational fishers, and absolutely no mention of reductions in take on commercial fishers.

This seems to indicate a reallocation from the recreational sector to the commercial sector rather than any attempt to benefit fish stocks.

A Harvest Strategy is a set of rules based on sector shares where trigger points affecting harvest are shared equally by sector share percentages. TACC (Total Allowable Commercial Catch) is managed by ITQ (Individual Transferable Quota), and Concerned recreational fishers outside the Premier’s electorate office in Richlands.

That certainly seems a much fairer solution than expecting recreational fishers to have their catch share limited twice in ten years with no limit at all on the commercial sector.

Sadly, it seems that there are still some in Fisheries Queensland that have their bias showing.

As a result a group of very concerned recreational fishers got their boats ready on Friday 18 May and met at Blue Fins Fishing Club Inala to voice their significant worries about reductions to their existing catch possession limits and then proceeded to convoy onto the Premier’s electorate office in Richlands.

Recreational fishers have been supporting the current Sustainable Fisheries Strategy. They, like many others including Fisheries Queensland, believe that the current fisheries management protocols are many years past being overhauled. The current system is strongly based on an antiquated perception that there are never too many harvesters on the water. We now have a commercial fishing industry that has far too many operators that are using their licences only during spawning aggregations to top up their other incomes because there are too many of them to all have profitable fishing businesses.

What was expected was that a line would be

drawn in the sand and for each species the existing data would be used to calculate current catch share amongst all sectors: commercial, recreational, indigenous and conservation (theirs stay in the water). If a species was then identified as in trouble, everyone would take an equal hit based on their catch share.

However, in the week prior to the convoy it had become apparent that within Fisheries Queensland there is a separate personal agenda being driven very forcefully to reallocate a considerable portion of the existing recreational catch to the commercial sector before the starting gate has even opened.

Small meetings have been held across the state where total possession limits of three mud crabs or 15 fish of a species have been very heavily pushed by Fisheries Queensland staff. This contradicts the information put out by the department in the discussion papers.

Grassroots recreational fishers were so concerned that they would be breaking proposed rules in order to put a decent feed of fish on the table for their families that they presented a letter to the Premier’s office outlining their concerns. Given that this information had only been available for little more than a week, the

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notional recreational share is managed by possession limits.

This management protocol has been discussed under many names for donkey’s years.

In 1995 that process was commenced with our bag limits; TACC’s were to follow but never eventuated. Now there is considerable ratified discussion that these are to be significantly reduced and extended with overlaying multiple species limits and boat limits with still no mention of reducing existing commercial take on the same species. These changes are being proposed when no sustainability triggers have been identified. FRDC Stock Status Reports appear to be being ignored by some staffers in FQ.

turnout of more than 30 boats and at least 70 fishers on a weekday indicates just how distressed many of them were. I expect that this sentiment will only increase across the state in the weeks to come.

Some 642,000 Queenslanders fish – that’s 15% of population. The only sector group larger is motorists, however we have no representation to our elected leaders.

Frisbee throwing is a recognized sport and rec group therefore they have an advocate supporting them to their Minister and his department. Fisheries Queensland has no rec fishing position, therefore they operate with no recreational ground-truthing and on a 1950s mantra of

Focus should be on maintaining our existing catch share, rather than expecting recreational fishers to have their catch share limited twice in ten years with no limit at all on the commercial sector.

FQ MYTHS PERPETUATING THIS POSITION • Local netted product is sold locally – selling to local marketers is not placing local product in local retail outlets for local communities • Rec fisher impacts are increasing exponentially – our numbers have dropped by 100,000 in 13 years while our population has soared.

• Club fishers are all bagging out in multiple species every weekend – 89% of recreational fishing days in SEQ result in catches from 0-5 fish,

7% result in catches from 6-10 fish and only 4% can get their possession limit in one fishing trip.

Remember that club fishers fish for an average of 16 hours per trip to the family recreational fisher who would fish four to six hours. The numbers of clubs have gone from 210 to 103.

• Ethnic communities take bucket loads of non-declared species – large family communities eating abundant fish that are not high value species

are no threat.

• Reducing possession limits decreases black marketing – black marketers ignore existing possession limits and will continue to do so irrespective of the limits.

The required outcome is a Ministerial statement that recreational possession limits, multispecies combined limits and boat limits will not change from what we have today until a Harvest Strategy trigger is initiated on all sectors. – Sunfish

Email: admin@sunfishqld.com.au

Cooking

How to turn your catch into inside-out sushi BRISBANE

Lynn Bain

Inside-out rolls look impressive and may seem complicated, however there is a simple trick to it that

only adds one extra step to the sushi rolling process – ‘the flip.’

Nori (seaweed) sheets, Japanese mayonnaise and sushi rice are available in most supermarkets in the Asian section. To make

your sushi rice, follow the directions on the packet, or refer to my ‘scattered sushi’ recipe from the last issue of Fishing Monthly.

Before you start you will need a bowl of vinegar and water for you to dip your

fingers in as you work with the sushi rice on the nori sheet. The vinegar/water mixture will stop the rice from sticking to your fingers.

You’ll also need a bamboo sushi mat, some cling wrap and a sharp knife.

Ingredients

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Wrap the bamboo rolling mat with cling film and place a nori sheet on the cling wrap. You can tape the cling film to the bamboo rolling mat so that the cling wrap stays attached to the mat and doesn’t get stuck in the sushi roll.

Place a cling film covered bamboo mat on top of the sushi rice and a large cutting board on top of the bamboo mats. Then flip the board and the mats together. When you lift the board off and roll away the top mat, you are left with the rice face-down and the nori sheet on top ready for the sushi ingredients.

A completed roll – remember to stop before you roll the mat and cling film into the sushi. Make sure that the plastic wrap doesn’t get rolled in! Unroll the bamboo mat and remove any of the plastic wrap from the outside of the roll.

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With your fingers, lightly press the sushi rice into the nori paper so that they bond slightly. Spread the prepared sushi rice evenly over the nori sheet – ideally the sushi rice should be a layer approximately 8mm thick and it should cover the sheet from edge to edge.

Squeeze a layer of mayonnaise across the nori sheet parallel to the edge of the bamboo mat. The filling should be closest to your hands when the sushi is rolled. Lay a strip of green shallot and a few slices of the salmon along the nori.

Slice the roll in half or smaller pieces with a wet knife blade then serve alongside bowls of soy sauce, wasabi (mixed with soy sauce to your preferred strength) and pickled ginger.

A wet knife blade will cut cleanly through the roll with less friction. After cutting, you can roll the outside of the roll in toasted sesame seeds.

• Nori sheets • Prepared sushi rice • Thin slices of green shallots • Japanese mayonnaise • 250g salmon cut into thin strips • Wasabi paste • White sesame seeds • Black sesame seeds • Rice vinegar and water in a bowl • Soy sauce • Pickled ginger

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Roll the mat upwards and away from you almost one complete turn, stopping to press and firm. Use your fingers and palms to keep it even and keep the ingredients in place.

Using a spoon, you can sprinkle finely chopped green shallots, sesame seeds and/or fish roe over the top of the sushi roll’s sticky rice before you cut it.

JULY 2018

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING STRIKE PRO GUPPIE

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Accounting for numerous Tournament wins and huge fish as well as filling up collector’s cabinets, one of the things you notice first about the Guppie is the artwork.

Up until now, these colours have only been available on hand painted wooden lures produced by Joe Peterson. Strike Pro/CWC in partnership with Peterson are bringing these unique colours to the market for the first time.

The paint schemes incorporate using paint or glitter on the inside shell of the bait, in addition to painting the outside shell. It also prolongs the colour of the bait after many fish.

Strike Pro has even replicated the 3D eyes that TrueGlide are famous for!

The Guppies body profile allows the lure to produce an amazing body roll and it slides from side to side. The Guppie also features an innovative cork screw at the tail, allowing the angler to fish with either a curltail or paddletail soft plastic tail. www.jurofishing.com

VIGILANTE POWER DOWN JACKET

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Vigilante have announced their latest innovation: the Power Down Jacket, for both men and women. Airy-light and yet completely warm, this jacket ensures minimal bulk and maximum heat retention for an ideal body climate.

Vigilante has ensured the perfect active weight for any pursuit with the technically woven stitchless quilted down, which ensures a perfectly balanced warmth to weight-ratio. The absence of stitching holes prevents both wind and down leakage, so if you’re somewhere with especially icy winds, the Power Down Jacket will keep you warm. Raining too? This jacket boasts a Durable Water Repellency coating, to help keep you dry. It also has an active fit, designed to hug you in the all right places, and down fill spandex cuffs for heat insulation.

The Power Down Jacket is tough thanks to the durable high denier fabric, preventing abrasion and tearing for longevity of use.

When you’re back home, simply pack the Power Down Jacket into Vigilante’s smallest stuff sack yet.

Price: SRP $169.99 www.escape2.com.au

NEW GULP MANTIS SHRIMP COLOURS

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The Berkley Gulp Mantis Shrimp was created and designed to look like a shrimp.

It has a slender body, feelers at the front, and tiny legs that wriggle in the current or when moved. Now, these great plastics have some new colours in the range!

This lifelike Mantis Shrimp can be rigged and fished with any technique you choose.

Fish them on the bottom with short sharp jerks to imitate a fleeing prawn, rig them weedless for fishing structure, or even unweighted over sand flats and weed-beds!

Gulp! releases 400 times more scent than plastic baits, expanding the strike zone so you catch more fish. Made from 100% natural ingredients, Gulp! is environmentally and fish friendly.

The Mantis Shrimp comes in six natural and high-vis colours, natural, new penny, pearl white, molting, pearl white chartreuse and glow, all of which hungry shrimp-eating predators will love!

Price: RRP $13.99 www.berkley-fishing.com.au 74

JULY 2018

PRODUCT GUIDE

SHIMANO BACKBONE 4 ELITE RODS Shimano’s Backbone Elite rods have proven hugely popular with the offshore game fishing community, delivering a range of line class options at really good prices. The 2018 line-up has just been given a well-deserved tweak!

There are eight rods in all; a 10kg stick with fixed guides and a roller tip, and three 15kg options in a selection of fixed guides, fixed guides with a roller tip, or fully rollered. The same choices are available in 24kg, and finally there’s a serious 37kg weapon with a roller tip.

Of single-piece construction and 1.7m (5’ 7”) in length, the Backbone Elite blanks now utilise Shimano’s legendary TC3 material, which is the same threeply graphite weave the early Tiagra Game Series rods were built on.

The cosmetic has also been upgraded to a traditional game fishing colour scheme of black, gold and silver, making these rods an even sweeter pairing with Shimano’s TLD and Tyrnos lever drag reels. www.shimanofish.com.au

MUSTAD JIG WALLETS

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Jig fishing anglers will love the smaller Mustad Jig Wallet, a jig wallet designed to accommodate enough jigs for a day on the water.

The Jig Wallet S contains storage pockets that are constructed from tough mesh to allow the jigs to breath and dry, yet remain safe in transport and use. There are 22 jig slots for smaller jigs up to 15cm and two large mesh areas to stare things like pre-tied rigs and leader..

The Mustad Jig Wallet S forms part of the Slow Jigging System that includes a range of assist hooks, stainless steel accessories and now 2 jig wallets.

If you’re into fishing jigs and you’re having trouble storing them, then the Mustad XL Jig Wallet gives you the answer you’ve been looking for.

MB021 Mustad Small Jig Wallet (22 jig slots) 330x180x20mm www.wilsonfishing.com

FIN-NOR PRIMAL

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The new Fin-Nor Primal lever drag fishing reel sets a new standard for lightweight and heavy-duty overhead fishing reels.

Designed specifically for tackling big saltwater fish on the latest braided lines, the Primal weighs less than 400g and offers a modern ultra-light alternative to traditional overhead designs. The Fin-Nor Primal will be a hit with anglers using modern jigging techniques and those seeking a powerful overhead reel that is comfortable to use all day long.

The Fin-Nor Primal is available in two sizes. The Primal PR10 narrow spool has a line capacity of 415yd/30lb braid, while the Primal PR12 wide spool has a capacity of 440yd/50lb braid. Both sizes are available in a low gear ratio of 5.8:1 for cranking power or a high gear ratio of 7.3:1 for a quick haul.

Inshore and offshore anglers will finally get their hands on a powerful braid-friendly overhead reel that is exceptionally light and easy to use and perfect for targeting trophy pelagic and reef fish. www.finnorfishing.com.au

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PRODUCT GUIDE

WHAT’S NEW FISHING LIVETARGET HOLLOW 7 BODY MULLET Lures are becoming increasingly lifelike, and they don’t come much more lifelike than this! The LIVETARGET Hollow Body Mullet features one of the most a realistic profiles and life-like colour patterns available anywhere.

Its versatile swimming action makes it exceptionally easy to use. The angler can ‘walk-the-dog’ with ease, or simply skip it across the surface to generate a tantalizing bubble trail for any following predators.

The hollow body snag-proof design enables it to be fished through mangrove cover, skipped under branches and fished through the weed. It can be put into places where other presentations just can’t be put!

It is equipped with an extra-strong forged hook for powerful penetration and durability. An anglers can also add a treble hook to the belly pin to enhance hook-ups in open water.

These great lures are available in three sizes, 95mm and 3/8oz, 115mm and 1/2oz and 135mm and 5/8oz, as well as a range of colours. www.ejtodd.com.au

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OKUMA AZORES BLUE

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The new upgraded Okuma Azores Blue spinning reel offers anglers a true heavyduty saltwater reel and big fish stopper that won’t break the bank.

Designed specifically for saltwater fishing, with proven power features and a patented interior design, the Azores Blue is much more durable, strong and smoother than other reels in its class. Features include 6HPB + 1RB corrosion resistant stainless steel bearings, more than 10 times more resistant to saltwater than standard stainless steel bearings, dual anti-reverse system for maximum security, CRC: Corrosion-resistant coating process and HDGII: Corrosion-resistant, high density gearing.

Dual Force Drag, a system designed for maximum high-end drag pressure, efficiency and overall smoothness, providing maximum drag pressures well above many equivalent size reels, including those in a much higher price brackets.

All of these features and more combine to create a true affordable, saltwater reel that is capable of handling trophy sized saltwater fish. www.okuma.com.au

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DAIWA J-BRAID GRAND

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Daiwa’s J-Braid goes to another level with the release of the premium braid in the line-up, the new J-Braid Grand.

A premium 8-strand PE, J-Braid Grand is made from an advanced new raw material (IZANAS) and is J-Braid’s strongest, most abrasion-resistant line ever.

Four times more abrasion resistant than other lines, J-Braid Grand has a short pitch fibre construction that significantly reduces line damage and failure to dramatically increase line abrasion resistance and line strength consistency. Like all true premium Japanese 8-strand PE lines, J-Braid Grand maintains a true round profile for optimum line performance through the guides and on and off the reel.

Made in Japan and available in sizes ranging from 6lb (0.6PE) to 150lb (PE16) and in multi and island blue colours, J-Braid Grand is the smoothest and best performing J-Braid they have ever made. www.daiwafishing.com.au

RAPALA X-RAP PETO

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The X-Rap Peto combines Rapala’s fish-catching X-Rap construction with a beautifully colour-matched soft tail to create a seamless hybrid bait, suitable for all manor of big angry predators in Australia.

