Queensland Fishing Monthly May 2018 by Fishing Monthly

LEARN THE WHITING WAYS • GET THREADY READY

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Features hen, where, why and W how of whiting • Rock fishing basics • King threadfin tips •

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May 2018, Vol. 30 No. 7

Contents NORTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES

Yamba 20 Ballina 22

From the Editor’s Desk...

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

DODGING BULLETS ON MARINE PARKS It’s been a busy month behind the scenes of fishing. The big story was that recreational fishing dodged a pretty big bullet with the passage of the latest Marine Parks plan from the government. In the opinion of Australian Fishing Trade Association (AFTA), Australian Recreational Fishing Federation (ARFF) the Game Fishing Association (GFAA) and even the Seafood Industry Association (SIA), the government’s plans for federal marine parks were balanced. They provide a great compromise between keeping fishing and seafood industries alive, while preserving areas for conservation. Heck, the associations even got together to co-operatively launch a press release telling the

CENTRAL QUEENSLAND Hervey Bay 48 Rainbow Beach 49 Bundaberg 50 Lake Monduran 50 Gladstone 51 Stanage Bay 52 Rockhampton 52 Yeppoon 53 Mackay 54 TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND Whitsundays 60 Ayr 61 Townsville 62 Hinchinbrook 63 Cairns 65 Port Douglas 64 Cairns NFZ 64 Lucinda 67 Cape York 66 Weipa 66

politicians that they thought this. You don’t often see recreational anglers and commercials working together like that. The opposition tried to get the legislation thrown out by moving a disallowance motion. Luckily the government and every single

way, there’d be great swaths of the ocean tied up, never to be sensibly enjoyed again. Like deadly asteroids passing close to the earth, sometimes bad outcomes are closer to becoming reality than you may think. For that, I thank the dedicated volunteers who

crossbencher voted against it, and the sensible plan is a step closer to reality. A lot of this happens behind closed doors, but at the end of the day, it really does affect how and where you can go fishing. If the Labour/Greens had their

work behind the scenes to make sure that our businesses and pastimes are protected. To the Col Tannahills (President of AFTA) and the Brett Clearys (President of ARFF) of the world, we thank you for your hard work behind the scenes to

make sure that I can keep going fishing. To the government, thank you for letting common sense prevail and for listening to the user groups who actually spend time on the water, rather than just battling for the wilderness from behind a keyboard. And to the anglers of Australia, thank you for doing what you do, for buying licences and for being a force to be reckoned with when serious issues arise. There’s not a sane polly alive who’s not scared of a cranky fishing sector against them at election time. Want to play a small part? Like the ‘Keep Australia Fishing’ page on Facebook, and when there’s a call to action, become a keyboard warrior yourself. It’s the only way we will win the war on our sport.

Sea Jay 460 Velocity Sports with Mercury 75hp

BOATING AND KAYAK

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111 The rear of the cockpit is clean and clear with high gunwales and offers plenty of room to fish all around the back of the boat.

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Back to Basics 18 SINCE 1987 Come and visit Fishing Monthly Group’s official QUEENSLAND FISHING MONTHLY Facebook page for all your monthly fishing Camping and 4WD 76 RE ONLINE information. Download QR Reader to access. MO Cooking 69 Advertising Enquiries: Business Office: Dam Levels 70 Peter Jung Unit 1, 11 Knobel Court, ads@fishingmonthly.com.au Shailer Park, Qld, 4128 Freshwater 70 Fun Page 100 Advertising Sales: Phone: (07) 3387 0800 OUR COVER Ph: (07) 3387 0800 Fax: (07) deck 3387 storage 0801 up the front. As such, the boat more Junior Northern 68 You can see in the images bounced than chopped Nicole the Steve Kelly Rick Clark caught this impressive here (and in the Video Boat waves and we know that it’ll Junior Southern 36Morgan Managing Editor: nkelly@fishingmonthly.com.au Test on the Fishing Monthly ride a lot more smoothly green jobfish while fishing in the YouTube channel), that the with some real-world weight Steve Politics and fishing 59 What do you get when you Morgan biggest compartment easily holding it down. Coral Sea. Printing: APN – Print cross one of the proven Sea swallows Rob Gaden Jr. Powered by the s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au Jay Samurai hulls with a There’s room up there as maximum 75hp Mercury Sheik of the Creek 77 A Nicole Penfold image. Above: We loved the all-round grab rail on the console and the multiple console of a 5.9m boat? You well for a couple of trolling 2.1L 4-stroke, the Velocity seat base points. Inset: The front deck is beamy and high enough to get this – the new Sea Jay motor batteries and Jacqui of course Thomas jumped onto the plane Production: and Editorial Manager: Sunfish 55 offer great vision (pun intended about the sister Sea Jay hull). 460 Velocity Sports. In Say there’s a fabricated mount displayed best economy Karen Millward Jay speak ‘sports’ means for your choice of long shaft figures at 4500rpm, where Suntag 82 ‘side-console,’ so Sub-Editors: this is electric motor. With that it delivered 2.4km/L of Keith fuel Hawley basically a Vision hull with 100kg or so of weight up burned. That’s right in the TO SUBSCRIBE SEE PAGE 29 a side-console. there, the boat will feel a zone of what you can expect Bob Thornton Tech Tricks 16 Based on the popular lot less flighty than it did on from a rig this size. FIND THE DAIWA LOGO Samurai hull, theNicole shell Penfold the test day. We rode this rig Drop the hammers and Tournament News 86 www.fishingmonthly.com.au features a 4mm 5083-grade basically empty with a couple the speed went up a littleWebsite: and COMPETITION PAGE 102 Cordelia bottom sheet and 3mm side ofAdams 80kg humans on board the economy drops markedly. Track my fish 96 sheets. Samurais also have as ballast. We achieved 48km/h and Queensland Fishing Monthly magazine Distribution: Gordon & Gotch Pty Ltd reverse chines, a heavy duty Main: Sea Jay’s 460 Velocity Sports brings the features of sale the larger goes on the Velocity first week of each month Jason Ehrlich SPECIFICATIONS capped keel and a Field visually Editors: models into a smaller package. This one was powered by Mercury’s rock solid Trades and Services 98 sale date this 7th of the month). 2.1L 75hp Kym 4-stroke. Above: With a beam of 2.3m and(latest a length of 4.6m, pleasing upswept bow that Kampe Rowbotham Overall.Length......................................... 4.74m Subscriptions: Wayne hull is half as wide as it is long. The end result is that it’s pretty stable. turns heads at the ramp and Bottom ............................................4mm (5083) What’s New Fishing 78 on the water. Sides ..........................................................3mm want to add electronics. The all of the big boat features at 48km/h at WOT. ItMarie was a bitDykstra The 4.6m hull Publishers: is also Manager: Beam..........................................................2.3m Office hold a small by: rough to open the throttle fully big-boy console can Published boat price – the test very beamy. In fact, the What’s New Boating 103 Depth .......................................................1.24m on the test day. At full speed bracket mounted units up rig weighed in the low to mid beam of 2.3m is Steve exactly Morgan Floor.Ribs ...................................................... 11 Annual to 16” as well as all of the Fishing expectSubscriptions: around 2km/L. $30,000 and you could drop half the length of the hull, Qld Capacity ....................................... Five persons Matthew Drinkall The Sea Jay arrived at switches you’ll need to control the price even more with a making it very stable in the Supplied on a Dunbier-built Sea Jay trailer, Hull.weight .............................................. 495kg $65 for twelve issues (GST inc.) Monthly Pty Ltd the ramp on a single-axle Sea the on-board accessories. 60hp motor. water. Combine this with SPECIAL FEATURES this rig – and all rigs bought with a Sea Jay Max.HP ..........................................................75 Jay trailer, manufactured by The console also comes with If you want more high gunwales and raised Q

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Basics aside, the 460 Velocity Sports is a blank canvas that you can personalise to your own needs. Factory

RPM........................Speed........................km/L 700 ................................. 3 .......................... 2.3 1000 ............................... 5 .......................... 2.1 2000 ............................... 9 .......................... 1.7

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family car, the little sibling in date on all of the latest Sea written permission the Velocity Sports family has Jay releases. of the Managing Editor.

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SUBSCRIPTION C-Section or alloy HOTLINE I-beams views expressed in this publication are not which are easily washed down PERFORMANCE necessarily those of the publisher. FREECALL after use. 1800 228 244

The test boat was more bounced over them like the Samur I N addition of all of you G S

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MAY 2018

10 46 56

trailer – gets an extra year of warranty. Make cheques payable to local giant, Dunbier, to Sea a rail the full way over the information, make sure you ABN 72-010-542-195 Jay’s specifications. LikeMonthly all windscreen, giving passengers check out your local Sea Jay Queensland Fishing Sea Jay trailers, they add a and the captain something to dealer or visit them on www. PO Box year to3172 the boat’s warranty if hold onto in less than ideal seajayboats.com.au. Like them All material is © copyright, and cannot be they’re ordered on one. And, conditions. on Facebook at Sea Jay Boats LOGANHOLME QLDthere’s 4129 Easily towable byreproduced the and you’ll like all Sea Jay trailers, up-toin partbeorkept in full, by any means, without RA

Rec.HP ...........................................................60 Advertising: Max.motor ............................................... 175kg Ph: (07) 3387 0800 Fax: (07) 3387 0801 Copy and materials should be sent direct to: ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

casting decks and there is a ridiculous amount of under-

AUST

The when, where, why and how of whiting Rock fishing basics Threadfin salmon tips

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WHITING

The when, where, why and how of whiting BRISBANE

Sean Thompson

Whiting are one of the most popular species for anglers of all ages for a number of reasons. Not only do they taste great, but they are widely distributed and the ‘fighting whiting’ fight pound for pound like a fish two to three times their size. However, there is a big difference in the catch rates of the casual angler compared to the wily old whiting angler. To enjoy the sort of success that experienced whiting anglers achieve, you need to

is one of the most underrated yet productive ways to catch a feed of legal size fish. Yet, I’ve lost count of the amount of times casual anglers have been surprised to hear me say that. The fact that so many casual anglers consider beach fishing unproductive probably comes down to where and how they fish. All too often I see inexperienced anglers or families fishing the beach directly in front of the track to the beach. This is usually in barren, featureless water or in an area full of swimmers and surfers. Added to that they are using baits like frozen prawns and squid, or fishing with line

Diagram A: a sand-spit covered on high tide. understand the fish and adapt to the location and conditions. This article aims to provide you with the keys to unlock the ‘whiting code’ in four main types of whiting locations across South East Queensland and New South Wales. These locations include the beach, sand flats and estuaries, deep river tactics, and winter whiting tactics. This article describes the best tides and techniques for each location and then describes the best baits, lures, tackle and rigs to target summer and winter whiting. THE BEACH In my mind, beach fishing

as thick as whipper snipper cord and with enough lead to sink a small ship! All is not lost, however. Once anglers learn a few beach fishing secrets, they will soon realise the beach can turn on some great fishing for species like whiting and even during the middle of the day! BEACH LOCATIONS AND TIDES I often read in fishing books and magazines that the last two hours of the rising tide and the first hour of the falling tide is the best time to fish for whiting off the beach. This can be true in the right gutters and conditions, but be assured that

Diagram B: a shore dump high tide gutter. in certain circumstances the opposite applies, and the best time is the hour or so either side of the low tide. While every rule can be broken, outlined below are the type of beach formations and conditions I like to fish according to the stage of the tide. High tide gutters I have three favourite types of beach gutters I prefer to fish at or around high tide. In all three cases, I am looking for nice clean water with a bit of white wash. This provides cover for the whiting. The first is a big sand spit covered by about 0.5-1m of water on high tide (see diagram A), which drops away into a slightly deeper gutter. The surrounding gutter is reassuring for the fish to escape into if predators come hunting for them in the shallows. The other reason I like these types of gutters is that even in a slightly larger swell the fish get some respite from the choppy surf on the shallow sand spit. Added to that is the fact the sand spit usually holds their favourite menu of pipis and beach worms. To fish these type of gutters, stand back 10m or so from the water’s edge and cast to the back of the sand

spit and slowly retrieve your bait towards shore. If no fish, cast from an angle onto the sand spit and retrieve the bait over the edge/drop off into the slightly deeper gutter. Another favourite high tide location is a shallow gutter pressing hard up to the shore with a small shore break (see diagram B). The waves generally curl up less

sinker to hold your long 1m trace in the strike zone. A third type of high tide gutter I like for whiting is one which at low tide has a very shallow and clear inner gutter along with an exposed back sandbank (diagram C). By high tide, the inner gutter has nice foam covering from incoming waves, while the back sandbank is covered by about 1m of water. In this case, waves will break on the edge of the bank and expose yabbies and worms, which will be washed by the force of the water just over the edge of the sandbank into the gutter. So in this case, a cast up onto the sandbank and slowly retrieved into the gutter just after the wave has broken and spread its foam over the gutter is the way to go. Low tide gutters Low tide shallow gutters (see diagram D) are some of the least fished on the beach, but can turn on some of the best whiting action of the

Diagram C: before and after shots of a gutter with a back bank that filled nicely at high tide to produce a dozen fish to 40cm. than 0.5m and break right on the beach and thus expose beach worms and pipis to the hungry whiting. The whiting usually feed just behind the shore dump, so it is important to either retrieve your bait into this zone, or cast just behind the break with a heavier 4 ball

lot. Features of a great low tide gutter include; a short or narrow gutter very close to shore, a blind end that closes up on the shoreline, a back sandbank that runs at 45° from the shore, enough depth so the water is not too turbulent and light swell of under 1m.

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Diagram D: a low tide gutter.

Usually, the gutter has a clear northern exit and entry point. By far the peak period for these types of formations is one hour before to one hour after low tide. With the right conditions (light swell), low tide concentrates the whiting in the deep water closest to the pipis and worms at the shore or along the back bank. As the tide rises, the fish spread out with access to more water or disperse to cleaner, calmer water if the swell and water movement becomes too turbulent. The first place to start in such gutters is position A on diagram D. This is known as the blind or closed end of the gutter. As this is so close to the shore, do not walk right down to or even in the water before you cast. It is possible the fish are right up near the shoreline, so your first casts should be with you standing more than a rod length away from the water’s edge. After you have worked spot A with a series of casts or let the bait sit for 5 minutes or so, you should move and cast to the back bank (spot B). Generally casts to spot A should be left to wash around just beyond the break, while for spot B you can try and cast and retrieve the bait over the edge, or let it sit around the edge of the drop off. If after 10-15 minutes you have caught no fish, or the fish stop biting, move to the next gutter of similar formation. Given the small window with the tides, it is best to have scoped these spots out beforehand so you know how far you have to travel between gutters. Beach corners While still technically defined as ‘the beach’, beach corners are another brilliant location for whiting. Beach corners are areas where the sand meets either rocky headlands or large rocky outcrops that protrude into the water. The only other ingredient you need is some slightly deeper water where the beach meets the rocks. Generally there is a permanent gutter carved out at such spots. You should use the