With its slow sink rate and perfectly horizontal fall, the X-Rap Peto is the ideal lure choice for targeting big Murray cod and barramundi. The tail kicks with a wide action on a simple cast and retrieve technique, but you could also try a ‘jerk and pause’ retrieve, allowing the bait to slowly swim into the depths.

The soft tail is firmly secured to the body with a 6-point stainless plate, but there is a spare tail included. Fitted with VMC Coastal Black hooks, an ABS Body with soft PVC Tail, these amazing baits will last you many big fish encounters.

Available in eight fish catching colours, the X-Peto is 20cm long and weighs in at 83g. www.rapala.com.au

SFT TAKUMI

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SWL Distributions is proud to bring Super Fishing Tackle to Australia. SFT is an exciting range of lures and fishing tackle where quality and toughness go hand in hand.

SFT lures are built to withstand the toughest offshore species, with a range suited for the offshore anglers chasing GTs, Tuna, kingfish, billfish and more. They also do a finesse range for those targeting bass, bream, flathead, mulloway and may more, with a great range of hardboardies and plastics.

One of the most diverse lures in the range is the sinking Takumi, which comes in range of sizes and weights.

The SFT Takumi range comes fully wired through and with super sharp Owner Cultiva trebles straight out the pack. They have a tight wobble high speed and a more natural look when retrieved slowly and a free rolling fall on the pause that looks amazing.

Whether it be trolling or casting, the SFT Takumi range is a genuine fish producer! www.swldistributions.com.au

SAMURAI PREMIUM 12 SERIES BLANKS The raw materials for Samurai rod blanks are sourced from only high quality graphite suppliers, with each batch tested to ensure it meets our standards. Each individual blank is cut, rolled and baked to a precise Samurai recipe to ensure that every blank they produce is of the best quality with an action that suits its intended purpose.

Samurai’s focus is solely on creating the ultimate fishing rod blanks unequalled in technology and design and they have released a new Premium Series of task specific blanks covering travel, land-based and light jigging.

Samurai is continually evolving and introducing new blanks and expanding the range available, and the last six months have seen the largest expansion yet.

Samurai now has over 70 blanks available in Australia and can now even find blanks suited to a very specific type of fishing.

Make sure you check out the new Premium Series, there’s bound to be a blank for you! www.samurairods.com.au

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au JULY 2018

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING LIMITED EDITION SAURY

NEW 60G 13 LAZER

JM Gillies is celebrating its 90th Anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion they have been releasing special limited edition versions of some of their most popular lures.

The latest lure to get the special 90th Anniversary treatment is the Saury. Limited edition, hand carved Saury lures are now available from participating stores for a limited time. Each lure has been personally signed and numbered by legendary indigenous lure expert Lance Butler.

Lance spends thousands of hours on the water every year, fine tuning and developing some of the most innovative and spcialised lures in the world. His range has some of the best colours and designs available, and all lures are constructed from the highest quality materials and fittings. In addition, they are all are vigorously tested to ensure they perform perfectly, fish after fish. www.jmgillies.com.au

OTTERBOX DEFENDER SERIES

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When you’re about to head out on your next big fishing adventure, a damaged smartphone is something you don’t want to worry about.

However, with OtterBox Defender Series, you can fish with the confidence of knowing your phone is protected from a barrage of wear and tear.

The rugged Defender Series is built tough, ensuring your smartphone is well protected against scrapes, drops and dings. Built to last, it blocks out dust, dirt and grime and comes with OtterBox Certified Drop+ Protection, meaning it has been put through more than 238 hours of testing across 24 different tests.

Each case features an attachable, practical holster that clips to most belts and straps, meaning your phone can be with you on every adventure. It even doubles as a kickstand in case you need help capturing that all-important photo or video of your antics.

Price: from SRP $74.95 www.ottocasestore.com.au

HOBIE LIVEWELL V2

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The new Lazer 60g is a must-have lure in every serious angler’s tackle box.

This new size Lazer was designed for beach and rock fishers who like to cast long in search of the likes of tailor and Australian salmon.

Lazer Lures have been proudly making lures in Australia since 1978. All Lazers are fitted with quality stainless steel ring and VMC hooks. The colour range is extensive, with 19 proven colours, and there are multiple models for a host of applications.

Collectively these lures have accounted for a wide variety of species, including bass, barracuda, bonito, flathead, jewfish, kingfish, mackerel, pike, perch, queenfish, salmon, tailor, trevally, tuna, wahoo and more.

Visit the website for further information or look them up on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lazerlures. www.lazerlures.com

DAIWA LEXA WN

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Strong, unyielding and designed for battle, the legendary Lexa baitcaster has received an overhaul for 2018, with new ultra-comfortable, ultra-stylish Winn grips elevating the Lexa WN to a new level of comfort, power and performance.

Featuring the rock solid construction that has made the Lexa name famous, the new WN version features many of Daiwa’s best designs and technologies including UTD (10kg) Infinite Anti Reverse, Dual Stopper, and Magforce cast control braking system.

Comfort and control is ensured with the Lexa’s new eye-catching, ergonomically designed Winn Grips. They provide a tacky, sure grip to maintain maximum contact between angler and reel, regardless of temperature or moisture levels.

A 6.3:1 retrieve ratio, seven ball bearings, and a well balanced 298g body weight further enhance the reel’s in-hand performance and combine with the Lexa’s solid construction to make it one of the most refined, yet rugged, large baitcasters available. www.daiwafishing.com.au

NEW BOOKS FROM 15 AFN

The newly redesigned Hobie Livewell V2 sports a fresh colour scheme, modern lines and more built-in features than ever before. This livewell is plug-and-play with most Hobie kayaks, and includes all the same built-in functionality of the Livewell XL. There are several upgrades over the original livewell, including a sealed marine switch for on/off control. Also included is a high output pump that circulates aerated water to keep bait alive, and the battery and charger are included as well.

Another feature is the adjustable downspout for water level control and drainage, and it holds up to 30L of water.

Other standard features include removable tank partitions to provide a rounded surface for keeping live bait healthy and out of hard-to-reach places; three vertical rod holders with pre-marked locations for adding more; and heavy-duty straps to secure the Livewell V2 to the cargo area.

Price: SRP $539 www.hobie.com.au

PRODUCT GUIDE

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To maximize fishing success, every angler needs to record their catches and the conditions on the day, to put together all the pieces of the fishing puzzle. When a journal also contains useful technical information, it’s even more valuable.

The latest Anglers Journal & Almanac has solar and lunar peak fish activity and feeding times, the tides for each state with local variations, basic knots and rigs, selected fish weight from length conversion tables, basic boating regulations, and lure colour selection charts based on depth and the prevailing conditions. It also has plenty of pages to record catches and trip details.

Another new book is the Complete Book of Fishing Knots, by The Fishing Show hosts Bill Classon and Nigel Webster. It covers all the knots anglers need, from the basic knots through to some of the more advanced.

Whether you’re a novice or a more seasoned angler, there’s something in it for you. Superbly illustrated by Trevor Hawkins, the knots are easy to follow and master. As they say, if your knot holds you’ll catch the fish!

Price: SRP $12.99 (Almanac), $16.99 (Knots) www.afn.com.au

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PRODUCT GUIDE

WHAT’S NEW FISHING

Mako prescription sunglasses: I can see clearly now As we grow towards middle age certain changes become apparent in our everyday lives. Groaning when we bend down, being irritable about new technology and the lack of ability to see things clearly when close to us becomes part of everyday life. History has not been kind to baby booming anglers; as our sight diminishes the fishing industry moves towards finer braided lines and clearer fluorocarbon leaders to increase our frustration. For me, the continual swapping from sunglasses to reading glasses has proven to be a real pain in the backside.

Mako sunglasses recently came to my rescue, with the delivery of a new pair of Mako multifocal prescription sunglasses.

Mako have faithfully reproduced their stunning glass G2H5 polarised rose lens in my corrective prescription, and then fitted the lenses to the Mako frame of my choice. Being a multifocal lens, I can look through the top section of the lens

The lens has a hydrophobic coating, so when you’re bringing a thrashing fish aboard you won’t have to wipe splashes off your lens. glass prescription multifocal lens readily available in Australia. In addition to this, the green mirror is internal to ensure maximum durability of the lens surface.

Mako use the latest digital freeform lens-grinding technology in their manufacturing processes, and the prescription accuracy and ease of use of these lenses is second to none. Wrap sunglass curves can distort prescription lenses of lesser technical specifications, but not so with these Mako lenses as they offer super-clear vision at all focal lengths. The smudge-free hydrophobic coating is a winner too, as any water

to see distant objects clearly while the lower zone gives sharp vision to closer reading and knot tying focal lengths.

In fact, most prescriptions – whether multifocal, long sighted or short sighted – can be produced in Mako frame and lens combinations to suit every wearer and outdoor activity.

My chosen lens colour, the rose G2H5, was selected for its high contrast capabilities which allow me to see subtle differences in below water structure and individual fish at greater depth. There is no doubt that my stream craft when trout fishing is greatly improved wearing

the Mako lenses, as the layout of the river becomes obvious. My lure then spends more time in the strike zone, spelling trouble for the resident brown and rainbow trout. It’s the same story on Port Phillip Bay, where the location of weed beds and sand patches mean the difference between a good and bad day on the calamari and whiting.

The G2H5 lenses are ground in Italy using a high density glass which produces a super thin lens to reduce the weight of the sunglasses. We anglers love the scratch-resistant properties of glass lenses, and the Mako G2H5 is the only

TESTED

that splashes on the lens simply beads up and drains off. That means no more wiping with dirty hands or shirts, actually making more smudges on the lenses than you started with!

Please pay attention to the fit of the frame during your selection process, and try to leave a small amount of airflow around your face. Glass lenses have many great advantages, however they do tend to fog a little more than acrylic lenses and the airflow will eliminate this problem.

If you want to order a pair of prescription Makos, remember that some frames are less suitable than others.

Wrap prescription lens design requires careful design calculations to keep the lens thickness low, and prescription accuracy over the entire lens surface. It requires significantly more expertise than standard reading glasses! Enquire about the ability of your chosen retailer to deliver these designs before committing your purchase, and always reserve the right to seek further advice. We all deserve the best vision solution available.

From trout in a stream to tuna on the shelf, I have found my Mako multifocal sunglasses an irreplaceable part of my fishing day.

David is a qualified Optical Dispenser & Mechanic with over 35 years industry experience currently managing Karingal Optical, a large Optometry Practice in Frankston. A keen angler and diver, he spends large amounts of time on and around the water in between consulting to his customers with their prescription and sunglass requirements. - David Glennie

The author’s streamcraft has been improved thanks to the Mako lenses.

JULY 2018

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News

Fish rescued from Rockhampton fish kill SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

In March 2018 Infofish forecast that there was likely to be a fish kill in 12 Mile Creek if the current climatic conditions (no rain) persisted. In early April came the first reports of fish dying.

Infofish applied for a permit for a fish rescue to relocate as many fish as possible to Raglan Creek, as it was estimated that there were over 1,000 fish there from recruitment in

2017 and 2018.

The reason Infofish were able to predict a fish kill is down to 20 years of monitoring of fish and climate, demonstrating the importance of data collection and long term datasets.

Two Suntag Clubs, Fitzroy River Stocking Association (FFSAQ) and community members participated in several rounds of rescues, until the point was reached where remaining fish were likely to die even if moved due to stress.

The annual rainfall at 12 Mile Creek from 1984/85-2013/14.

The Fitzroy River Fish Stocking Association tank was used to relocate fish.

WHY THE 12 MILE IS IMPORTANT The 12 Mile is the largest off river barramundi nursery.

Off river nurseries offer a safe area for barramundi to grow away from predators.

Each year cast net surveys are conducted with fish tagged on top of Suntag fishers who tag fish in the area. Fish from this nursery end up in other fisheries, not just the Fitzroy.

As 12 Mile Creek is isolated much of the time, most recaptures were fish within the creek. Of a total of 2,507 recaptures there were 2,358 (94.1%) recaptured in 12 Mile Creek.

There were 149 (5.9%)

fish caught elsewhere with 133 where the distance moved was calculated. There were 89 (66.9%) recaptured in Fitzroy River, Raglan Creek and the upper Narrows (all part of the Fitzroy River system).

A further 29 (21.8%) were recaptured in the Gladstone area and the remaining 15 were recaptured elsewhere.

Of the 44 recaptures outside the Fitzroy River system only one fish was recaptured to the north in Corio Bay, while 43 were recaptured to the south with one fish recaptured in Urangan Boat Harbour 360km south.

The mean annual temperature with a 75 year average of 28.3°C.

USE OF 12 MILE CREEK

BY BARRAMUNDI One of the 2017 barramundi recruits suffering lesions.

12 MILE AND CLIMATE

The movement of barramundi from the 12 Mile.

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Climate plays a key role in the use of 12 Mile Creek by barramundi and other species with rainfall, creek flow and temperature as the main drivers. The average annual rainfall over the 30 years was 611mm and the average from Dec-Feb was 328mm. There was a long dry period from 1992-2007 when the rainfall varied from just above to well below average. There has been a wet period from 2008-2014 with above average rainfall in all

years except 2011/12. High rainfall in Jan-Feb is key to recruitment of barramundi to the creek.

Temperature also has an effect in that higher temperatures increase water temperature and evaporation, particularly in drier years.

Over the past 30 years the mean annual temperature has exceeded the long term average in 19 years and below average in 7 years. The trend suggests an increase of over 0.5°C over that time.

Barramundi spawn at the mouth of the Fitzroy River mostly from Oct-Dec. Juvenile fish then make their way up river and use king tides and freshwater flows to access off river habitats such as the 12 Mile.

The creek is isolated from the Fitzroy delta and only connects to the estuary on king tides and/or during periods of freshwater flows. When king tides and freshwater flows coincide this provides the fish the greatest opportunity to access the creek. Recruits access the creek from Jan-Mar as king tides in those months generally reach the creek.

Rainfall events generally

need to exceed around 100-150mm, depending on conditions, for the creek to flow sufficiently to allow fish to access, and this should be late December to mid February. These conditions allow recruits to enter the creek and for larger fish to migrate back to the river.

12 Mile Creek has become the reference site for recruitment in the Fitzroy River, as when there is strong recruitment to the creek then recruitment in the overall river system is also strong.

Based on river flows and coastal rainfall, a predictor of barramundi recruitment was developed in 2007 and refined since then.

News A HISTORY OF 12 MILE FISH KILLS Over the 30 years there were three major fish kills, one in early winter 2001, another in November 2005 and the other in late 2006. Anecdotal information suggests that fish kills had occurred in the past, however no previous significant kills had been recorded from 1985-2001.

The 2001 fish kill occurred in May-June 2001 when there was a cold snap and no wind, and lasted several weeks until all fish were dead. This was the result of a one off weather event rather than due to prolonged weather effects. The kill involved around 3,200 fish including 150 barramundi from 120-955mm.

By contrast the fish kill in November 2005 occurred after a very dry winter and spring when the creek reached very low levels. It was estimated that

over 5,600 fish died which included 133 barramundi from 180-1020mm. This was not a total kill, however the numbers that survived was estimated as very low. A small flow in December and spring tides in Jan 2006 saw fish recruit to the creek.