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same set up and rigs for beach corners as the main beach, but be aware that the best time to fish them will depend on the swell and wind direction. On those days with very calm, flat seas and clear blue skies, beach corners can be the most productive spot on the beach for whiting as

It is in these estuaries where most of the big ‘elbow-slapping’ whiting of 35cm+ are caught. Shore-based Catching whiting while wading the flats is one of life’s simple pleasures. You can either hop out of the boat and wade the flats at low tide, or you could fish land-based from

looking for are large sandbanks or estuary flats that end up with a decent flow of water over them during the middle stages of the tide. You will always find the bite slows for half an hour to an hour around the change of the tide period, so be sure to focus your efforts on the rising and falling tides. The best sort of flats or

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Diagram E: a selection of whiting rigs. banks are those with yabby holes, as well as plenty of melon holes, undulations and small drains from the fast flowing water. This ‘fast run’ will stir up plenty of bait and provide the fish with access to areas such as holes and drains that they can hold up and feed. As the tides increases, the whiting will follow the drains in for the first few hours of the tide, before they disperse to the shallows for more access to the bait when the flats are well and truly covered. As the tide falls, you want to be following the fish out in the drains, until eventually you might want to be fishing off high sandbanks or spits into slightly deeper water during the bottom 2 hours of the tide. By far and away my favourite technique bait

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While estuaries tend to hold bigger whiting, some thumpers can still turn up on the beach.

it gives them some form the shore of rivers, creeks, or of structure and therefore my favourite location, the protection. flats on the western sides of NEW RELEASE In terms of technique, Queensland’s big sand islands. To page 12 cast your bait out into the The areas you want to be gutter (not too close to the rocks that it becomes snagged), and commence a slow retrieve. Cast back to the same area if you land any fish. I find these spots can fish very well at dawn and dusk regardless of the tide due to the structure provided for the fish, as well as the lower light conditions. SAND FLATS AND ESTUARIES Estuaries and sand VELOCITY SPORTS CRUSADER flats are broadly defined as either saltwater rivers, creeks, bays, broadwater, sandy straits or the western or calm side of islands such as Fraser, Moreton and the Stradbroke islands in Pipis can be caught under your feet on Queensland. the beach and are great whiting bait.

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WHITING From page 11

fishing the flats is the cast and retrieve method with a small Alvey reel and light rod. Whiting often love moving

of a bite and therefore less resistance when they pick the bait up and run. Another tip for wading the flats, particularly as the

Wading the flats for whiting is one of life’s simple pleasures. baits, so this means you want to cast your line out and slowly retrieve it back to you, with a slow constant wind of the reel. Throw some pauses of 10-20 seconds in as well if the action is slow to see how the fish might be reacting to the bait on a particular day. The purpose of the long, light rods are distance, but a whippy tip allows the whiting to pick the bait up and run with it without feeling too much resistance. In fact, with an Alvey reel you can actually wind backwards on your reel to give the fish line at the first indication

MAY 2018

tide rises, is to stir the sand or mud up with the heel of your waders or feet as you retreat to the shore with the tide. This will create a cloud of water and berley trail that fish will come to investigate for food. Finally, adding 3-4 small piece of red tubing or red beads in your rig just above the hook makes your bait stand out like a beacon on the sand and acts like an attractant for the whiting. Some people use one long piece of red tubing, but I find this adds too much weight and unnatural feel near the hook. Added to that, the

smaller pieces of tubing tend to slide up and down the trace making your bait stand out that bit more. For those anglers who prefer a more relaxed style of fishing, the ‘set and forget’ technique with your rod holders can still produce a few whiting in estuaries. However, the trick here is to buy some metal rod holders that will hold your rod parallel to the water, and not upright at 90°. By having your rods down low to the water, you will decrease the resistance of the rod to the fish as they pick the bait up and run. Boat-based Many of the areas mentioned above are excellent target locations for whiting, except with a boat you have the advantage of not only being able to move quickly between spots, but also fish from the deeper side of sandbanks. As the tide rises, you can anchor at the drop off and cast your baits up over the shallows (as far from the boat as possible) where the whiting will be feeding. You can also cast another rod to the edge of the drop off and work out where the fish are. As the tide falls further, the best place to anchor is a little further back in the channel, so you are casting to where the sand bank drops into deeper water. Other productive locations are sandbanks that don’t

Fishing near estuary mouths after rain can produce fish like this. uncover at low tide with soft muddy sandy and an undulating bottom. You can either drift these areas to find the fish, or anchor up in likely locations and let the fish catch themselves on your rods set low and parallel to the water. Think about the stage of the tide as well. That is, fish closer to the entrance of the estuary as the tide begins to push in giving the whiting access to new banks. Then as the whiting go off to the bite, move further up the estuary as the fish will be chasing

the tide as it gives access to new banks. The same principle then applies in reverse as the tide drops, so then you want to be working your way back towards the entrance. Finally, one thing to be aware of is that after heavy rain, the whiting will push from upriver, down towards the entrance and a couple of days after rain, some thumper fish can be caught even in discoloured water near the entrance. Estuary lure fishing Chasing whiting on topwater lures such as stickbaits and poppers as well as small soft plastics is very popular with lure anglers. This is exhilarating fishing, but until you become very experienced at it, you shouldn’t expect the same results as bait if numbers are your end game. If, however, To page 14

Yabbies are a first-class whiting bait, but make sure you fish over where you pumped them at high tide.

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WHITING From page 12

you are after some exciting fishing, then this is for you. Basically you want to be chasing whiting on lures in the same sort of estuary flats as described above, except you

Another good place to try is the edge of the sandbanks in the river where the sandbank meets the channel. The channel markers are a giveaway on these locations and are a good place to start.

Trolling small lures will also pick up whiting at times in estuaries. should limit yourself to areas of less than 1m of water, even half a metre. The trick is to use a 7-7”6 high modulus graphite rod and undertake a constant wind of a 1000-2000 size reel. The action of the lure you are trying to achieve is either a triangular side-to-side ‘walkthe-dog” pattern with stickbaits like Bassday Sugapens, or a ‘bloop-bloop’ approach with poppers (dispersing water at the front of the cupped face of the lure). Very light braid of 2-4lb and 4lb monofilament (not fluorocarbon) leader is recommended for topwater lures to ensure the leader isn’t sinking and thus dragging the lure under the water. FAST RIVER WHITING Areas to look for Some rivers have a much faster flow than others due to their natural or man-made topography. This is certainly the case for rivers such as the Nerang on Queensland’s Gold Coast. These fast-flowing rivers tend to have high banks, or man-made canals which means the water shelves away quickly, and being fairly narrow with a big funnel at the entrance, it means much more tidal run. This means you need a different approach to the small sinker approach of the flats. What you are looking for in these deeper rivers are sandbanks, which, due to the depth of the river, are not exposed at low tide. The sand banks you are looking for have soft, sandy bottoms, which means the pressure of the river flow will scour out undulations on them. You can spot these areas in 2-3m of water even without a sounder by the lumpy ripple effect on the water surface as the tide and a gentle breeze pushes in. Otherwise you can use your sounder to spot these undulations that are like corrugated road bumps on the sandy bottom that provide the whiting not only with a spot to gather out of the tidal flow, but they are also an area where the water will eddy around carrying with it food such as jelly prawns, worms and yabbies. 14

MAY 2018

Technique What makes this type of fishing different is the fast flow of the water and the need for you to adopt your techniques and rig. I learnt these techniques from reading and going out fishing with local experts such as Wayne. To deal with fast flowing current you want to use two anchors, one at the strern and one at the bow to prevent

and are long and whippy to absorb the bite and lunge of the fish when they swallow and run off with the bait. The next most important tip is if you get a bite on your rod, don’t touch it! This is the fish mouthing and crushing the bait. Tougher tackle shop brought bloodworms will take longer to crush and swallow than thinner mangrove worms, so if you have the former you really have to be patient. Wait until the rod tip dips down heavily before you lift and strike. If you miss a strike, try feeding some line back out to the fish with the rod still in the holder. The other consideration is to keep your rig very simple, with a very long trace and do away with the red tubing, as some of the best fishing in the Nerang at least can come at night during the late spring to summer months, so the tubing is ineffective and just adds more weight. During winter though these fish are a daytime proposition. Finally, if you can, avoid the slow change of tide period from about 1hr before to 1hr after the change of tide, as this tends to attracts more bream and toadfish, whiting prefer the run.

Big beach worms like this produce plenty of baits that beach whiting find hard to resist. the boat from moving around. The technique is to throw out your lines with very long traces (see rigs diagram) and lay up to two long whippy rods, around 10’6”, low to the water and out the front and back of boat and two shorter whippy rods of about 9” at the side of the boat. As noted in the diagram, you also need a heavier ball sinker (4-5 ball) to hold your rig in place during the middle stages of the tide. The long rods serve two purposes; they allow you to better cast and manage the very long traces

BAY WINTER WHITING Despite their name, winter whiting can be caught throughout the year in their usual locations, such as the big bays and straits of South East Queensland. What is great about these fish, is they are a little less finicky (so will take more of a variety of baits) than the summer whiting and tend to gather in larger schools. This means, once you find a school you can have a lot of fun and catch a nice bag for a feed. For this reason, they are a great fish to target to get kids or newcomers into fishing.

Whiting will often hook themselves if you set your rods low to the water to offer minimal resistance. Areas to find them ‘Winteries’ tend to prefer a mix of silty and muddy bottoms. I also like to look for clear patches of sand between ribbon weed on my sounder if I can’t find any schools by searching in a grid pattern using my Lowrance structure scan (side scan) technology. My hot spots tend to be in water around 3-4.5m in Moreton Bay and the Sandy Straits, although they can be found in deeper water such as near the Moreton Island sand hills. I’ve also found a bit of a pattern in that if the water is very clear, they will move to deeper water (3.5m+). Furthermore, during most winters some of the smaller fish (under 25cm) also enter the mouths of rivers and creeks. Another tip is to use your sounder’s GPS like a fishing diary. Mark spots where you are catching a number of fish, and then rename a mark in the middle of the fish with the species and date. That is, ‘Winter whiting June 18’. By doing this you can do a search of your waypoints for the species you are after, then find either a recent month, or the same month TACKLE Beach Rod Reel Line Estuary flats Rod Reel Line Fast rivers Rod Reel Bay winter whiting Rod Reel Line

from a previous year. Drift or anchor? Generally, I find that if the water is glassy or flat the fish get a bit wary and prefer a moving bait, so I drift or cast and retrieve at anchor in these conditions. When at anchor, I also try to concentrate the fish in the area by dropping over a berley bucket full of chicken pellets covered in a couple of capfuls of tuna oil. If you decide to drift and find a concentration of whiting, you can anchor up current from them and cast your baits back to the school. Otherwise, if the fish are more

spread I will drift and GPS the spots I catch fish from. I will continue to drift until they go quiet and return to the top of your drift. I always drive the boat around in a wide arc when I go back to the start of my first mark though so as not to spook the fish by driving over the top of them. Finally, because these are a schooling fish, you can catch a couple of fish at a time by using a double dropper paternoster rig. See the rigs diagram hereabouts. Another thing great about these fish is they will also take frozen baits such as red-dyed worms and you can also catch a bigger class of fish on artificial baits such as the Berkley Gulp Sandworm. The only time I find these plastics don’t work is when the water is glassed out and their little legs or feelers aren’t moving as your drift slows right down. So there you have it. A few tips on techniques, tackle, baits and more for catching whiting from four very different locations. I hope it helps you to catch a few more of this very popular species. And finally, for more tips, reports and fishing information, jump on my Facebook page, Ontour Fishing Australia.

Long light, whippy rods are perfect for whiting.

Light 10’6” 2-4kg with a whippy tip Alvey reels in the 50-55 series Thin diameter 6lb mono (e.g. Platypus Super 100) with 6lb fluorocarbon trace. As above although shorter light rods in 7”-9” Alvey reels or 1000-2000 size spinning reels can be used from boats or riverbanks 6lb line and leader Long 10’6” rods at anchor from the box and stern, 7”-9” light whippy rods from the sides Alvey reels and 1000-2000 size spinning reels 7”-9” light rods with whippy tips Alvey reels and 1000-2000 size spinning reels 6lb line and leader

BEST BAIT Beach

Live beach worms, sliced pipis and yabbies in calm gutters

Estuary flats

Yabbies, live mud, wriggler or squirt worms, beach worms on western side of sand islands

Fast rivers

Live mangrove or blood worms, jelly prawns, yabbies

Bay winter whiting

Red dyed frozen worms (less expensive than live worms), yabbies and Gulp 2” Sandworm soft plastics on no. 6 long shank hook

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Tech Tricks

A few reasons to change the hooks on your lures PART II BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

In the April issue we looked at some of the different types of split ring pliers and various things you need to know when using split rings to attach different

hooks to your lures. This month we will explore the various reasons why you rig some lures with particular hooks, ways to overcome the torsion that can be created when a fish is hooked, plus a few other facets involved with lure rigging. Additionally there will be a few tips to

enhance action from your favourite lures. I often play around with lure hooks to change the lure’s intended floatation rate. For example, when chasing barramundi I like a minnow lure which floats up very slowly in the water during a pause. Often the strikes come on the pause as

the lure rises. I will adjust my treble hooks and split ring size until I can get it right. In salt water there is greater buoyancy, therefore a lure that suspends in the freshwater may still rise or float in the salt water. Often, something as simple as changing one split ring to a different size

or adding an extra split ring will attain the desired floating, suspending or sinking of the lure. However there is obviously no point using treble hooks and split rings on our lures that aren’t up to withstanding the rigours of the target species so this is another big consideration.

There’s a lot to consider when you are rigging your minnow lures, however you can greatly improve a lure’s action, the hook-up rate and the likelihood of the hooks staying set during a fight. Therefore a little bit of thought and preparation can greatly increase your success when lure fishing.

1 With some lures you’ll need to link two split rings to get the hook to sit at the correct position. Without two split rings on this lure, the hook point would face out to the side of the lure instead of upright. Another option with this lure would be to use a single split ring and an inline hook (a hook with the eye in line with the shank) instead of the J-pattern. However, the double split ring decreases torsion between the lure and the hook, decreasing the chance of the hook being bent or the ring distorted.

2 A different way to decrease the effects of hook-to-lure torsion is to use a swivel, which totally eliminates it. Many lure makers put these swivels directly on the lure eyelet during production, which eliminates the need of the second split ring to attach swivel to the lure’s eyelet. Additionally, this is also sometimes done to increase distance between the hook and lure, and makes the whole lure less inhibited and promotes more positive action. However, you would commonly only do this with larger lures designed for big bluewater adversaries.