Some barramundi were recorded in the creek during 2006, however by October 2006 low rainfall saw the creek drop to the lowest levels since data collection began in 1985. Another fish kill occurred and this was a total kill. There were no fish recorded in the creek until late 2007.

In January 2004 there was a minor kill of around 100 bony bream but no barramundi. In October 2007 there was also a minor kill with around 20 dead eels. There have been no further fish kills recorded since 2007.

This graph shows the number of fish rescued per day.

The 2018 recruits were in good condition.

SUMMARY OF FISH RESCUE • There were 7 days when fish were relocated from 12 Mile Creek to Raglan Creek.

• A total of 309 barramundi and one bartail flathead were relocated.

This graph shows the number of fish relocated based on when they arrived in the 12 Mile.

• A total of 43 tagged fish were relocated (6.7% of tagged fish).

• A total of 174 untagged fish were relocated with 93 of those tagged before release.

• There were 9.7% of tagged fish accounted for either dead or relocated.

• There were 242 2018 and 68 2017 recruits relocated.

SUMMARY OF FISH STATUS • There were 689 tagged fish in the creek up to the time the rescue commenced.

• Estimated that a total of 3040 barramundi have died.

• A small number of giant herring and bony bream have also been found dead.

• Of the tagged fish 21 were found dead (3.0% of tagged fish).

• All the dead fish were 2017 recruits from 400550mm and remaining fish were all showing signs of stress with many having lesions on their sides.

• Smaller 2018 recruits from 60-310mm were almost all in good condition and not showing signs of stress.

• Size range of 2018 recruits suggest that there were around 6 spawning events from September-February.

Here are some of the fish that died in 2001 and 2005.

JULY 2018

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Whispers from the golden age of fishing SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

We recently had the opportunity to analyse 18 species in Bundaberg using a range of datasets from Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys, to Commercial and Recreational Collected data. We have done this for other centres in the Great Barrier Reef, but in this particular case, Bundaberg was where I learned to fish and spent the majority of my time fishing growing up.

I also knew that my father (Bill Sawynok) kept diaries of that time, so I had a unique chance to compare results then and now. It’s not an ‘apples for apples’ comparison after I factored in the lower technology – we only had a paper sounder and then only at the end of our time there, all navigation even in 1984 was off landmarks and the lures were as basic as they came. Even as a thought experiment it makes for a fascinating comparison.

First – a word on paper diaries vs. app-based diaries.

PAPER – WHAT’S THAT? Two remarkable things happened when I worked through dad’s diaries – beyond the careering journey down memory lane. Let’s say that the nostalgia factor on this article was dialled up to 100. First, I got some fascinating insights into how my father solved problems.

Second, the moment I mentioned I was looking at diaries others were more than willing to give me a look at their journals and that led to me finally grasping the difference between paper and apps.

Paper diaries are reflective. Whether it be in

Some things haven’t changed in 40 years. words, or intricate drawings and diagrams, the fisher is recording the details that were important during the day. In the case of the diaries I selected, there was an eight-year time span and in that time while the recording process remained the same – techniques that were new and explored in detail in 1976 were mundane and routine by 1984.

In other words, in the narrative of a fishing life – there is a clear progression.

I did jokingly comment to dad at one point that he didn’t think ahead because reading diaries written in pencil can provide challenges 40 years on. His response that he never read them and never expected anyone to was very telling.

Paradoxically, recording information on paper is not about recording at all; its real purpose is encoding in memory. By writing or drawing out the critical details of the day, the mind has the chance to sort out precisely what is essential and either commit learnings to memory or start looking for answers to unsolved problems.

That’s why dad has

never reread his diaries – he learned the lessons and committed them to memory.

If you want to get super nerdy, there is an excellent paper that covers the use of diaries in research – journals. sagepub.com/doi/full/10.117 7/160940691101000308.

APP-BASED DIARIES – I AIN’T GOT TIME TO WRITE It might seem odd that someone who designs apps and data collection methods might talk them down, but I am about to. There are two types of apps in the fishing diary space. The first is simple note-based apps, like Evernote, that are typed diaries. While it’s not quite the same as paper, I have no doubt these kinds of apps do the same job – the process of organising the day in your head and typing it up helps the mind sort out what is essential and what needs addressing.

There is the second kind though that automates much of the collection of data (such as wind, temperature, tide, etc.). These kinds of apps are what I call outsourcing apps – you don’t have time to gather that data, so you let the machine do it for you. By

Bill Sawynok’s first tagged fish in the diary.

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outsourcing your memory to the app, you are permanently deleting information from your brain that you would consider on review and that means that lessons based on distorted data. In other words, the immediate learnings committed to memory will be incomplete or downright wrong. The advantage of app-based diaries (if combined with proper data analysis tools) however is that you can see patterns in your activity and the fish that may well not be as obvious when reviewing day by day.

WHICH ONE IS BETTER? I have spent two years pondering this question, and at this point, I am inclined to tip my hand to either paper diaries or typed diaries.

I say this because the quality of analysis in apps is pretty flaky because they don’t capture enough data and aren’t very good with statistics anyway – not that fishers are frequently statisticians. Sit down now, Nicholas Moore – there are always exceptions.

No app can outperform the human fishing brain, yet.

With that out of the way, what did I learn from my trip down memory lane?

MY SAMPLE I chose my sample for this exercise quite carefully selecting three years: 1976, 1980 and 1984. 1976 was our first year in Bundaberg, so this is the period dad was assessing and learning as much as he could about the fishery. 1984 is our last year in Bundaberg, so in choosing the three years I am looking at the beginning, middle and end of his (and by proxy my) fishing life in the town.

One fascinating part of the review of the diaries was the discovery that I wasn’t dealing with a single fisher, but three. In the space of 8 years, Dad had evolved so much that his outlook on the world changed radically.

Each of the three years captures not only changes in fishing style, but the

complete reworking of his fishing philosophy. Bill walked into Bundaberg with very practical concerns and left as a man seeking a much higher purpose. More on that later.

1976 It seems odd to me now that dad started out focused exclusively on putting fish on the table. The focus on fish wasn’t a culinary choice; this was his duty to provide for his family. In this time, while we weren’t poor, interest rates were high, and fish was an essential part of supplementing the weekly meal. In 1976 often the cost of fishing was lower than the price of steak. To be fair, there is only so much you can do with mince.

During this period his concerns were all practical and more than once he expressed deep frustration

The majority of the fishing during this time was with bait and self-sourced bait at that. Rubbish fish (like grinner) were filleted or put back live. Lures were part of the equation, Dad had used lures since the 1950s, but it’s pretty clear that results were the priority. Lures came out when the pressure was off or trolled in areas where baits would be wasted or impractical. Hardbodies and spoons dominated the tackle box.

1980 In 1979 ANSA (Australian National Sportfishing Association) came to town and dad was one of the early members.

ANSA provided him with two essential elements that he didn’t have when he first moved to Bundaberg.

First and foremost, ANSA provided an opportunity for

Bill (1976) with a typical mackerel of the time.

Mackerel were the mainstay in the family diet. when he didn’t bring home fish in the sense of letting people down. Oddly, this is as close as you get to dad engaging with the family, for he is a private man, as was his father and while he wouldn’t express his feelings verbally, his diaries give away his keen sense of duty to his family. He did feel that fishing and earning a salary was an essential contribution to the family wellbeing.

Old fashioned sentiments? In these days, yes. So much more is expected of men in relationships and for the better but maybe we undervalue sacrificing personal needs for the wellbeing of the family.

Fishing wasn’t fun; it was a job.

fellowship that I don’t think he had experienced before.

Here was a group of people that loved fishing as much as he did and would fish as often as he did, each sharing notes, competing and challenging one another in days where the internet and YouTube weren’t even a dream. A generation of fishers grew up together, not just figuratively but as fishers. This bond would shape them as a group, and it’s impossible to understate the way that fishing clubs – when the fishing tackle was only beginning to come of age – were in the golden era of fishing.

The second way in which ANSA changed the equation for dad was the

way it gave fishing meaning.

For the first time dad valued fish beyond food. During this year fishing became fun; he set goals, joined in competitions and celebrated fish that scored highly in the line class system. More and more he focused on lures, with smaller homemade hardbodies and poppers, Mister Twisters and a much broader array of the Halco

his first fish – PA0001 – a mackerel tuna of all things.

Depressingly, the records of this time were maintained

by Fisheries and lost, but fortunately he kept a second record of the event in his diary; otherwise, this moment would be lost forever.

1984 By 1984 Bill had well and truly taken to tagging, and almost every trip saw fish

Bill with an ANSA record blue threadfin. slices. Even baits got the lure touch with various squids and skirts added to get the attention of mackerel on the troll. I think this period was when dad found passion in his fishing. The genuine thrill of fishing had taken him and I was swept up by FIGURE 1 Location Zero-Trips TOWNS 45% CAIRNS 41% HINCH 41% ROCK 37% FRASER 37% GOLDCOAST 35% KAR 35% SCOAST 34% BUND 33% MACKAY 30% BOWEN 30% WEIPA 29% AYR 29% BRIS 29% WHITSUNDAY 24% GLAD 17% STATE AVERAGE 33% his enthusiasm. I think this time was the most fun for me growing up.

The other exciting prequel moment that happened in 1980 was after a visit to Rockhampton to tag some fish; he tagged

released with a new piece of jewellery. Sports tackle was still in fashion, and ANSA masters fishing remained a primary objective. On the other hand, keeping fish was now a secondary concern, except where seasonal species were available such as school mackerel or staples like flathead. Lures were now the norm; bait was used when lures didn’t deliver results. Soft plastics – newer versions of the Mister Twisters and Vibrotails – were the estuary go-to for almost all species.

His journey would come full circle at the end of the year. The family moved to Rockhampton, and with the move, Bill would take over managing the state tagging program from Queensland Fisheries. Twelve months later the sports tackle would progressively be replaced with heavy gear intended to minimise fish play time and maximise survival from tagging. Four years into life in ANSA he had achieved near all he wanted to as research would replace sports fishing. Fishing would still be fun, but now he had a higher purpose – collecting data and learning as much as

FIGURE 2 Category Trips Number zero-trips Percentage zero-trips possible about the fishery.

Another change would come with the move north – his broad list of target species under ANSA was replaced by a singular focus on barramundi in the Fitzroy.

The man that had come to Bundaberg with a mission to feed his family would leave with a passion for tag and release and improving fish stocks. Eight years in Bundaberg shaped not just his fishing skills, but his fishing worldview.

ZERO-TRIPS ARE ‘PROBLEMATIC’ I want to say that I hate the word ‘problematic.’

Saying something is problematic is like saying I have no idea where the problem is but it might be somewhere over there. Zerotrips do sort of fit into the category of waving your finger wildly in the general direction of zero. In the case of the diaries, there were four clear reasons for a zero-trip: • Sometimes no fish were sighted – it happens to the best of us.

• Sometimes unimportant by-catch was caught but not considered worth noting the specifics.

• Sometimes fish were hooked and dropped, busted off or lost at the boat.

• Sometimes fish were intentionally lost, that is trips with a known target using tackle that will be hard to stop the fish on. In one instance two zero trips were noted with the footnote “Yellowtail King 9, Sawynoks 0.”

Only one of these options indicates no interaction with fish.

Fish lost due to tackle was a common outcome in 1980-84 when we were often fishing sports tackle, 1-3kg nylon. For this reason, in the diary entries for 1980 and 1984 in particular the actual catches are underrepresentative as there were a number of fish lost due to the use of highly challenging tackle. I haven’t included these fish in the tally because it’s impossible to know how often that happens in the modern data sets.

ZERO IS A VERY INTERESTING NUMBER One of the things I have learned through the years is that zero-trips are one of the best measures of fishing ability and, by proxy, the condition of the fishery. In mediocre times, the best fishers still find fish; they don’t find as many, but they rarely see zero. Equally, in times where zero-trips are low in the general fishing population, conditions are pretty good. Quick caveat – here I am referring to a widely accessible fishery

Local Visitor 934 553 328 157 35.1% 28.4% over time.

In this case, I am using zero as a straight measure regardless of the number of fishers, so I’m not looking at the total effort, just how often fishing trips were successful in finding fish.

Figure 4 has the ratio of zero trips comparing dad in the 1970s and 80s and surveys in 2016-17. Dad’s exact zero-trip rate (i.e., when he encountered no fish) was steady in 1980-1984 around 2%. The increasing zero-trip rate is related to the rising level of difficulty in the tackle and thus greater risks he was taking. The ANSA points system is a risk-reward system and the primary explanation for the discrepancy. Once tagging became his focus, Bill went the opposite direction, taking the risk out in favour of

success than the locals?

Visitors to the area spend more time in productive offshore regions, which improves their success rates.

However for this exercise, I am comparing with the past, so I am interested in the 35.1% figure, which is significantly higher than Dad’s worst year of 14%.

For reasonable comparison, I am excluding locals.

LOOKING AT CATCH DATA There are a lot of intriguing numbers in the catch data. First, the data reflects my intuitive reading of the diaries. The kept rate in 1976 for both inshore and offshore was over 90% but by 1984 that had dropped to 45-58% respectively, which is a significant drop in 8 years. Many things changed in that time; fish became more of a good to have than an essential. Dad was targeting fish for specific goals as well, so the species focus changed a lot. Fast forward to today, and you are lucky if Bill keeps a single

Percentage of zero-trips reported. reducing stress on fish.

Looking at the 2017 result, which is a better sample than 2016, the 33% is a figure that also needs some exploring. Here are the statewide results for zero-trips for 2017 based on boat ramp surveys. The total number of flights is just below 19,000, which is an excellent sample. To be honest, the result of this table is an article all of its own, but in context, Bundaberg’s

fish in a year.

Another interesting observation – the ratio of offshore trips went up a lot in 1984; this is reflective of the catch rate being better than in the estuary – 1984 was a good year offshore. Fishers do follow the fish. The drop in targeting of bread and butter estuary species in 1980 lines up with the focus on ANSA masters fish and competitions where species like bream didn’t offer much

FIGURE 3 Year Percentage estuary trips Avg number of fishers Estuary catch rate (fish/fisher/day) Offshore catch rate (fish/fisher/day) Percentage kept estuary Percentage kept offshore Percentage bream/whiting/ javelin/flathead Percentage mackerel/tuna No estuary species No offshore species zero-trip rate is middle of the road for the major centres across the state (Fig. 1).

That is only part of the story, Bundaberg region has a reasonable number of visitors, especially to 1770 and Round Hill. When you view the results for locals vs. visitors you get Figure 2.

So what gives? Why are visitors having more

trips taken 1976-1984 would have been picked up in boat ramp surveys on time of day at least. So what gives? Offshore targeting of mackerel didn’t require traveling too far, nor large boats. It’s a mystery.

IS BUNDABERG BETTER OR WORSE NOW? Of course, the main point of reflection is to compare past with the present. There are going to be all manner of not like for like, not enough science arguments that come up, so I am going to fall back on what my gut says on balance of evidence. In other words – this is my opinion.

On that front, people make decisions without science all the time. The accuracy of judgment is down to the accuracy of availability of evidence, and in my experience, there is enough evidence to take a good stab at it.

Straight up my view is the fishery has degraded quite a bit since the 1976 starting point. In 1976 dad had no idea of the area, no GPS, no echo sounder and by modern standards primitive gear.