Here we have two chromed metal lures designed for high-speed retrieves when targeting mackerel, tuna and other pelagics. The top one has been rigged with an inline single. A single hook sets well around the jawbone of quality predators, is easier to remove and less dangerous to the person removing the hook. This is great for catch and release fishing as the fish can be unhooked quickly (often without removing it from the water) and sent on its way with minimal damage. The lower lure has been rigged with a quality treble, which is more likely to find a mark on the strike but will do more damage to the fish and be harder to remove.

This is the same lure rigged two ways for two different requirements. The top lure is for barra, and sports the stock standard trebles. However, when used for bluewater trolling, you might choose to replace the trebles with singles as they tend to hold in better and give the lure better action at speed. Singles are also easier to get out of a thrashing fish, and are less dangerous. When rigging inline singles, the rear hook should face upwards and the belly hook should face downwards to offer maximum hook-up potential. With trebles, it doesn’t matter at what angle the rear hook is attached, however it does with the belly hook. The belly eyelet should be in line with the eye of the treble hook, and the hook should sit so that two points are against the side of the lure and the other point faces straight down in the centre of the lure. This will allow the lure to be trolled at the maximum speed, as there is no preference for the treble to sit to one side. Taking the time to fit quality hooks and rings in the correct manner is worth it, because your lures will swim better and everything will hold when a big fish hooks up. 16

MAY 2018

Vibration lures (both hard and soft) can be rigged in numerous ways, often depending on the intended use and the owner’s preferences. The Samaki Thumpertail at the top is rigged with two trebles that offer great hooking potential when the lure is hit on the drop when hopping or taken during a slow roll. The clever design of this lure has the rear treble held in place at the tail, which is where the majority of strikes are received. The middle blade comes with single hooks, which offer a great hook-up potential but can often suffer from torsion as the hook is held quite rigidly against the lure. The front hook has the points facing upwards towards the body, which eliminates the chance of the lure fouling. Light double hooks like these are okay for small fish species, however they can suffer in the strength department when connected to larger game. The lower lure is a larger blade, which can be used for everything from barramundi to dogtooth tuna. In addition to being a casting lure, these also troll well. For bluewater use I prefer to rig them with single hooks.

For lures aimed at mid-range pelagics (tuna, mackerel, mahimahi, cobia, wahoo and others), anglers often use single hooks instead of trebles, as a larger single offers better purchase around the jaw and permits the lure freer action. With inline singles you will only need a single split ring to rig the lure correctly if the hook eye is in line with the lure eyelet. However, this particular lure has its rear eyelet at 90° to the hook eye, therefore two split rings are required when using an inline hook. Sometimes an assist hook (a hook on a Kevlar cord) is used as it also offers a great hook-up ratio, no hook to lure torsion and there is less need to use two split rings. However, for toothy species such as mackerel, this is not desirable as they will often bite through the cord.

Tech Tricks

Most minnow-style lures, both floating and suspending, are rigged with treble hooks because these offer the best hook-up potential with slow moving lures. With trebles, one of the biggest issues is linking. This happens when trebles are close enough together that one hook can snare the one beside it. This can decrease the lure’s action and greatly reduce the hook-up potential. Choosing trebles that are a little shorter in the shank may reduce the likelihood of treble linking

Here we have some stickbait style lures rigged in a couple of ways to demonstrate your options. While a single tail hook is used for the top two lures the belly hook is either two J-pattern singles rigged back to back (with a zip tie or rubber band to hold them in place) or a treble. The lower lure is rigged with conventional trebles at the belly and rear. Try different combinations on lures of these types until you are happy with your rigging option. Factors to consider are how the hooks hang during pauses in the retrieve and also when the lure is worked. Do the lure hooks foul on the leader during the cast? Is the gape in the hook (or hook combination) wider than the lure to improve hook-up rates? Swim the lures with different hook combinations until you are happy you are getting the best possible hook-up rate and the most prominent action from the lure.

Here are two identical lures. The lower one is rigged with three treble hooks as intended. Linking between the front two trebles is highly likely with this lure, so I have removed the middle one. When doing this you can upgrade the front and rear treble to slightly larger or heavier duty models without affecting the lure’s action. These larger hooks are far enough apart that they can’t link, and they’re also likely to increase hook-up ratios. Due to the wider gape, which offers better purchase, they are more prone to staying set during the fight. Win, win, win!

8 Poppers also offer anglers plenty of rigging options. The stop and start retrieve of poppers, the fact that they sit on top of the water and common occurrence of them getting eaten during a retrieve pause offers anglers plenty of things to consider. The top rigging option is my personal choice as the hook gape of the rear hook is wider than the lure and the flexible swinging head hook offers many good attributes. Whether at rest or during movement, this hook will be in the head area of the bait, which is where many large pelagics such as GTs initially attack. As poppers can cartwheel during retrieve in rough, turbulent water this flexible hook offers almost no chance of permanently fouling with the leader. It will simply fall back into place. Additionally the single hooks do less damage to the fish and are less dangerous to the person releasing the fish. However I know plenty of seasoned popper fishers who wouldn’t dream of using anything other than treble hooks. The back-to-back belly hooks also have a lot going for them. In conjunction with a big single tail hook you have hooks that protrude out each side of the popper and one that is wider than the rear of the popper. Again, trying different hook combinations will soon give you a good idea as to what you are happy with for your chosen lures.

Another reason to adjust the size of your lure hooks is to change how your lure sits in the water and also how it performs. This particular lure will float with smaller trebles on it, however the manufacturer has added a larger belly treble to get the lure to suspend (neutral buoyancy). By adding the treble to the belly, the lure will still sit fairly horizontal in the water. If the larger treble were on the tail, the lure would sit tail down and head up at rest, which isn’t natural and will stifle the lure’s action on the retrieve. I often play around with lure hooks to change the lure’s floatation. For example, when chasing barra I like a minnow lure which floats up very slowly during a pause. Often the strikes come on the pause as the lure rises. I adjust my trebles and split ring size until I get it right. In salt water there is greater buoyancy, so a lure that suspends in the freshwater may rise or float in the salt. Often, something as simple as changing one split ring to a different size or adding an extra split ring will attain the desired floating, suspending or sinking of the lure. Just remember there’s no point using trebles and split rings on lures that can’t stand up to the rigours of the target species. MAY 2018

Swapping hands NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

Which hand should you crank your fishing reel with? It seems everyone has an opinion on this contentious

Just about every spinning reel or ‘eggbeater’ sold in America, Japan or Europe arrives in the store with its handle factory-fitted on the left side of the body. Most threadline reels that reach our shores are set up this way, too, although the majority

The author reckons that cranking spinning reels with his non-dominant (left) hand — and therefore not having to swap hands after every cast — has caught him lots of extra fish over the years, along with avoiding plenty of snags. subject, so let’s examine the underlying principles once again! Left or right hand wind? It’s an age-old argument in fishing circles, and one I’ve written about many times before, including in these very pages just a few years ago. However, the regularity with which the question pops up tells me that it’s still a hot button issue with many Aussie anglers, and also something that puzzles lots of newcomers.

of Aussie buyers quickly swap the handle over to the right-hand side after buying the reel. But if you watch video footage of overseas anglers in action, you’ll see that almost all of them crank their spinning reels with their non-dominant hand. In almost 90% of cases, that means their left hand. That’s right: it’s accepted practice in most other countries is to crank spin reels (and some other styles) with the angler’s non-dominant

hand. Kids learn to fish that way and it’s seen as a perfectly natural thing to do. I can’t tell you why it never really caught on here… perhaps because there was no YouTube when fishing started in Australia! I’m right-handed, but I changed over to using lefthand drive spin reels (along with fly reels and centrepins) 40-odd years ago. While I can still ‘switch-hit’ reasonably effectively these days when picking up a right-handed outfit, I’m much happier and more comfortable cranking left-handed on the reel styles described… yet all my baitcasters, overheads and Alvey sidecast reels remain right-hand drive. You may well ask why, and I’ll do my best to explain. For me, it all comes down to the mechanics of the

The preferred casting grip for most people using spin reels involves wrapping their dominant hand around the foot of the reel, with its stem emerging between a couple of fingers. So, why swap hands after each cast? makes great sense (to me and many others) not to go through the motions of swapping the outfit from one hand to the other to begin the retrieve

I reckon cranking with my non-dominant hand while holding and working the rod with my dominant hand when using spinning tackle has

Most spinning (threadline) reels ship from the factory with their handles on the left, while most overheads are right-hand drive. Have you ever wondered why?

overheads and sidecasts, where the ideal casting grip differs from the preferred retrieving and fish-fighting grips. A change of grip is generally required on these outfits, and this switch-over is most efficiently achieved (in my opinion) by smoothly passing the outfit from one hand to the other at the completion of the cast, or even while the lure or rig is still in the air. However, none of this is quite as important as some people would have you believe. In the final analysis, there’s really no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ way to hold a particular style of outfit or to crank your reel. You’re probably better off sticking with what feels good and works best for you. That said, every angler I know who’s bitten the bullet and put up with the couple of days of clumsy, uncoordinated discomfort that’s generally

casting process. Most of us cast our spinning outfits by wrapping our dominant hand around the reel seat, with the reel’s stem emerging between two of our fingers: usually the pointer and middle finger, or the middle and ring finger. Whether we then go on to cast single-handed (with light outfits), or bring our non-dominant hand in to play on the butt end of the rod to perform a two-handed cast, it

The author still prefers to wind baitcasters and overhead reels with his dominant (right) hand… Go figure!

Lots of excellent anglers fish very effectively while using their dominant hand to crank their eggbeaters. The choice is yours. 18

MAY 2018

or fight a fish. The stronger, more dexterous dominant hand (the right, in my case) can stay exactly where it is after the cast is completed, while the non-dominant hand instantly comes up to perform the relatively menial task of turning the handle. Over the past 40 years,

caught me a whole heap of fish I would otherwise have missed, as well as avoiding quite a few snags, especially in shallow water. Once mastered it is simply a faster and more efficient technique. Things are a little different with other reels such as baitcasters (plug reels),

required to switch their brain and muscle memory from dominant to non-dominanthanded reel cranking with their spinning gear has said they would never, ever go back. As I wrote here a couple of years ago, and will go on saying, it’s definitely something worth thinking about…

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Cooler water invites fish closer YAMBA

Dave Gaden

May usually means the water temperature is starting to drop in this part of the coast. This can be a good thing, as a lot of the target reef fish actually like colder water and come in close, making them more accessible to us anglers trying to catch a feed.

This is a good sign that the season is changing, but a better sign that there may be a heap of cobia following them. Having a live bait at the ready as a few whales cruise past the boat can produce some of the biggest cobia you may ever catch. The mackerel seemed to go around us this year, and we had a pretty average run. There were almost more Spanish and wahoo

run, they were fantastic on the return north. The spotties turned up at the start of May and we caught them right up to 21 June. I think the huge bait shoals held them, and with the amount of frogmouth and white pilchards out the front at the moment, this could be a fun month. May is also the month I like to head wide on those dead calm slick mornings. Heading out to the 50-fathom line both northeast and southeast of the bar, you can expect to get good numbers of pearl perch and snapper this month. The blistering currents that had kept us

away for the last of summer and early autumn should have eased, making this ground a lot easier to fish. If you are new at this deep water fishing, you will find it easy to see the snapper and kingfish as they will bunch up tight and give you a good show on the sounder. This doesn’t happen so much with the pearlies. Pearl perch on the wide ground are usually spread well apart over the hard rock with wire weed. Quite often you will just pick up consistent blue spots close to the bottom on the sounder, and this is the ground you need to drift. Pig fish will be mixed

Carly Harrison with a double header of snapper and trag!

Lynn Squire from Gympie nailed this cobia. For the last five years I have seen humpback whales go past Yamba on the second week of May on their migration north.

than spotties, which is a little weird. This happened about four years ago and although they were almost non-existent on the south

David Farawell was pretty pleased with this quality mulloway.

amongst them, and these are one of my favourite table fish. For those not heading wide or who for some reason don’t like mackerel, the southern reef from Angourie through to Sandon will have nice snapper, teraglin and Venus tuskfish. You can start to get in a bit shallower for your snapper this month, with unweighted floating baits or plastics. The Bommie, Shelly Headland

and Plumbago are all worth a shot. The north ground will have a lot of teraglin this month from Black Rock and Italian Grounds to South Evans Reef. Look for the shoals of baitfish close to the bottom and try to anchor 10m upcurrent from the shoal. Make sure to use as light a sinker as you can comfortably get to the bottom using blue pillies and mullet fillets for bait. I’d also put a bait jig

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MAY 2018

on and send another rig down with a live bait on. This will get the bigger trag but also the mulloway that will be lurking under the shoal of bait. Off the rocks this month there should be some reasonable tailor about. The breakwalls on both the Yamba and Iluka side will hold reasonable fish, but the bigger tailor always seem to come from either Iluka Bluff or Frazers Reef on the north side. There is still a very

good chance of a longtail tuna or Spanish mackerel from the walls this month, so don’t go fishing too light or you may lose the fish of a lifetime. In the estuaries this month, with the water temperature dropping and the river having a nice fresh in March, things should really start to liven up. Bream will start to build up in big numbers in preparation for the June spawn. Night fishing for bream in May is great. I

like to anchor near Middle Wall and spend the first 2-3 hours of dark catching these sliver beauties. Light and fresh bait is the secret, and I like to use prawns and live yabbies, but honestly, when the fish are there in good numbers you could catch them on kitchen scraps. Luderick or blackfish will be extremely hungry, as the fresh would have diminished their food stocks, and just like the bream they will bestarting

While the season hasn’t been terrific, the Spanish mackerel are still available, as Khye McEwan found out recently.

Mahimahi are another species that’s still being taken out wide.

to bunch up for the spawn. If you are having difficulty getting green or black weed, the cabbage from the surf rocks will be the best choice. You can keep this cabbage alive for some weeks in a bucket full of saltwater with a good amount of sunlight on it during the day, just remember to change the water every second day. One trip to the rocks should give you enough cabbage for the week.

Flathead will be moving into the shallows this month keeping their backs warm. I really like the entrance to Serpentine Channel upstream from Browns Rocks on the edge of Turkey Island. Soft plastic fishing around the old cane barges will get a feed every day. The entrance to Lake Woolawayah around Joss Island will fish well this month on the start of the run-out. A larger and

darker plastic seems to bring them unstuck up here, but don’t discount using a small hardbody like the Zerek Tango shad or Atomic Hardz if the plastic doesn’t produce. As always, if you are visiting beautiful Yamba and need some advice or would like to jump aboard one of my charters, call into my shop at Yamba Marina and we will do all we can to help you catch a few.