His background – fishing the Murray River and trout streams of Victoria provided limited preparation. All that taken into account, his catch rate of 3.95 fish/fisher/day in the estuary, which often included family, as the other fishers meant that conditions were pretty good.

Offshore is a little more complicated because catch rates seem pretty good.

That said, the much lower proportion of offshore trips than in the past and the absence of mackerel and tuna says that things have definitely changed and again I would say not for the better. It’s possible that Fisheries surveys are missing mackerel, but that seems very unlikely to me.

I keep falling back to fishers follow the fish. The next question now is why?

1976 45% 2.8 3.95 1.02 91% 92%

1980 1984 2016 59% 23% 80% 2.5 1.8 2.2 2.85 2.59 1.1 1.08 2.96 1.8 82% 58% 22.1% 90% 45% 59.5%

2017 63% 2.1 1.6 1.32 33.3% 46.2%

78.8% 60% 19 13

27.3% 84% 19 8

90.4% 2.2% 23 19

in the way of points.

The figure that stands out the most to me though is the way mackerel/tuna only made up 2.2% of the reported catch in 2017.

Mackerel and tuna were both staples in the Bundaberg fishery and widely targeted, as evidenced in many diary entries noting other fishers’ success. Most of the offshore

47.4% 73% 10 15

89.7% 0.0% 14 9

That answer is likely to be a complicated mix of factors, and there is nothing I have in the datasets I see that answers it outright.

The most crucial question is what do we do about it?

I don’t think Bundaberg is unique. I think many fishers are asking the same question – how do we get back to where we once belonged?

JULY 2018

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TOURNAMENT CALENDAR

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2018

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

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7-8 Jul

ABT BASS Pro Round 4

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11-12 Jul

ABT BASS Pro Round 5

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ABT BASS Electric Series Round 4

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ABT BREAM Series Round 8

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Greg Whitehead Memorial Challenge

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Wivenhoe Dam

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21-23 Sep

Tinaroo Barra Bash

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22-23 Sep

ABT BASS Pro Grand Final

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22-23 Sep

Bowen Family Fishing Classic

Bowen

4-6 Oct

Baffle Creek Family Fishing Festival

Baffle Creek

6-7 Oct

Bjelke Petersen Public Fishing Competition

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13-14 Oct

ABT BREAM Series Round 9

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South West Rocks

20-21 Oct

ABT BASS Australian Open

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19 Nov

ABT BARRA Tour Round 1

Kinchant Dam (evening event)

20 Nov

ABT BARRA Tour Round 2

Teemburra Dam (evening event)

21 Nov

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9

Morgan moves in at Mandurah

STORM

Queenslander and Fishing Monthly Magazines publisher Steve Morgan travelled west to the Mandurah BREAM event with winning the furthest thing from his mind. As it happened, a reduced arena and a shutdown of the bite meant that he rode the weight of a solitary 1.2kg black bream on day two of the event to victory.

Mandurah is a unique black bream fishery. With a massive estuary called Peel Inlet looking amazing (but barren of black bream), the fishing usually happens in the local Mandurah canals, which have fewer but bigger fish, or the Murray/Serpentine rivers, which hale many more smaller bream.

On day one of the event, calm weather meant that the entire arena was open to fish, and local gun, Jayden

Steve Morgan secured his 11th ABT BREAM win and his second in Western Australia with the close-fought Mandurah victory. a 1.20kg Mandurah canal fatty to the scales and moving from 4th to 1st in

a finish more fitting of a Bradbury than a Morgan.

“When I realised how

Canberra’s Stuart Walker landed this stunning 1.38kg Murray River bream on the first day to take the $500 Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream from the back of the boat.

Webb, bagged a solid 5-fish limit for 2.88kg up the Murray River to have daylight between him and the rest of the field.

With a strong wind warning on the Sunday, the tournament was completed in a reducedboundary arena, which left the door open in the trying conditions.

Getting only one bite all day, Morgan landed the fish that mattered, presenting

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888.

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JULY 2018

Scan the QR code to see the winners’ interview.

WINNING TACKLE Rod: Daiwa Mebaru 7’8” MX 78MML (released August 18) Reel: Daiwa Exist 2500LT Line: Yamatoyo Spinning Fluoro (4lb) Lure: Z-Man 2.5” Slim SwimZ in motor oil Jighead: JA’s Jigs 1/32oz round head with #4 Owner hook.

tough the fishing was in the strong winds on the Sunday, I thought that a big bite would make a real difference, but I didn’t think that I was going to be the one who got it,” Morgan said after the presentation.

He caught all of his weigh-in fish on one outfit. It was a Daiwa 7’9” Mebaru rod paired with a new Daiwa Exist LT 2500 reel. Spooled with 4lb Yamatoyo Spinning Fluoro, Morgan used this rig to cast, pitch and skip a motor oil coloured ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ in and around docks and pontoons. It was rigged on a JA Jigs Round Head 1/32oz head with a #4 Owner hook, made by Albany’s Jim Allen.

“I actually rigged the little swimbait on that hook because I was out of anything bigger,” Morgan explained, “but when I did it, it looked awesome in the water with the body rolling from side to side. And as an added bonus, it skip-cast amazingly.

“Since, I’ve found that plenty of black bream guys use small hooks like that because it helps with the hookups on blacks.”

Morgan fished the lower Murray on day one for a 4/5, 1.85kg bag before adding the 1.2kg brute on day two.

TOP 10 BOATERS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Angler Fish Weight Payout Steve Morgan, QLD 5/10 3.05kg $2,000 + $200 Pro option Jayden Webb, WA 5/10 2.88kg $1,100 Cam Whittam, Vic 4/10 2.58kg $800 Shane Owens, WA 5/10 2.19kg $725 + $250 1st Mercury Greg Cooper, WA 5/10 2.09kg $150 2nd Mercury Mark Crompton, NSW 3/10 1.90kg Paul Burton, WA 3/10 1.86kg $100 3rd Mercury Paul Siemaszko, WA 4/10 1.85kg Warren Carter, Vic 3/10 1.44kg Matthew Jeffery, WA 2/10 1.28kg For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Webb Narrowly Misses Maiden Win Native West Australian Jayden Webb is a perennial contender on the Mandurah arena and wasn’t rattled when the event was relocated to Mandurah from Perth because of bridgeworks cutting the arena in half.

Webb grew up fishing the Murray River, holidaying on Yunderup Island since birth, so he had a solid plan on day one of the event that

he executed to perfection.

“I fished man-made structure early and deep, snaggy banks later on in the day,” Webb said, “I’d have a couple of casts to the structure with an OSP Dunk first, and after that, I’d throw in an Ecogearaqua Bream Prawn rigged weightless on a Gamakatsu worm hook.”

The pattern proved productive for Webb, who

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Mike Hodges’ day one bag secured the Duffrods Big Bag prize for his first day’s efforts. His five biggest of his dozen legal bream for the day went 2.95kg.

DAIWA J-BRAID BIG BREAM ACT’s Stuart Walker boxed a cracking 1.38kg bream from the Murray River to take home $500 and a Daiwa J-Braid pack. It was fooled by a ZMan motor oil coloured grub fished along a laydown snag.

landed around a dozen legal bream on the first day and justified the 100 minute drive from the start line through the various slow-zones.

“I landed basically everything that I hooked on the Saturday, and you can’t ask for any more than that,” he said.

Webb used identical outfits for both techniques: Shimano gear consisting of Zodias rods, Twinpower 1000 reels, Mission Complete 14lb braided line and Ocea 6lb leaders.

It was a heartbreaking day on the Sunday to land a bream only a few millimetres short of legal length, and a single Sunday fish of any legal size would have secured him the win.

“It’s great to get the national circuit over here to WA and fish against the eastern anglers,” he concluded.

BREAM SERIES

Perth’s Jayden Webb landed a dozen bream on the Saturday to head into day two with the lead. His fish came in the Murray River on a mixture of OSP Dunks and Ecogearaqua Bream Prawns.

2.5” Slim SwimZ in motor oil

Victorian Michael Hodges collected his second non-Boater trophy of 2018 on the back of a cracking first-day bag of 5/5 for 2.95kg.

Inset: Michael’s choice of tackle.

Magic Mike’s Non-Boater Win Eastern non-boaters filled the podium in the Non-Boater division, with Victorian Mike Hodges taking the trophy.

It was Hodges’ second victory for the season after reigning supreme at St Helens, Tasmania, earlier in the year, proving that he’s a gun angler from the back of any boat in any state.

Fishing with Jayden

Webb on the Saturday, the best five of his nine legal bream landed on the first day weighed in at a tournament-best 2.95kg, gaining him the Duffrods Big Bag and what turned out to be an insurmountable lead for the event, even though, like Webb, he failed to weigh a bream on the second day.

Improvising in a baitfish-rich environment, Hodges distilled his

presentation down to a Squidgy Flickbait rigged on a Gamakatsu Wide Gape #4 hook, which was weighted with a 0.4 BB Split Shot (which weighs about 1/40oz).

Hodges’ preferred outfit was 7ft 1-3kg Nitro Vapour rod, matched to a Fin-Nor Affinity 2.0, which he loaded with 6lb Berkley Nanofil, with a 3m FC Rock 5lb leader.

“The key to the

presentation was to keep the bait just moving along the bottom. Then you’d feel the fish nipping at it and eventually one would eat it properly,” Mike said.

“I’ve been carrying these baits around for years but they were exactly what the fish wanted this weekend,” he concluded.

Round 4 AUGUST

25–26

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NOT IN SYSTEM

Go to ifishcomps in the app store or

TOP 9 NON BOATERS Place Angler 1 Michael Hodges, Vic 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Fish 5/10

Weight 2.95kg

Payout $200 Hobie +Costa + Prize Pack + $300 Pro option Stuart Walker, ACT 3/10 2.78kg $100 Hobie + $500 + Prize Pack James Morgan, ACT 3/10 1.36kg $75 Hobie + Prize Pack Graeme Kovacevic, WA 2/10 1.22kg Prize Pack Michael Sammut, WA 2/10 0.83kg Prize Pack Brendan McNamara, Vic 1/10 0.63kg Prize Pack Andy Mitchell, WA 1/10 0.62kg Prize Pack Chris Hill, WA 1/10 0.56kg Prize Pack Don Johnson, WA 1/10 0.32kg Prize Pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Location:

LOCK 9 MILDURA (2-Day Event)

Scan the QR code to see day one highlights.

2018 CENTRAL VIC PRO SERIES DATES Round 2. Dec 8&9

Mulwala (DC on the Lake)

This Series is for Teams of two only, check out the Central Vic Pro Series group on facebok for more details www.facebook.com/groups/CVLCPS/

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• Central VIC Pro Series • Central VIC Lure Casters Super Series Scan the QR code to see day two highlights.

For more information contact David Nelson 0418 378 944 roundy@cvlcss.com • www.cvlcss.com JULY 2018

85

Danes Tops Glenbawn at the top

STORM

Blue Mountains resident, 40 year old Troy Danes lives four hours from Glenbawn, but fished it like a seasoned local on his way to a dominant win at the biggest ABT BASS event held in recent years. Taking $3750 home for his efforts, it was a two-pronged approach that gained Danes the trophy and he plied his trade in the upper reaches of the lake on both tournament days.

“I fished the colour change right up the top of the dam where the water went from clear to algae coloured,” Danes said. “On the first day it was where the colour change started and on the Sunday it was right up the top of the lake.”

Danes’ key baits included an Ecooda 65mm jerkbait and a Keitech 2” Easy Shiner plastic bait rigged on a 1/6 or 1/8oz TT jighead that he’d painted with his daughter’s nail polish to match the colour.

Troy diligently worked the very top of the lake and took home $3,500 as well as the $250 Evinrude Bonus. he rigged the plastics on 8lb leader.

“The strike zone was definitely where the flat would drop into the old creekbed and we could fish

GARMIN BIG BASS Non-boater Dylan Byron took home the $500 Garmin Big Bass after presenting a 1.28kg specimen to the weighmaster. It ate a muscadine coloured Slider Crappie Grub on a 1/6oz TT jighead hopped in around 12ft of water at ‘the Boot.’ There was some quality air-rooting when it hit the net.

Leading the event on the Saturday meant Troy copped a lot of media attention on the Sunday from Peter Phelps.

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888.

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“On the Saturday, the jerkbait yielded quality fish while the plastic delivered numbers,” Troy continued, “ and it was amazing how long you could let the jerkbait sit before they ate it. It could sit stationary for 10 seconds before getting hammered.”

The Sunday, however, was when the teamwork came into play.

“I’d rip and fish the jerkbait fast – probably too fast – but when I ripped the hard lure hard, it’d stir up the bass and Collin, my non-boater, would clean them up on the plastic. It really was Who Shares Wins,” Danes said.

Troy used very similar outfits to fish the different baits – 1-4kg Duffrods Broken Bones with Shimano Stradic Ci4 reels that were spooled with 6lb Sunline PE-4. With the jerkbaits, he fished a 10lb V-Hard leader, whereas

the trees on this breakline.

I’d wind the Ecooda down to this point and then twitch it and let it sit,” Troy concluded.

As well as the winner’s cheque, Danes also added the $250 cash Evinrude Bonus to his payday for being the highest placed angler running an Evinrude.

Dylan Byron earned the Garmin Big Bass from the back of the boat.

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Greg Beattie started and finished the qualifier with a bang. Indeed, his final session 4.37kg was the Duffrods Big Bag of the event. We don’t know what happened in the Session 2 donut, but it definitely cost him a shot at the win.

TOP 10 BOATERS Place Angler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

Troy Danes 12/12 11.96 $3,500 + $250 Evinrude Bonus Tom Slater 12/12 11.43 $2,000 Kristoffer Hickson 12/12 10.63 $1150 Mitchell Cone 12/12 10.57 $900 Glenn Hayter 12/12 10.28 $800 Scott Hutchison 12/12 10.19 $700 Grant Clements 11/12 12.01 $600 Greg Beattie 8/12 8.01 $600 Grant Manusu 10/12 7.76 $600 Paul Aldous 9/12 7.74 For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Slater swims skirted jigs for second New NSW resident and ex-Queenslander Tom Slater obviously feels quite at home at Lake Glenbawn with his second-placed performance continuing a string of high placings at the Hunter Valley venue.

Each morning Slater started in ‘the Narrows’ – a section of the lake about halfway to the 8knot zone.

Targeting shallow rocky points with scattered weed and small shrubs, Slater used a Daiwa Double Clutch 75SP in a new colour called lemon sight special, which will be released as part of a new range of Double Clutch lures in August this year.

“The first morning myself and my non-boating partner Alan Clarke put two nice fish in the boat using the Double Clutches. We then looked to fill out our limit using small soft plastics before heading to weigh-in around the middle of the time zone.”

“The afternoon sessions were where I was really confident,” explained Slater.

“I keyed into a really good skirted jig bite fishing as shallow as 30cm out to about 10ft. The fish were up shallow, holding on standing and fallen timber and I targeted them with a Pro’s Factory 3/8oz Motion

Ecooda Jerkbait 65mm Pearl Shrimp

Jig with a 3” craw trailer.”

His rod of choice was a prototype Daiwa rod, which he is designing as part of a new range, which will be released later this year. “My jig rod I’m working on is 7’2” in length, rated 10-17lb and medium power – it’s the perfect Australian jig rod for fishing these lakes and rivers using a skirted jig.”