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Dirty water has stirred up decent fishing BALLINA

Joe Allan

The beaches and rock walls around Ballina have had some great activity over the last month. The dirty water has really stirred up the mulloway and they’re on the chew big time. There have also been some tailor showing up in very consistent numbers with the best spots being out the front of Boundary Creek and along the front of the Broadwater rocks. The tried and tested blue

From

pilchards and metal slugs have been great during the day but the better fish have been coming on pilchards and cut baits. Between the tailor, some quality snowy bream have been showing up. Offshore has been going well for mackerel with these showing up later than expected. Trolling 100-150mm divers seems to be working very well. Once you’ve found the active fish try casting lures for them. Out the front of Lennox Head, the 32-fathoms have seen good numbers

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of juvenile snapper and surprisingly good numbers of flathead around the edges of the reefs. Out wider there are also great numbers of quality amberjack being taken. The north and south walls of the Richmond have been fishing well for bream. The pick has been south wall on the run-out tide. Try fishing surface lures like the Atomic Pop50 and crankbaits like the Crank 38 Mid Diver over the porpoise wall when the water is flowing over. There can be some great visual action as the fish come from

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Bass can still be targeted in the Richmond River, however anglers should be reminded that these are no take species for the next four months. the depths to hit your lures. As the tide gets lower and you can’t fish over the wall anymore, try hopping blades and prawn imitation soft plastics down the rock face. The bigger holes behind the town have been producing good numbers of mulloway and this should continue as the water starts to cool down. Live mullet

chasing anything that comes in front of their faces. Just remember, the big girls are the breeders, so please put them back. Once they get big they’re not that nice to eat anyway. Take a couple of snaps and quickly get them back into the water. It’s great watching a big crocodile swimming back down to the depths.

frames. One little secret from an old local crabber is to save your luderick frames and use them for crab baits. The oily frames seem to bring good numbers in. Before and during the big wet the freshwater stretches of the river were fishing well for Aussie bass. Big spinnerbaits with gold willow blades were

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MAY 2018

Mackenzie Luck and Steven Pryke with some snapper from a beautiful day offshore. have definitely been the best bait, but you will get them on big soft plastics during the day. If you’re chasing the beasts, the best fish have come on the making tide during the night time. You will find some big flathead will come along as by-catch; these guys are in the holes

Crabs have been around in really good numbers. The dirty water around the Easter break definitely stirred things up a bit, and this should continue over the next month or so. Try mostly upriver from Pimlico towards Wardell. The best baits are whole mullet or mullet

producing the best numbers along with chatterbaits. One cool thing about the dirty water runoff coming out of the drains is you can actually fish some pretty big topwater baits during the middle of the day. The dirty water makes the bass a lot less skittish and more aggressive.

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Anglers enjoying a mix of seasonal species THE TWEED

Anthony Coughran

With all the bad weather over the last few months, most systems in the Tweed have had a good flush and as the old saying goes, ‘out with the old and in with the new.’ The Tweed is fishing well; as we get more of the season

up the coast. Snapper are becoming more prolific on close reefs, as are a few mixed species such as pearlies, spangled emperor, golden snapper and Maori cod along with the summer pelagics. There are still a few jacks being caught with the warm water still in the rivers. GTs and bigeye are starting to feed up more

Offshore there have been a few pelagics around over the last month. Blacks, blues and wahoo are still being caught inside the 36s, outside the 24-fathoms and especially around the 80m lines. Trolled skirts are still catching the bigger and better fish. Spaniards are starting to bite better this month as the second run of fish make their way back up the coast. Trolled baits and lures are working best. Try Nine-Mile, Five-Mile, South Reef and around the cape for the best results. Spotty and school macks have been caught on metals and drifted pilchards. Try Fidos, the Five-Mile, South Reef, Point Reef, the Canyons off Kingy and Black Rock Reef for a bit of toothy fun. Snapper are starting to come on the bite and bigger models are moving onto closer reefs like the 24s, 36s, and 50-fathoms. Most close reefs are seeing better-sized fish, and sunup is still best time to target them. Drift baits, plastics and micro-jigs are working best and will get you a nice feed. There are still mixed reef species on these same reefs. Yakkas and bonnies can be caught around Point

Reef, Kirra and 10-Minute if you need fresh bait. With all the storms over the last few months, the estuary systems have had a really good flush, which has moved all the bait out into the main section of the rivers and fired the jacks up as they feed up before spawning. Some really good fish are being caught, especially with the northerlies. The best fishing is still at night on the run-in tides, which have been producing more and better-sized fish. Live baits and large strip baits work best at the moment. Some really big cod are being taken this way too. Remember estuary cod are a protected species in NSW and must be released. GTs and big-eye have been chasing bait along the rockwalls and around the bridges of a night. Live herring are still fishing best. Whiting are still up in the skinny water; stickbaits and popper lures are fishing well, as are yabbies and worms. Look for filling sand banks with good, clear water flowing over them. Working these same banks on a run-out tide with plastics, vibes, blades and hardbody lures will see you connect with a lot of good-

Paul with a haul of flatties and whiting caught on a charter with Brad Smith. sized flathead. The bream are starting their season and will school up on structure around the bridges, rock walls, and most structure. Fishing these areas with small plastics, artificial lures and lightly weighted baits is your best bet. There are still a few crabs moving around; try the bigger tides and the various holes around the Tweed and the Tweed Coast. The beaches have seen great numbers of dart moving around the various gutters, headlands and rock walls. Fish with small strip baits, white bait, small metals and plastics; these have been catching some great fish over the last month. A few tailor have been found in these spots as well. Try bigger metals, poppers, shallow diving hardbody lures and stickbaits. Try the southern beaches in the northerlies

Obi Baines with a little Tweed GT. change, we get more species overlapping – a blending of the species, so to speak. This is great for all anglers in most styles of fishing. We’re still seeing the odd pelagic here and there as a few loose stragglers make their way back up the coast to warmer water. Some Spanish mackerel are still hanging around as they make their way back

around the rockwalls. With the dirty water the mulloway have come on the bite around the river mouths and on close isolated reefs. There are still good whiting and flathead around in the skinny water. The bass are really firing up as they start to go into spawning mode and make their way back to the salt. Dams and back creeks are still fishing well this month.

Mason Maloney with a big end-of-season wahoo, which went 23kg.

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and northern beaches in the southerlies. Crushing up pilchards in the sand or deploying a slow trickle of cubes will keep the fish in the gutters in front of you rather than moving around. Mac tuna and bonnies can be found in these places too. Look for birds working. The odd mulloway can also be caught on beach worms in the bigger gutters at night. Try down Hastings Point to Byron Bay for the best results. The odd large silver bream will hang around in these gutters too. The freshwater fishing is really starting to fire up. The weather has flushed most systems and has the bass munching as they race to the salt to spawn. Any weir, dam walls, drains or areas under structure near the salt and fresh to salt runoffs are fishing really well. Cicadas, frogs, bugs, vibes and blades are working well at dusk and dawn, and deep diving hardbodies are working better once the sun is established. Clarrie Hall Dam and the back creeks around Uki are fishing well this month too. As we get further into the season change we will see more of the winter species come in and play. The weather should start to

settle down and we should start seeing some really good winter days. The currents will slow down on close reefs again, which open up bottom bashing and jigging to anglers. The snapper and mixed reefies will thicken up on

close reefs. The mackerel will start to go off the bite with the water temperatures dropping, and the pelagics will keep heading north on their migratory journey. Cobia should start to follow the whales up the coast too. Jacks, whiting and cod

will start to slow up as they finish their spawning season. Mulloway, bream and luderick should start to school up more. Tailor will start their run up the coast to Fraser. We will see the packs of tuna start to show up too.