Slater paired his prototype rod with a Daiwa Steez A baitcast reel in 8.1:1 ratio, which he notes is essential for fishing a skirted jig. His line of choice was the new Daiwa J-Braid Grand in 20lb and a Daiwa J-Thread FC fluorocarbon leader in 12lb.

BASS PR O

Tom Slater’s infatuation with skirted jigs paid off with a solid second place in the Hunter Valley lake.

Keitech Easy Shiner 2” Lime Chartreuse

The highest placed Evinrude owner at each ABT BASS Pro event gets a $250 bonus.

Khouri SwimZ to maiden ABT non-boater win Topping the non-boater division, Sydney’s Tony Khouri was a popular winner. Sharing a boat with Troy Danes and Mitchell Cone, Tony’s primary weapon was a cut-down ZMan Slim SwimZ plastic in motor oil colour that he’d trim to about 1.5” long.

Tony’s just as adept at using this bait on the Costa BREAM Tour as he is using it on the Rapala BASS Circuit.

Rigging it on a Dam Deep 1/8oz jighead, Tony fished it across upper

lake breaklines on the first day, catching fish where the water dropped into the old creek bed. On the second day, fishing mid-lake with Mitchell Cone, he would slow roll it deeper in the water column.

Khouri fished the baits on a couple of Daiwa Battler Water Zombies – one with an Exist 2500 and the other fitted with a Shimano Stella 2500. Both were spooled with Sunline Castaway 10lb and terminated with Toray and Sunline Invisible fluorocarbon leaders between 4lb and 6lb.

“It was great to fish as a team in this BASS format,” Khouri recounted after the event, “The afternoon session ended with a bang and we were frantically upgrading bass after bass in the last few minutes.”

A participant in ABT’s BREAM and BASS events, it was only a matter of time until Tony topped the non-boaters and added the trophy to his pool room.

“The ABT format is a great way to accelerate your learning curve and I encourage anyone who is interested to sign up.”

Tony Khouri was stoked with his breakthrough ABT win.

TOP 10 NON BOATERS Place Angler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

Tony Khouri 12/12 11.68 Bassman Prize Pack Collin Robinson 12/12 10.85 Hobie Polarized Prize Pack Matthew Flynn 12/12 9.89 Hobie Polarized Prize Pack Dylan Byron 10/12 9.72 Samaki Zing Rod Bill Rose 11/12 9.65 Tonic Sunnies Orton Marchant 10/12 8.67 Prize Pack Alan Clarke 9/12 8.03 Prize Pack Scott Chard 9/12 7.76 Prize Pack Tim Steenhuis 8/12 7.68 Prize Pack Tani Konsul 8/10 7.24 Prize Pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

The Boater and Non-Boater Champions fished together on the Saturday.

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Allwood’s first ABT Qualifier win

STORM

Queenslander Terry Allwood wasn’t that confident fishing jerkbaits for Australian bass coming into the Hunter Valley swing of the Rapala BASS Pro Tour, but by the end of the Deps Qualifier at Lake St Clair, he’d accumulated a pile more experience and a $3,000 winner’s cheque to help him add to his collection of suspending hardbodies.

Weighing a 12/12, 10.88kg limit over the three sessions, Allwood rode the early morning jerkbait bite followed by a later-inthe-day plastic pattern to a 300g victory over fellow Queenslander, Matt Johnson.

It was his first and only ABT Qualifier win after a recent Grand Final victory at Bjelke-Petersen Dam. The Atomic sponsored angler used a slew of his supporter’s gear to catch his bass, including Samurai 181 (3-6lb) rods coupled with Daiwa Certate 2004 and Luvias 2004 reels

Being a clear water impoundment, St Clair’s bass are a magnificent golden colour.

In ABT BASS’s unique shared weight format, boaters and non-boaters combine to compile a limit of four bass per session. Terry Allwood and Matt Flynn combined perfectly to weigh big bags and take their respective trophies.

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888.

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JULY 2018

spooled with Unitika Light Jigging DLX 10lb braid and Unitika 6lb Nightgame FC Rock leaders.

His go-to plastic was an Atomic Plazo 2.5” Paddle Tail (avocado glitter colour and cut down to about 2”) with a 1/6oz Seekerz jighead (#1 hook) while the jerkbait preference was a clear 61mm Jackall Squirrel with an orange back and yellow head.

The outfits remained the same regardless of whether he was throwing the plastic or hardbody.

“I fished the Falbrook arm and had an amazing practice,” Allwood admitted, “there were fish everywhere and they were basically receptive to everything. At around 10am the bite slowed down a little and I made my way into the main basin fishing any shade pockets I could find and the fish kept coming.”

And that’s how the tournament-winning plan was formed.

Allwood noted that the jerkbait fish tended to be bigger, while the plastic eating fish were smaller and more plentiful.

“I suppose that if I was to identify if I was doing

anything different, it’d be that I tried to fish the jerkbait gently and quietly. Rather than trying to rip the lure hard, I’d rather swim it down and gently twitch and pause it. That was getting better results for me,” he said.

“Also with the plastics, I tried to sink them into pockets in the weeds. You’d feel a little tick in the line, you’d strike and they’d be on,” Terry continued.

And there’s no arguing with the results.

“Anglers are always happy when they are catching fish and the lake didn’t disappoint during the event, with a bite as good as any we’d seen in recent times resulting in lots of limits to the weighmaster,” he concluded.

WINNING TACKLE Rod: Samurai 181 3-6lb Reel: Daiwa Certate 2004 Line: Unitika Light Jigging DLX 10lb Leader: Unitika Nightgame FC Rock 6lb Jerkbait: Jackall Squirrel 61 Plastic: Atomic Plazo 2.5” Paddle Tail (avocado glitter) with 1/6oz Seekerz #1 jighead

TOP 10 BOATERS Place Angler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

Terry Allwood 12/12 10.88kg $3,000 Matt Johnson 12/12 10.58kg $1,500 Graham Ford 12/12 10.40kg $1,000 Kristoffer Hickson 12/12 10.37kg $900 Matthew Langford 12/12 10.10kg $800 Simon Marchant 12/12 9.89kg $700 Brian Everingham 12/12 9.60kg $600 Mark Lennox 12/12 9.35kg Troy Danes 12/12 9.31kg $250 Evinrude Bonus Glenn Hayter 12/12 9.27kg For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Johnson makes it a Queensland double Camping with Terry Allwood, it seems as though the Queensland camp pooled knowledge to defeat the local anglers on their home turf.

“I fished one of the arms and Terry fished the other,” Matt Johnson said, “and our techniques were very similar.”

Johnson used a 61mm Jackall Squirrel in albino chartreuse and lime squash colours to catch his quality fish at the expense of number of bites.

“My co-anglers were happy to throw plastics and that suited me just fine,” Johnson said, “they could keep the bag ticking over

GARMIN BIG BASS Again, the Garmin Big Bass came from the back of the boat, with non-boater Caine Goward winning $500 for landing a magnificent 1.44kg St Clair bass on a Keitech Easy Shiner.

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Kris Hickson saved the best until last on St Clair, weighing the Duffrods Big Bag with Matthew Flynn on the last session. Their 4.20kg limit was one of only two bags that topped the 4kg mark all weekend.

while I chased kicker fish.

It was only when it calmed right off on the Sunday that I threw a plastic too.”

Johnson’s kit consisted of a BarraBass P704 made on a North Fork blank, a 25 sized Quantum reel, 10lb Siglon PE-8 braid and 10lb Siglon V-Hard leader.

When he fished a plastic, it was a Keitech 3” Swing Impact in Baby Ayu colour on a 1/6oz TT jighead.

Unlike others, Johnson only used short pauses with his jerkbait.

“For me, the bass would hit the suspending lure on the first second of the pause, so I tended to work my bait a little faster then everyone else,” Matt said, proving that if you fish with confidence, the bass will respond.

BASS PR O

Matt Johnson followed up a forgettable Glenbawn performance with a nearperfect campaign on Lake St Clair - mainly using jerkbaits in the clear water.

Atomic Plazo 2.5” Paddle Tail in avocado glitter

Sink and slow wind

Non-boater Caine Goward won $500 for landing a magnificent 1.44kg St Clair bass on a Keitech Easy Shiner.

Flynn Follows up BASS Electric Convention win Proving that his 2017 BASS Electric Convention win wasn’t a fluke, Lismore’s Matt Flynn added a non-boater trophy to the cabinet. Confident in the jerkbait bite, he

added fish to the will with a Jackall Squirrel in Suji colour and on a Keitech soft plastic.

“I’d use small, fast rips and long pauses to get the reaction,” Flynn said, “and I mean long pauses. It was

common for a bass to eat the bait after it was suspending for over five seconds.”

Learning to bass fish in lakes, Flynn’s learning curve was steep on St Clair.

He wasn’t really confident throwing a plastic, but

caught plenty of fish on a 2” Keitech Easy Shiner.

Flynn’s gear consisted of a Shimano Rarenium 2500 reel, NS Hurricane 4-10lb rod, 10lb Sunline

braid and 8lb Sunline FC Rock leader.

“I drew Terry Allwood and Kris Hickson, so when you’re fishing with guys like that and throwing back

800g fish for upgrades you are going to have a good time,” he said.

It seems as though the trophy and prizes were just a bonus.

TOP 10 NON BOATERS Place Angler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

Matthew Flynn 12/12 11.78kg Bassman prize Pack Caine Goward 12/12 10.73kg Hobie Polarizes sunnies + $500 Lochie Rutherford 12/12 10.40kg Hobie Polarizes sunnies Dylan Byron 11/12 10.11kg Tonic sunnies Scott McIntyre 12/12 9.56kg Samurai Reaction rod Paul Mazaroli 12/12 9.55kg Prize pack David Hedges 12/12 9.46kg Prize pack Cole Hutchinson 12/12 9.30kg Prize pack Brendan Pieschel 12/12 9.16kg Prize pack Joe Smith 12/12 8.91kg Prize pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Non-Boater Matt Flynn drew Kris Kickson on one of the days and enjoyed a fantastic jerkbait bite.

JULY 2018

89

Trades, Services, Charter BAIT & TACKLE

Lazer Lures Catch Fish

New Lazer 60g with premium VMC hooks, a must-have lure in every serious tailor fisherman’s tackle box.

BOAT MODIFICATIONS & REPAIRS

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PROFISH BOATS – Phone Peter 0417 782 114

www.lazerlures.com

Email: peter@profishboats.com www.profishboats.com

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Salt-Away www.salt-away.com.au

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

BCF www.bcf.com.au Davo’s Tackleworld Noosaville (07) 5449 8099 Davo’s Tackleworld Marcoola (07) 5448 8244 Lazer Lures – www.lazerlures.com.au Tackle Warehouse Brisbane (07) 3398 6500

Bluewater Windscreens Brisbane (07) 3382 7883

+ 50km of sheltered waterways on the Gold Coast’s Broadwater + No Licence required CALL FOR A + Boats from $995 DEAL + 2-12 berth

Oceanic Boat Trailers (07) 5597 0577 Sea-Link Special Trailers (07) 3881 3568 Spitfire Trailers (07) 0400 866 323 Tinnie Tosser (07) 5498 7339

MARINE ELECTRONICS

MARINE ELECTRONICS

Small Craft Electrics (mobile) 0408 063 064

• 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

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TINNIE HIRE AVAILABLE

Lake Monduran House Boat www.lakemonduranhouseboathire.com.au Rainbow Beach Houseboats (07) 5486 3146

BOAT HIRE // TRAILER

Brisbane Boat Painting 0433 356 620

MARINE TRAILERS

ONSITE AND MOBILE INSTALLATIONS

MARINE MECHANICS

FRASER COAST

BRISBANE

Wondall Rd Marine (07) 3396 5633

CMC Marine Sales 0409 910 808

T&S Marine (07) 5546 2599

BOAT PAINTING

WYNUMM MANLY-BAYSIDE

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Marine Windows and Doors Brisbane (07) 3284 5088

Great family and fishing boats!

Boab Boat Hire - 1300 002 622

MARINE MECHANICS // MOBILE

Boat Collar (07) 5441 3636

Iconic Boats Brisbane 0475 311 447

GOLD COAST

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Minn Repairs & Servicing Call Troy 0412 605 080 – W: minnrepairs.com minnrepairsservicing E: minnrepairs@gmail.com

ASM Mobile Welding Brisbane 0409 624 402

BOAT HIRE // HOUSE

+ 07 5502 6200 + www.coomerahouseboats.com.au

• All electric motor brands • Australia wide freight • Quick turn around • Authorised Minn Kota/Watersnake repairer

Whitewater Marine (07) 5532 4402

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND Brisbane Yamaha (07) 3888 1727 Caloundra Marine (07) 5491 1944 Capalaba Boat Centre 04011 728 379 Coorparoo Marine (07) 3397 4141 Cunningham Marine Centre (07) 3284 8805 Holt Marine (07) 3353 1928 Northside Marine (07) 3265 8029 Stones Corner Marine (07) 3397 9766

NORTH QUEENSLAND Reef Marine Mackay (07) 4957 3521

MARINE OUTBOARD WRECKERS TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND North Queensland Outboard Wreckers Townsville 1800 812 748

FISH TAXIDERMY Fish Taxidermist www.fishtaxidermy.net.au or 0428 544 841

FISHING GUIDES 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

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.

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Boats & Guided Fishing Tours Directory MARINE TRIMMERS SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND Affordable Boat Covers Gold Coast 0419 424 587 Brisbane Yamaha (07) 3888 1727 Rays Canvas & Marine Caboolture (07) 5499 4911 Rowland Street Boat Trimmers Springwood (07) 3208 9511

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

NORTHERN NSW

N O W AVA IL A B L E

Evans Head Deep Sea Fishing Charters 0428 828 835 Reel Time Fishing Charters Yamba 0428 231 962 Wooli Fishing Charter (02) 6649 7100

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CENTRAL QUEENSLAND

• 6am to 2pm $150pp • 3 boats – holds up to 30+ people • All fishing gear and bait is supplied • No fishing licence req.

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Phone Dave today: www.fishingyamba.com.au 0428 231 962 OPEN 7 DAYS

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CHARTER BOATS GOLD COAST BK’s Gold Coast Fishing Charters 0414 293 034 Coastal Sports Fishing Charters Gold Coast 0412 691 929 Discovery Fishing Charters Gold Coast 0427 026 519 Fish The Deep Charters 0416 224 412 Gold Coast Fishing Charters 0411 605 090 Gone Fishing Charters Gold Coast (07) 5529 7833 Hooker 1 Charters Gold Coast (07) 5528 6469 My Charter Boat Tweed Heads 0407 347 446 Paradise Fishing Charters 0403 531 428 RU4 Reel Tweed Heads 0449 903 366 Sea Probe Fishing Charters 0400 312 330 True Blue Fishing Gold Coast (07) 5510 9622

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SUNSHINE COAST Fish n Crab Charters Mooloolaba 0412 155 814 Fishing Offshore Noosa 0418 889 956 Hervey Bay Fishing Charters (07) 4125 3958 Incredible Charters 1300 655 818 Keely Rose Deep Sea Fishing Charters 0407 146 151 Noosa Fishing Charters (07) 5665 8170 Odyssey Charters Deep Sea Fishing (07) 5478 1109 Offshore Reef and Game Fishing 0413 485 402 Rainbow Beach Fishing Charters 0439 775 070 Smithy’s Fishing Charters Sunshine Coast 0407 574 868 Sunshine Coast Fishing Charters (07) 5500 0671 Top Catch Charters Sunshine Coast 0429 013 012

1 7 27

MARINA BOAT & TACKLE, YAMBA MARINA

YAMBA’S LARGEST TACKLE STORE • Chandlery • Boat Sales • Ice & Gas • Bait & Tackle • Trailers Sales & Parts • Charter Bookings Ph: 6646 1994 or 0428 231 962 Email: dave@gaden.com.au Now Agents For

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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 Norval Reef Charters 1800 771 234 Iluka Fishing Charters Gladstone 0414 940 911 Kanimbla Charters Gladstone1800 677 202

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Advertisers wanting to be involved in this directory can call (07) 3387 0834 or email nkelly@fishingmonthly.com.au JULY 2018

91

FUN PAGE AND COMPETITIONS FISH THAT ARE USED FOR SUSHI

ALBACORE BLUEFIN TUNA ESCOLAR FATTY TUNA FRESHWATER EEL HALIBUT JELLYFISH MACKEREL MONKFISH

HORSE MACKEREL RED SNAPPER STRIPED JACK SQUID SARDINE URCHIN TAMAGO YELLOWFIN TUNA YELLOWTAIL

Valley Hill Rocketeer Slicer

Name: Address:

P/Code:

The first correct entry at the end of each month will win the prize pack.

SEND ENTRIES TO: QLD Find-a-word Competition, PO box 3172, Loganholme Qld 4129

QLD JULY 2018

Phone (day):

FINS SCALES & TALES by A. Both

The Rocketeer Slicer from Japanese tackle giant Valley Hill is a real feat of Japanese design and engineering.

The Rocketeer Slicer has a unique metal plate at the nose of the jig, which lets you secure line in two places, and ensures a superior swimming action even through debris. In addition, its tail system lets you cast more effectively into the wind.

The Rocketeer Slicer is available in two sizes (3.0 and 3.5) and 13 different colour combinations. It has proven to be highly effective on Australian squid. www.dogtoothdistribution.com.au

SPOT THE

10 DIFFERENCES

GEORGE & NEV by Michael Hardy

ORIGINAL

FIND-A-WORD

Hill, G Herring of Gympie, A Hewlett of Mothar MAJOR FIND THE PRIZE Mountain, J Lestor of Beachmere, A Scott Congratulations to the following readers, of Proserpine, J Conte of Tullera, M Bunn of who won the Gamakatsu Major Prize draws: Frenchville, P Fill of Turkey Beach, G Anderson 1st J Paul of Inverell, who won a $1000 of of Emu Park, J Reed of Mooloolah Valley, C Frogleys Offshore products; 2nd F Heiniger Couper of Chinchilla, D Wolski of Pine Mountain, of Woombye, who won a $500 of Frogleys J Routledge of Bundaberg, B Newton of Trinity Offshore products; 3rd D Skewes of Bli Bli, Beach, J Dennien of River Ranch, S Dawson of won a $200 of Frogleys Offshore products.

SUBSCRIBER PRIZE The subscriber prize winner for May is M Gympie, T Graeff of The Gap. Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – QFM Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – QFM Yourell of Salisbury, who won a Halco giveaway valued at $300.

All subscribers are entered in the monthly LAST MONTH’S ANSWERS subscriber prize draws. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – QFM Congratulations to Jeffrey Rogers from Tambo, who was last month’s winner of the Find-aWord Competition!

Monthly winners receive a sponsor prize.

Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – QFM

FIND THE DAIWA LOGO

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JULY 2018

GUESS THE FISH?

This month’s Guess the Fish Answer: Sweetlip

The answers to Find the Daiwa Logo for May were: 10, 18, 21, 22, 28, 30, 33, 34, 47, 49, 65, 67, 74, 105, 109. – QFM The Find the Daiwa Logo prize winners for May were: S Davies of Emerald, G McGrath of Avoca, J Dawson of Cordalba, G Mason of Kalkie, G Sprott of Glenlee , S Robertson of Lowmead, M Chadwick of Burrum Heads, R Davis of Sarina, N Euston of Tully, A Jamieson of Sarina, M Harrison of Rothwell, T Grice of Caboolture, J Goody of Mt Berryman, W Gore of New Beith, I Wogandt of Riverheads, R Schefe of Point Vernon, N Watters of Veteran, D Gibson of Bongaree, R Maher of Woombye, P Cauchi of Kepnock, D Dunk of Proserpine, C Layt of New Aukland, H Stanley of Maryborough, S Theofanes of Home

Answer:

boats & kayaks

In the skipper’s seat

94 Raby Bay by kayak Inside story...

Stessco is an Australian owned and operated family business. With a love of fishing and boating, Stessco has built a wide-ranging network of dealerships, with the goal of providing customers with dependable, value-for-money aluminium boats. Stessco prides itself on the wide variety of options available which can be added to the already wide range of different vessels.

Made for...

Anglers who are after a reliable tinny that can be customised to suit their individual requirements and fishing style.

This month...

Steve Morgan takes the mighty Stessco Sunseeker 620 with Yamaha 150hp 4-stroke for a spin. You can check it out on page 100.

Troy Brown breaks down this wonderful multi-species kayak fishery not far from Brisbane’s CBD.

96 Float tube basics

Justin Willmer, in his mission to explore all different ways to get on the water, climbs into a float tube for the first time.

98 Anchor up!

Wayne Kampe provides a few tips to make anchoring up a more easy and manageable task.

102 Horizon 515 Northerner

Wayne Kampe takes a ride in this marvellous rig powered by a Yamaha 115hp on the Gold Coast.

Raby Bay: kayak fishing Nirvana BRISBANE

Troy Brown

Having fished nearly exclusively from boats for the past 25 years, I must confess to becoming oblivious to fishing opportunities close to

productive, but were just as often fruitless. While leaving the boat ramp, small boats and kayaks could be seen working the areas close to shore, but my belief was these poor souls simply did not have the ability to venture to better fishing grounds.

My first forays in the area

Canals offer refuge for prized species. shore. It has been my belief that you must travel great distances to find great fishing action, as surely all of the good fish are on distant islands or reefs?

A KAYAK CONVERT Selling my boat and becoming a kayak fanatic has dramatically altered my opinion. While it is possible to reach nearby islands and reefs, practicality dictates that kayak fishos will focus heavily on inshore opportunities.

Those local creeks, estuaries and freshwater dams that I shunned as a boater, are now my only focus as an angler.

Making this change has truly been a revelation.

Despite some lean trips (my first eight kayak fishing attempts resulted in zero fish), I have now discovered many local gems that I previously bypassed as a boat owner. Areas that were simply launch points for bigger adventures, have now become productive hunting grounds for my kayak fishing obsession.

Raby Bay VMR boat ramp was a regular launch point for my boat. Leaving that ramp, we would travel to places such as Peel Island, or venture further into the bay to locations such as Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef.

These trips were sometimes

by kayak did little to dispel this myth. Having changed from bait fishing to plastics at the same time as buying a kayak, a large number of failed trips confirmed inshore areas were devoid of fish.

My first indication that I was the problem came from keen plastics fisher Patrick

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For those seeking a simpler method, Matt explains there are many options in the bay itself.

“If you are a reef fisho, heading to the nearby reefs is always guaranteed to reward,” he said. “The reef usually holds sweetlip and juvenile snapper, with the odd monster cod lurking to bust you off in their holes.

“The further out you go, the more likely you are to encounter trevally, and word is there are cobia around the drop-offs.

“If you like to target reef sharks, the drop-offs are a good spot to fish.”

Raby Bay features a variety of fishing scenarios within a reasonably compact area. This is a bonus for those fishing from kayaks, as

Mid-sized catches on light gear increase the challenge. anglers, most of the area has potential to hold good fish.

There are a number of small structures throughout, so it is best to explore and find zones that carry less traffic.

Spoil grounds just outside the bay and the area outside Cleveland Point are also frequent targets. According

Quality juvenile snapper can be found by patient anglers.

Raby Bay offers simple launch points for kayakers.

Coldwell. Patrick told me of his success fishing with plastics, prompting the question of whether my technique was causing the failures. Seeking his advice, he spoke the words that totally changed my perception not only of soft plastics, but also of shallow water fishing.

Patrick advised me to fish the plastics like bait.

It took me another couple of trips to discover what Patrick meant by that

Bream are plentiful close to shore.

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statement. How do you fish plastics like bait? Having watched countless fishing shows, with the host working the plastics mercilessly with various retrieves, I discovered that sometimes the best method is simply letting the plastic work itself. With some additional assistance on choosing suitable plastics and jigheads from Tim Donselaar of the Qld Hobie Crew (QHC), I finally discovered my plastics mojo, while also finding how truly excellent the fishing is around the shallows of Raby Bay. RAVING ABOUT RABY BAY Leaving from one of the many beaches along the Raby Bay Foreshore Park on Masthead Drive at Cleveland, there are a multitude of excellent fishing opportunities available for the kayak fisher. For those seeking an area less exposed to wind, the adjacent canals are an obvious choice. If you do fish the canals, prepare to be patient. Canal fish are more readily spooked, using the abundant structure to their advantage. Enticing a fish away from a floating pontoon is not an easy

task, so patience, skill and a liberal amount of luck is required.

Regular Raby Bay fisher Matt Graham believes the canals can be worthwhile.

“There is an abundance of species which inhabit the canals, with bream and flathead a common catch,” he said to me. “They are also home to cod, trevally and the odd mangrove jack, if you know where to target them.”

Subtle disturbances send canal fish diving for cover, so you need to be clever in your approach to catching them. Casting forward of the pontoons and retrieving back along the face of the structure will help lure finicky fish out from cover and onto your hooks. Casting a very light plastic into structure, letting it fall gently and naturally to the bottom, will also entice hits from reluctant fish.

Whatever your technique, be respectful of canal residents. You should try to avoid letting your plastic hit moored boats or get stuck in a home owner’s pontoon.

less time is wasted in transit to your favourite angling locations. Within 30 minutes of the shore, the angler has access to mangrove-like structure, smooth sandy bottoms, rubble-strewn flats, reef and drop-offs. Learning which of these bottoms to target is possibly the hardest choice, as each area can hold fish and offer a different experience for the angler.

Prior to fishing Raby Bay for the first time, it is wise to make use of a service such as Google Maps. The overview presented on satellite imagery gives an amazing view of an incredible fishery. While the satellite imagery does not show the depth contours provided by a good sounder and GPS combo, sandbanks, reefs and deeper structure are shown in vivid detail.

Fishing these areas is a simple matter of deciding whether you are focusing on a single species, or wish to catch a variety of fish.

For those targeting multiple species, drifting through the many depth and seafloor changes is an ideal solution.

Within 100m, you can change from catching bream to flathead, sweetlip, cod or juvenile snapper. The angler that chooses this method needs to be prepared, with a couple of rigs pre-set for fishing different depths.

While the western section of Raby Bay seems to be the focus of most

to Matt, if you are into all day fishing sessions and want an epic day, you can even follow the reef all the way around to Wellington Point. Many of the best catches are accounted for in areas that may not traditionally be thought to hold fish, so exploration is the key to success.

RIGS AND PRESENTATIONS Regardless of the species you are chasing, fishing light will increase your catch rates.

While there are occasional larger fish on offer, this area

a quality fluorocarbon leader are ideal. If fishing with soft plastics, light jigheads of around 1/20-1/32oz are superb when fishing the shallow flats. Depending on water flow, it may be better to use an unweighted weedless presentation, as this will help to avoid bust-offs on weed and rubble. Small 2.5” plastics such as the ZMan GrubZ and Ecogear Minnows will account for a large number of bream and flathead.

If fishing the deeper areas, there is generally no need to upsize your gear. Jighead weights will need to increase, but as the water in most areas of Raby Bay does not exceed 5m, there is typically no need for weights exceeding 1/8oz.

Slightly larger plastics can be useful and I have found the Ecogear 3.5” Balt, bounced along the deeper drop-offs, has accounted for some larger squire.

Regardless of whether you want to chase the hardhitting mangrove jacks, small bream or sharks, fishing with a local expert will improve your catch. To get the best out of the experience, fish with a friend, or use the trip as an opportunity to socialise with the friendly kayaking community. Join one of the friendly kayak groups on Facebook (Queensland Hobie Crew and Yak Hunters are particularly active) and you

Kristian Wilson lands his first Raby Bay snapper. has an abundance of small to mid-size offerings, so keeping tackle light will help you to land more fish. The occasional larger specimen can still be caught on a lighter outfit, so fish light and increase the enjoyment of the fight.

Rods in the 2-4kg range, matched with 4kg braid and

will receive many offers of tag-along trips. Members of these groups are typically very sociable and will be willing to assist you in improving your fishing success. While there are no guarantees of instant success, fishing Raby Bay with patience and experimentation will lead you to fishing Nirvana.

WHAT’S NEW BOATING SIMRAD SOFTWARE 1 UPDATE

NEW MERCURY OUTBOARDS

Simrad has released a software update for NSS evo3, NSS evo2, NSO evo2 and GO Series displays that includes sonar enhancements, C-MAP charting improvements and touchscreen control of MotorGuide Xi5 trolling motors.

At the heart of the release is FishReveal.

Unlike traditional CHIRP Sonar views that provide strong fish targets but lack refined structure detail, or DownScan that provides photo-like images of bottom and structure but shows fish as tiny dots, FishReveal Smart Target Viewing combines the best data from both, eliminating the need for split-screen viewing and interpretation.

Exclusive to NSS evo3 displays, Enhanced Sonar Imaging delivers industry-leading clarity and range, with near-photographic images to each side and below your boat. SideScan, DownScan Imaging and StructureScan 3D now produces richer images with enhanced detail and better contrast.

Additionally, C-MAP charts just got a major upgrade in readability, and you can now control the Xi5 trolling motor from the touchscreen of your Simrad display (Xi5 control excludes GO7 displays). www.simrad-yachting.com

Mercury has released multiple new V-8 4.6L outboards: 250 and 300hp Verado; 250 and 300hp FourStroke; and 200, 225, 250 and 300hp Pro XS. There’s also a new V-6 3.4L model – 175hp Pro XS. The new 250 and 300hp V-8 Verados provide exhilarating performance across the rpm range. The 300 is up to 20% quicker and over 3km/h faster than the closest competitor, while still providing up to 8% better fuel economy.

The new 250 and 300hp V-8 FourStrokes deliver powerful performance while remaining quiet, efficient, reliable and strong. The new V-8 powerhead generates plenty of torque, with the 300hp FourStroke delivering up to 9% more torque than the nearest competitor at 3500-4500rpm. It boasts class-leading 4.6L displacement yet is the lightest in its class.

These outboards are also very versatile, with Digital Throttle Shift (DTS) controls and the choice between hydraulic or power steering.

The new 175hp V-6 (along with the 200, 225, 250 and 300hp V-8 Pro XS outboards) boasts ample torque and superior acceleration.

Adaptive Speed Control maintains the driver’s desired rpm regardless of load or condition. www.mercurymarine.com.au

LEWMAR HX1 WINDLASS

FUSION PANEL-STEREO

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Lewmar has launched a new range of stylish, strong and reliable horizontal windlasses that utilise a superior in-line motor and epicyclical gearbox within a strong aluminium chassis and a polymer cover. Designed to provide years of trouble-free use, the Lewmar Horizontal Anchor Windlass HX1 gives you two gypsy options to choose from: one to suit 6mm, 7mm and ¼” chain; and the other option to suit 8mm chain.

Features include: motor range of 500W and 800W in 12V; high efficiency epicyclical gearbox; sealed waterproof unit which requires minimum maintenance; anodised aluminium chassis with polymer cover; IP67 rated as standard; and proven polymer gypsy (quieter compared to metal gypsies). As well as featuring reliable and durable construction, these new windlasses are also backed by a 3-year warranty for added peace of mind.

Price: from SRP $1987 www.bla.com.au

WHITTLEY FLEETMASTER

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Whittley is celebrating 65 years of building high-quality boats, and to mark this milestone they are releasing two limited edition heritage cruisers: the Fleetmaster 23 and Fleetmaster 26.

The 7.6m Fleetmaster 23 soft top sports cruiser has a standard double berth, fridge, sink, stove, toilet and a large moulded rear platform. The variable deadrise provides the perfect balance between ride and stability. The BMT package is priced from MRRP $99,990*, which includes a high quality Mackay Trailer, Volvo Penta V6 200 SX and a long list of standard equipment.

The hard top 8.5m Fleetmaster 26 has a full length hard top and large sliding sunroof.

The large cabin features a stand up head and well-appointed galley, with room for four adults and a sliding cabin door. The BMT package, with a Mackay Trailer and Volvo V6 200 SX, is priced from MRRP $149,990*. Both models are under the legally trailerable beam of 2.5m. (*Excludes pre-delivery charges, safety equipment, respirations and freight). www.whittleymarinegroup.com.au

PRODUCT GUIDE

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Fusion’s Panel-Stereo combines all the elements required for excellent audio reproduction: Class D amplification, Fusion Digital Signal Processing (DSP), dual 3” speakers, and a passive base radiator all inside a single tuned enclosure.

It offers AM/FM, USB, AUX and Bluetooth streaming, and exceptional sound reproduction from a single product. You can control the audio via Bluetooth from compatible Apple or Android devices, or from a compatible Garmin watch.

Designed for surface mounting with the optional 43mm surface mounting spacer, Panel-Stereo can be installed onto any flat surface with no mounting cut-out required. It’s ideal for installation in shallow wall cavities, with only a single cut-out, and both flush and flat options are available.

It has an IP65 water and dust resistance rating, and requires only 12V DC power, ground and AM/FM connections, so the setup is quick and easy. www.fusionentertainment.com

YAMAHA V8 425 XTO

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Yamaha has announced the August launch of the new V8 425 XTO (Extreme Offshore) outboard.

This massive 425hp V8 engine delivers extreme power and thrust, combined with a fully integrated power and control system. Powered by a big bore, 5.6L, naturally aspirated engine, the V8 425 XTO has been engineered to drive large props for maximum thrust.

Yamaha has developed the first ever fourstroke direct fuel injection powerhead, delivering the highest compression ratio of any outboard.

Other features include an oversized gearcase, hardened gears, a robust, offshore wide-span bracket and engine mounts, and proven plasma fusion technology for increased durability and lighter weight.

Running a large 90 amp power generation system, the V8 425 XTO delivers more than enough punch to run a large array of electrical devices. There’s also an in-water gear lubricant change-out system, which allows the outboard to be serviced while the boat is on the water.

The multi-part cowling system by allows easy access to key parts. www.yamaha-motor.com.au

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Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

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JULY 2018

95

Fishing flats from a float tube BRISBANE

Justin Willmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

Over the years my love of fishing has seen me flicking baits and lures from a myriad of watercraft, from boats and kayaks, to SUPs, an Argo and even using cheap inflatable toy boats

pressured waterways. After finally getting my hands on one, many years later, a busy life, moving house and having a range of other watercraft at my disposal saw the float tube shelved.

A couple of minutes with a manual air pump, inflating the two separate air chambers, and the float tube was alive and ready for action

compartment I stowed a small Cooper poly anchor and a length of rope, enabling me to anchor, should the wind or tide push me quicker than required or if I wanted to focus more in one area. The other storage compartment held a dry bag with some lures, scent, leader, snacks and my phone, along with a couple of bottles of water.

alongside me, I stowed a couple of light spin rods, suitable for targeting bream and flathead, at 6’6” in length, with 20 size reels, 8lb braid, 10lb leader and rigged with 2.5” paddle-tail plastics on 1/4oz jigheads.

Once in the seat a mesh apron attaches via a pole that fits into a front slot in each pontoon, across in front of the angler, along with Velcro that attaches to each side storage pocket. This mesh apron is an excellent work area in front of the angler, complete with a printed ruler for measuring your fish.

I had no idea what to expect when I slid the float tube into the water, but was pleasantly surprised with

The float tube is buoyant, stable and comfortable. things a little frustrating, so I opted to deploy the little Cooper anchor and tie the anchor rope to the ‘D’ ring on the front of one side. With a ‘D’ ring on either side at the front of the pontoons, I could

high tide there wasn’t as much water on the flat as I would have liked. Combine this with some offshore wind creating crystal clear water and the flat felt like a desert. A lack of bait, feeding

The seat is comfortable, buoyant and adjustable. to access the less accessible side of a creek. Recently, while gearing up for a SUP (stand up paddle) session, I was sorting a few items in the shed and noticed another watercraft folded neatly and stowed on the top of some shelving.

– a simple and well-designed craft featuring two inflatable pontoons with a folding seat suspended between them, all encased in a heavy-duty nylon material. The pontoons come to a point at the front, much like the shape of a boat hull, for better tracking and

This craft is powered via a pair of flippers, strapped over wading shoes, however I opted to carry a kayak paddle that tucked in neatly inside one armrest. My thought was that a kayak paddle may be a simple and effective way of propelling the craft,

Lounge chair fishing – game on! the ease of boarding, the stability of the craft and its manoeuvrability. I used the flippers for travelling across the flat, venturing about a hundred metres along a mangrove edge and then used the tide to drift back across the broken weed beds and sand flats. The wind made

effectively anchor to face in toward the mangroves or out across the flats slightly, while still facing up current, enabling me to swim my lures back naturally with the current.

Unfortunately I hadn’t done my research well enough and with a smaller

activity and I wasn’t feeling it. I’ve learnt the hard way in the past after hours of flogging the same water or casting the same lure – trust your gut and change things up if you’re not feeling it.

A couple of hundred metres away was a drain that funnelled the water from this

Left: One side pocket loaded with a couple of drinks and dry bag of tackle, scent, snacks, leader and phone. Right: The second side storage pocket loaded with a small Cooper anchor and length of rope.

Purchased years earlier at the right price, being a display model, my float tube had never actually been christened.

It was time. As a fishing-mad teenager I had always been fascinated by float tubes and the associated imagery of anglers with these inflatable boats on their backs venturing into the wild, drifting streams, prospecting pools and accessing low 96

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speed. There is a mesh floor in the bow, behind the seat, where I stowed a bucket with lid in case I wanted to keep a feed, along with a mesh storage pocket on the back of the seat for stowing a landing net or other accessories.

The pontoons act as arm rests for the angler and there is a zip and Velcro side storage pocket on each pontoon that is easily accessed and secure. In one

especially if I felt a little uneasy using my legs as bull shark bait. Float tubes are generally used in freshwater, either fishing around the edges of impoundments or drifting streams with the current, making simple position adjustments with the flippers. As my first adventure was the saltwater flats, I thought the paddle was a worthy addition.

Inside the other armrest,

A handful of float tube bream on a ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ.

flat into the main channel on the dropping tide and I picked up the paddle to begin the next leg of my journey.

The paddle was a great option and I could paddle faster backward, using the boat hull shape of the pontoons, however I wasn’t in a hurry and paddling facing forward made it easier to use a traditional paddle stroke, track where I was going and keep an eye out for bait activity and feeding fish. What I quickly realised though was that I had been high and dry in my float tube seat and by paddling in the direction I was facing I invited waves of winter water into my lap. The water

by one for the bucket to take home for dinner and then another that I released.

With the sun getting lower in the sky and the winter chill arriving it was time to head for home.

I paddled into the shallows, spun the craft around backward and used my feet to push the float

fly off with my rocket pack…

Soon I was home. After a quick wash the float tube was stored to dry.

I look forward to exploring my local bass creeks and impoundments in the float tube soon as well as a few more select adventures in the salt. My first adventure taught me that the float tube is

The author getting his flippers on for powering the craft. drains it is much easier to bring your lure back with the current. The current lays the weed over toward you, meaning the lure fouls less often and when it does a quick shake or rip will often free it and your retrieve continues. Flathead also lay facing up into the drain as

The next hit was a yellowtail pike and I decided to slide it into my bucket for dinner as I thought I should be able to rustle up half a dozen before heading home.

I smiled a little as I thought of a mate of mine saying ‘why do you eat the bait?’

I am happy enough to let

Backpack boat – let the adventure begin.

The mesh apron makes landing and handling fish much simpler. drained away quickly when I stopped paddling however my thoughts were that in choppier conditions the seat would be a little damper.

I found what I was looking for when I reached the drain, slightly deeper water that was stirred up a little more from the water flowing off the flats. My bull shark paranoia kicked in and I opted to rest my feet up

that direction. The hits are generally immediate and aggressive as the bream are actively feeding and don’t need much convincing that the little paddle-tail is a fleeing baitfish. All of the bream were released and I moved further into the sandy section of the drain, casting to the weed edges in search of a flathead for dinner.

When fishing weedy Unclipping the shoulder straps to stow them in the side pocket.

A second rod stowed inside the other armrest. on the pontoons, using the paddle to adjust position.

It was a little surreal as I felt like I was chilling in a lounge chair while fishing.

Comfortable, extremely stable and with the paddle resting across my lap, I could easily dip one blade to adjust my slow drift angle or pick it up and adjust position.

Watching and listening for bait movement, before casting to the activity, I quickly landed four bream.

It’s amazing how many bream I have caught in recent times by spotting or hearing them actively feeding and then casting in

it funnels bait off the flat and into their strike zone. It wasn’t long before I hooked up to a reasonable flathead, fought it to the side of the float tube and then shook it off as I fumbled for the net. This reinforced the need to be organised and so I repositioned the net where it was easy to grab should another opportunity arise.

Yellowtail pike are readily available in the author’s local waterway in winter and they’re not bad eating... for bait.

the bream, cod, trevally and other species go, along with plenty of flathead, instead eating mullet, gar, yellowtail pike and other ‘bait’ species that are readily available.

Yellowtail pike are plentiful in my area through winter and their oily flesh is perfect for smoking, fish cakes or even just panko crumbed and served with vegetables or salad.

I switched my retrieve to a slow roll with a few twitches and soon had nine pike in the bucket for a feed.

Back to the flathead focus – the slight breeze was holding me still against the tide, allowing me to paddle into position and cast straight up the sandy drain. I allowed the plastic to sink to the bottom and then retrieved it with the standard two hops and a pause, retrieving the slack as the plastic sank back to the bottom. With a tap followed by a solid hook set, I had a small flathead in the mesh apron, unhooked and released. This was followed

tube right up into inches of water, unclipped my flippers and stood up. My first float tube mission had been a success; it was so buoyant and so simple to board and exit. Once up on the grass I clipped and strapped everything in place, clipped on my shoulder straps and loaded the float tube onto my back like a backpack. It was light, comfortable and sat securely on my back as I easily walked the 800m or so back home.

I got a few weird looks and comments like ‘Now that’s an easy boat to use’ and ‘Cool boat, mate,’ along with a couple of chats… One bloke thought I was going to

comfortable, stable and perfect for calm water adventures.

It is ideal for transporting on your back between pools or when accessing hard-to-reach sections of water, although it is slow on the water, so you would be better carrying it closer to where you want to fish or using flowing streams or tides to assist you in covering distances. Keep your kit light and simple, spend a few short trips getting to know your craft and the float tube could be your next inexpensive watercraft that allows you to access new water and make the most of short windows of available time. Any fish, anywhere, on any craft and I’m there.

The paddle stowed inside one armrest.

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Anchoring tactics that will score more fish BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Setting up a boat for a specific fishing style is a personal thing, yet it can greatly influence success at the end of the day. And it’s an odd thing about a boat’s setup that the things in plain view are often most used while other equipment can be entirely out of sight and just as important in the grand scheme of things.

lines of our finny friends below there’s vibration and noise being transmitted for a considerable distance and this can put fish off their tucker in that area.

Don’t believe me? Put the face mask on and dive over the side when the electric is on Anchor Lock; the hum and resonance will surprise you. Anchoring is the way to go when stealth fishing and I rely on it heavily for a lot of my fishing, particularly for impoundment work on barra.

SOUNDERS Fortunately, the days of

especially useful adjunct along mangrove banks in estuaries where fallen timber can grab an anchor and refuse to let it go. If serious timber or other snags are visible down there, it might be a wise move to think twice about committing a valuable anchor and the amount of time and effort involved in trying to retrieve it if things go pear-shaped.

SILENCE THAT CHAIN If you’re fishing over straight sand or a mud bottom, you’ll need to use your anchor with some chain.

Fishing from the TABS back in 2012 the author used the concrete pick and float set up to good effect on the dam’s barra. anglers, however, understand that 2m of chain is hardly sufficient to bed an anchor rapidly when trying to hold just off a specific spot or a hard earned GPS mark that is going to contribute to filling

the fish box.

Instead, 4m of chain works far better and that goes for reef anchors as well as they also need chain to bed properly and quickly. There’s no questioning that a sloppy

as it’s very easy to retrieve some and retie.

WHICH ANCHOR FOR YOU? First and foremost the chosen anchor must fit easily into the anchor

Quiet anchoring tactics saw this fat barra taken on fly by the author.

Let’s look at an overlooked item – the good old anchor. When a boat is purchased there’s an anchor with it; most times the buyer won’t even look at the anchor. Great – it’s in the locker there and there’s plenty of rope! But there are anchors and anchors, with quite a few different styles on the shelf for today’s boating enthusiasts.

Most times small boat owners won’t be too concerned with anchors for holding them securely onto reef bottom in deep water, as we leave that sort of fishing to the big guys with their big boats. That said, a reef anchor needs to be strongly made to ensure it holds bottom securely. If it’s too light a construction the tines will easily bend and the boat will drift.

IS THERE A NEED TO ANCHOR? But let’s look at this anchoring business in another light! With all the emphasis on electric motors and their ability to hold the boat exactly on a GPS ordained position is there actually a need to anchor up? For a short time, likely not, but with the electric humming away above the lateral 98

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dropping the pick and hoping for the right outcome when the end of fishing indicates it’s time to pull it up seem to be behind us. Most craft these days have sounders and it’s not at all uncommon to see a 12ft tinny set up with a $3000 sounder, so bottom definition has gone from guesswork to an applied science.

Consequently it’s not hard to assess what sort of bottom is below – an

Chain? Doesn’t that stuff rattle and clatter and scare every fish for 50m all round?

It can, yes, but this situation is like a lot of others in the boating world – we manage it.

Remember there needs to be a minimum of 2m of chain linking an anchor and rope in order to bed the anchor as quickly as possible so it can take hold and position the boat as required. Experienced

The author’s homemade weed anchor is on the left, a conventional plough anchor central, and a SARCA on the right.

Dam weed beds like this are great platforms to fish from but not good places to drop a standard pattern of anchor.

anchor set can make a lot of noise but the canny angler will get everything ready for the drop, including lifting the pick and chain from the well as smoothly as possible then bunching up the chain on an old bit of carpet or similar sound deadening material to ensure it doesn’t rattle off the decks or clink excessively as it goes over the side. Feeding it out gently on the drop is the smart move.

A tactic that ensures the boat is going to be as near as possible to a chosen spot when the pick digs in is to run up current a couple of times and let the boat drift back in order to estimate the correct length of drop in regard to the time of drift. In the end it’s better to have too much rope out than too little,

well up front. This is sometimes tricky as some manufacturers seem hell bent on minimizing anchor well sizes, seemingly forgetting that an anchor needs to go into and then come out of an anchor well as freely as possible.

Most anchor work involves someone up front either reaching down to get the pick out of its nest of rope, or alternatively straining to retrieve it. Naturally, sea conditions aren’t always kind enough to make either scenario pleasant, but it has to be done. So whatever anchor you choose, ensure it will fit into the anchor well before cash or card come into play.

Commonly used small boat anchors for soft

bottom work these days are undoubtedly the longstanding plough (or Coastal) style anchor, the Sand And Reef Combination Anchor (or Sarca) or maybe a Delta. The Sarca and Delta styles have a reputation for bedding down, digging in. and holding fast virtually as soon as contact is made with the bottom. The Sarca style also features a long slot within the main shaft so

shackle to slide towards the front of the Sarca and simply lift the fluke from the bottom as the tension is transferred.

Like plough anchors, the other styles mentioned come in different sizes for larger or smaller craft and their compact size and lack of protruding sections also made them easy to store in the anchor well as an additional bonus to their

Silence is golden, especially for catching beautiful barra. that the shackle connecting anchor and chain can slide forward or backwards depending upon the direction of strain or pull.

With the boat at anchor the load is transferred to the back of the Sarca’s shank; when it’s time to move the act of driving the craft forward will cause the

ease of use. Remember, though, that plough anchors need to be fed over the side quite correctly, main flukes down and ready to grip, and allowed to land and then bed in carefully as well. A bit of dragging is possible before all slack starts to be taken up.

Ultimately, your choice

of anchor is up to you and for good advice I’d suggest visiting a marine dealer and having a conversation regarding the main boating plans prior to purchase.

Most will advise the use of a fair amount of chain and recommend the thickness of anchor warp to go with the size of your boat.

THE WEEDLESS ANCHOR Interestingly, there will be times when all the anchors I’ve mentioned will be quite unsatisfactory for the fishing, and chain won’t be required.

Anchoring in dense weed on the lakes is what I’m on about. With a bit of breeze blowing and just a small drift as the anchor beds, there’s big trouble when that conventional style pick needs to come up. Leaning over the side, trying to get the mess of mud and weed off before the anchor is lifted aboard is no kind of fun, and very time consuming.

The Kampes do a lot of flyfishing for big fat impoundment barra. These fish seem to like our flies a lot and one of our favourite methods –and one many anglers rely on – is to anchor up on the edge of a dense weed bed so that the stern of the boat is just at the outer edge. That way we can get our flies right where barra prowl looking for a feed on the drop off point.

Once a barra is hooked the boat needs to be out of there pronto or the fish will likely be weed-buried in a flash. To expedite this process the boat end of the anchor rope has a loop plus a float on it so it can be quickly slipped free of the boat to be collected later.

With the electric motor on full power the charging barra is coaxed, dragged, guided, (you name it, we do it all) away from the weed

There are several styles of anchor here, selection should come down to the style of fishing in mind and, most importantly, the ease of fitting it in the boat’s anchor well. bed where the 10wt fly rod can do it’s job.

The anchor used in this scenario can’t be purchased. I made it. It’s a plastic container filled with quick set concrete with a galvanised eye bolt set into the top of it. This anchor holds our boat steady as a rock, so long as the wind isn’t too strong (then we just tie to a tree) and keeps it right there until we

need to move.

Once lifted there’s usually only minimal weed clinging to it which is quite easily removed due to the smooth surfaces all round. If I dropped any other anchor into that weed I’d waste a lot of good fishing time removing the stuff and likely end up with muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger from the exertion.

A selection of anchors at a chandlery. Selecting the right one for the job can certainly be made easier with some consultation with the staff.

A HANDY BACK ANCHOR I’ve found another use for the homemade anchor; it’s handy as a back anchor at times when I’m leaving the boat floating close to the shore, say in an impoundment or maybe on a beach on a short term basis. The front of the boat is anchored ashore with the rear being roped to the concrete special; this allows the craft to float freely without continually pounding on the bank with each incoming wave, which is annoying. When I want to retrieve the boat for boarding without wading out too far in this cold weather, a steady pull inwards will see the concrete special slipping free, which means the boat can be drawn ashore without much drama.

If you are a fellow small boat owner, I hope those couple of tips might well make a serious difference to a fishing trip. The problem with boats is that we never seem to use them enough, but there’s no doubt that smart anchoring tactics can help fill the ice box.

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Stessco Sunseeker 620 with Yamaha F150hp - SC

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PERFORMANCE RPM......Speed.(km/h)...... Economy.(km/L) 1000 .......................7.2 ........................... 2.3 2000.................... 12.0 ........................... 1.6 3000.................... 26.4 ........................... 1.8 3500 .................... 36.6 ........................... 1.9 4000.................... 44.2 ........................... 1.8 5000.....................57.8 ........................... 1.5 6000.................... 71.5 ........................... 1.1 100

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Main: Stessco’s Sunseeker 620 features a new, fibreglass hard top that provides plenty of shade or cover from the rain, as on the test day on the Noosa River.

Above: With a beam of 2.48m, the Sunseeker provides a massive platform for virtually any on-water activity. all day. Your choice.

Stessco Standard structural warranty on their premium boats is 2 years, if it is purchased on a Stessco trailer or Stessco trailer by Dunbier, then their structural warranty is increased to 5 years/60 months.

“We’re very happy with the way we build our packages, so five years of warranty isn’t a worry for us,” said Stessco’s Adrian Beil. Indeed, if you shop around, you’ll find very few rigs with that after-sales coverage. Combine that with Yamaha’s four-year warranty and there’s plenty of troublefree boating ahead for the owners of this package.

We were pretty impressed

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Stessco’s 2018 Media Event on the Noosa River was held in between rainsqualls. As it happened, those were ideal conditions in which to test out a cabin boat.

After all, that’s exactly what cabin boats offer – a space out of the weather, be it sun or rain, and a massive platform to fish with several of your mates.

And I’ll be upfront here – one of the most attractive parts of this Stessco/Yamaha package is the price. These Sunseeker packages start from the mid $50K. As tested, this unit priced up at around $65,000. You get a lot of boat for your bucks.

Stesscos are made in Brisbane and have only recently outsourced their trailer supply out of their factory. The 620 is a new release and the biggest model in the Sunseeker range (the others are 490, 520, 550 and 580). The hull is aluminium

with the massive cockpit area in this boat, the high cabin and the dimensions of the fibreglass hard top. The new windscreen design of the modern Sunseekers is also on point.

The hard top does need a little extra support and the guys in the factory are already on it.

If you want to see this rig in action, check out the video review of this boat by scanning the QR code hereby or by searching for it on the Fishing Monthly Magazines YouTube channel. Subscribe while you’re there for notifications about all of our video boat and tackle tests.

For more information, get into Whitsunday Yamaha

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bottom and sides with a fibreglass cabin bolted on top to go with the fibreglass hard top. It gives the hull a smooth look up top but the resilience and light weight of a tinnie down below.

The test boat was headed to Whitsunday Marine for a northern customer, so it was ordered with the new fibreglass hard top option to keep the tropical sun out, but this iteration of the Sunseeker hull will be suitable for all Australian environments from Port Phillip Bay through to the Great Barrier Reef.

Powered by Yamaha’s bulletproof F150 4-stroke outboard, the Sunseeker delivered remarkably good fuel economy. At best cruising speed (3500rpm) it yielded just under 2km/L burned.

With a 145L fuel tank, this gives a theoretical range of over 250km – plenty for any day trips you’ll do.

Drop the hammers and you’ll get over 70km/h, but at the expense of economy.

It’ll cost you nearly twice as much at the pump to keep this rig at wide-open throttle

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Marine at 4/11 Shute Harbour Road, Cannonvale, and have a chat to staff. You can also contact them on (07) 4948 3298 and check them out online at www. whitsundaymarine.com.au.

SPECIFICATIONS Length.overall .. 6.55m Beam................. 2.48m Depth ................ 1.48m Hull.weight ....... 750kg Weight.(on trailer). 1550kg Bottom ................ 4mm Sides ................... 4mm Maximum.hp ........ 175 Fuel.capacity ...... 145L Capacity .. Six persons

The test day on the Noosa River was both raining and hot – standard Queensland weather in autumn.

Left: Under the hard top, the layout is pretty simple with lots of cockpit room to fish you and several of your mates.

Right: With a fold-down boarding ladder that gets you on the duckboard, it’s easy to get in when the boat is parked stern-on to the shore. The transom door also helps.

A pair of comfortable seats are mounted on bases that have some clever storage underneath. The helm is simple and made of moulded fibreglass.

Now there’s some cockpit space to work with.

This underfloor kill tank will hold plenty of fish on ice until you can get back to fillet them.

A freshwater deck wash is a real luxury and rare in a boat in this price range.

Yamaha’s F150 is an ideal match for this rig and delivers nearly 2km/L at optimum cruising speeds. Theoretical range is over 250km on the standard 145L tank.

It doesn’t need to be tackle stored in here. Anything that doesn’t like salt spray will be happier in here than in the side pockets.

Pop up through here from the cabin to stow and deploy the anchor. Unlike Victorians, Queenslanders haven’t really discovered anchor winches… yet.

If you’re a side-pocket lover, the Stessco isn’t for you. There are a couple of small spaces to store your frequently used gear.

There’s no denying that the bait station is sturdy. This one holds a couple of rods as well.

Preparing to disembark, the hull draws very little water at rest and allows you to get up close and personal with the shore.

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Horizon 515 Northerner with Yamaha F115hp

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Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

If there’s a better place in South East Queensland to review a boat than the Southport Broadwater, I’m yet to find it. The launching is easy thanks to several sheltered ramps, the scenery is quite picture perfect, and there are a variety of conditions ranging from the near calm of the Broadwater to the open ocean just through the Seaway entrance to test a craft’s mettle.

AN ENTIRELY NEW BOAT I’m grateful for Scott James of Horizon Boats for arranging my time with his new 515 Northerner and he pointed out that this year there’s an entirely new craft in the Northerner range with 4mm bottom sheets, 3mm

Main: A great place for a boat review; a great looking boat, and check out that classy wrap! Above: The 515 Northerner’s excellent hull design ensures there’s minimal lean in a hard turn to port. family fun days as well as serious ‘set the alarm for 4am’ angling pursuits.

The new Horizon 515 Northerner combined virtually everything that makes alloy mid-sized craft

PERFORMANCE Rpm........ Speed.(km/h).......... Economy.(L/h) 1000 ......................... 7.4 ............................ 2.4 1500 .......................10.6 ............................ 3.5 2000....................... 11.8 ............................ 5.6 3000.......................36.2 ............................ 9.1 4000.......................41.3 ............................. 7.0 5000.......................53.3 ............................ 8.6 WOT .......................62.5 .......................... 40.1 side sheets, a new transom and a massive front storage area, just to name some of the additional features.

The entire Northerner range – craft from 4.155.40m – all focus on fishability and a large degree of user-friendliness that carries over to laidback 102

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so popular. It’s strongly built and offers a compact, easily towable size involving versatility in both storage and mobility while the economical side console layout always provides as much work room as possible for a given size of craft. Two anglers fishing up front and

another two aft would be entirely feasible in quiet conditions.

The rail and windscreen equipped console was a lesson in practicality as it offered mid-shelf storage, foot room within the base plus a large area up top to set up even a very large sounder as well as multi-function gauges for the Yamaha 115 on the stylish new Horizon Fast Back Transom, which is 700mm high – same as the sides. Offshore runs on good days – why not?

Bolster-style console seating is a bonus for the skipper and mate, but another additional two seating positions provide options with balance and fishing space.

Up front an elevated deck sat watch over a massive hatch, concealing a 110L ice box, with adjoining side storage compartments also handy. Not to be

overlooked, of course, was the big under-floor storage aft, which doubled as a catch well. All the floor areas were carpeted, naturally, and an electric motor pad

and cockpit side pockets completed the picture.

Decent freeboard is a big feature of the Northerner and it’s certainly a feature that adds to overall versatility.

Confidence in sea conditions is a great asset in any craft and the easy, soft ride of the 515 Northerner – whether in the calm of the Broadwater or out towards the end of the Seaway walls – was a bonus.

SMOOTH YAMAHA 115 In my view the 115hp Yamaha 4-stroke on the transom certainly contributed a lot to that particular boating experience. Whisper-quiet at idle, the 1.8L engine easily shot the rig onto the plane at 15.6km/h (2700rpm) and ran her up to almost 62.5km/h at full throttle. Top speed doesn’t tell the whole story; at one point we had five folk (maximum) aboard her yet the 515 cruised smoothly at

4800rpm/47.3km/h.

In a nutshell, the 515 Northerner is a very competent fishing package and combines plenty of work area, excellent storage, comfortable seating and great sea keeping and handling. Best of all was an overall feeling of comfort while underway or walking around the hull to note its steady attitude in the water.

SPECIFICATIONS Hull.length...........5.15m Beam ...................2.40m Depth ...................1.23m Bottom ..................4mm Sides......................3mm Weight.hull ..........480kg Min.hp ...................90hp Max.hp ................ 115hp Hole.Shot 4.80 seconds Number.of.people..Five

The Northerner’s freeboard certainly shines through in this image, as does the fact there’s room for additional anglers to work as well.

The Northerner’s name is well recognized but the 515’s eye catching design represents an entirely new boat.

Under the Northerner’s 40cm high front casting platform there’s a generous hatch which conceals a 110L ice box.

A full height transom allows the 515 Northerner’s lucky owner to enjoy a huge range of fishing activities, all enhanced by a wide work area.

A dedicated fishing craft needs a live well and the Northerner’s is a beauty at 75L capacity .

A boat with off shore capability deserves a large anchor well so just check out the size of the 115 Northerner’s!

A carpeted cockpit aft offers plenty of room for a couple of anglers to work in comfort.

The Northerner’s under floor storage is complemented by the big catch well in the cockpit area.

At 1.8L capacity the 115 Yamaha certainly made easy work of powering the solid Northerner’s hull.

This image gives a complete look at the easy, uncomplicated work area of the Northerner. Note the close spaced side ribs for extra rigidity, the additional seat spigots to provide flexibility in seating.

Bolster seating of this quality is a rare feature in a mid sized sports boat and certainly represents a bonus to skipper and mate.

Seeing is believing; there’s a 110L ice box set under the northerner’s front deck area.

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