Chris Achilles cracked some epic bass in the mid 50s range at Boondooma.

Chris Butler with a solid cobia.

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When the weather’s good the fish are biting SOUTHERN GOLD COAST

Mark Ward

I’d love to be reporting on the amount of fish that we have been catching over the past month. Unfortunately, the weather continues to keep many anglers inside. On the days that were fishable, it was great and we were surprised with how well the fish were biting. The flushing of the estuary is always a good thing, so we can look forward to things continuing to improve. OFFSHORE There isn’t a great deal to report as not a lot of boats have been out. Those that braved the conditions were rewarded with some excellent catches of mackerel and even a few marlin that were still about. The spotted mackerel are known for being at their best around Easter and the fishing will continue to be excellent for a couple of months. There are a number of ways to catch them and everyone has their preferred techniques, but whichever way you choose the fishing on the close reefs should

Cody used prawn-shaped plastics to nail some big bream during the annual prawn run. fire. The Tweed Nine-Mile, Burleigh Gravel Patch and Palm Beach reefs are

the usual suspects. With a lot of bait in the water at the moment, the mackerel

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MAY 2018

could be anywhere chasing moving bait schools. Fishing the bottom has also been productive. Some of the charter guys reported good catches of juvenile snapper and trag in close with pearl perch and the odd red emperor out wide. I haven’t had any reports of jigging due to the weather and swell, but as soon as it calms down the wider reefs will fire up. Snapper will also be on the bite with fishing improving as the water temperature drops. BEACHES The beaches have been unfishable due to the swell but there should still be plenty of whiting and dart around. They will love the beaches having new shape from all the swell we have experienced. Look for gutters that are hard up against the shoreline. Standing back and casting to the edges of these close gutters will almost ensure big whiting and plenty of dart stealing the bait before the whiting can get close to it. Tailor will be on the move and while May can be a little patchy, there will still be some big schools of choppers and the odd greenback in the gutters and headlands. ESTUARY The water temperature is still up but we have had a lot of luck with bream and flathead. The water has been a little dirty but it’s loaded with prawns. For that reason, my son Cody and I have been using prawn-shaped soft plastics and doing very well on flathead and bream. While the quality of the fish has been excellent for this time of the year, the flathead have been a little skinny. They will start to fatten up as the season progresses. The best locations have been Terranora Lakes and the weedy edges of Currumbin and Tallebudgera Creek. The whiting fishing has been very good as well with some of the bigger fish being landed in the lower reaches of the Tweed. Live worms and yabbies are working best but some keen lure anglers target big whiting on surface poppers. Small-cupped face poppers worked quite quickly across the shallows can produce but a little wind chop on the surface is required. I work the lures a lot slower when the water is flat and still catch a few, however a slight wind chop is always best. There aren’t a lot of reports of mangrove jack this month but if the water clears I would expect that to change. Trevally will bite even as the water starts to

cool and tarpon will begin to show up in patches. The lakes around Robina have been fishing well for trevally and tarpon as well as the odd giant herring. Anglers who enjoy tussling with sharks are in luck. There have been a good number of small

bull sharks in the shallows chasing mullet and even taking lures intended for mangrove jack. The fresh and dirty water gets them biting so look for them feeding late afternoon and early morning. Using live or big dead baits at night can also be very effective.

Cody Ward with a skinny but goodsized early season lizard.

Jesse Rowe caught this flathead at Bribie Island flicking a Chasebaits Flick Prawn into the weed beds and sand bars.

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Various species are mixing it up in the canals GOLD COAST CANALS

Josh Dunn Instagram: @josh__dunn__

Already this year we’ve seen some magnificent catches in the canals! A variety of species have been on offer over the months, and there’s still more to come! May is a perfect month for a mix of species, as you get a late run of summer species and an early shot at some quality winter species, including tailor and mulloway. With a busy start to the year, night fishing has been my go-to, but I’m day fishing when I finish up early at work! I’ve learnt so much fishing at night, mainly the fish’s feeding patterns. Evidently pelagics – including tailor, GTs, bigeyes and even mulloway – feed more aggressively throughout the run-out tide. Although, I seem to consistently pick up more mulloway on the slack low of the tide. You’ll notice all the species mentioned will be caught in a similar area, if not in the same school. The Seaway is well known for this, along with most rock

walls with a good amount of water, bridge pylons (the larger, bulkier bridges are definitely the better option) and basically any main river system that has great amount of water flow. For example, Nerang and Coomera rivers both have a large amount of water pushing in and out around the mouth of the system. Tailor fishing can be very diverse, especially on the Gold Coast, although

when there’s a species in our backyard that pulls line as much as these fish do, it’s hard to pass up! Flyfishing surface, trolling for a deeper technique, casting plastics when the spinner has lit up with baitfish and casting out a pilchard all seem to work effectively! As we get closer to the winter months, bream will be more likely to spawn. This will create hunger and aggressiveness from

Harrison Branch with a small mulloway taken from an inlet in the Logan River.

A few tailor are getting around lately with blades being the perfect option to get the attention of these predatory fish.

these fish and plenty of fun when the bite is tough in the Broadwater! Try fishing deep water in the cooler months as the bream will sit in large schools throughout the canals, ready to spawn. Don’t be surprised to get a 1kg bream or two with a big stomach! Be as delicate as possible with these

fish as they won’t be far off spawning! Within the next month or two, the weather will finally be starting to get better in comparison to past months. In saying that, the temperatures will start to drop even more, as well as water temperatures! On the fishing scene that means

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the start of early mornings on the water, watching the horizon for birds and surface action! May is a perfect month for a mixed bag; along with a variety of species. It also offers fantastic weather and boating conditions. Be sure to say safe and get amongst it!

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May offers mixed bag of diverse fishing options them at Slipping Sands, Tiger Mullet Channel, the Bedrooms, Tipplers and the Never Fail Islands. Tailor should be around early in the mornings just inside the bar where the water is like a washing machine and towards the top of Crusoe Island. You

JUMPINPIN

Mick Morris gembait@tpg.com

Jumpinpin is such a fantastic fishing area because of the diversity of options available for fishos of all different skill levels. You can go bait fishing, lure fishing, live baiting, trolling, drifting or simply anchor on a spot that looks good. The main species are bream, whiting, flathead, tailor and mulloway. Sometimes a few different species show up like mangrove jack, cod, grunter bream, snapper, trevally, morwong, golden snapper, dart and threadfin. A few barra have even been caught this year. Bream should be one of the more prevalent species on offer as the cooler

and sandies about. You can expect a few small mulloway being caught as well to about 90cm, but as the cool nights kick in we should be expecting some larger fish to be on the chew in the deep water off Swan Bay, Kalinga Bank, Short Island and in the river

This is a solid grunter for the ‘Pin area. weather sets in. It’s a great time to target them as they start to gear up for their breeding season and will be out searching for a feed.

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When they come on the bite, try upsizing your baits to tempt the larger fish; use larger banana prawns, bigger clumps of mullet and chook gut, pilchards and bonito strips. The trick is to set up a good berley trail to get the fish feeding and kick off that bite period. Night fishing has always proved more fruitful in the last few hours of the run-in tide. Off the beaches, good gutters where tailor and dart are usually found will hold some big bream as well. Other great spots to try are the deep water off North Straddie, Kalinga Bank, the Stockyards, Short Island, Karragarra, Jacksons, the power lines, the north wall of the Seaway and Tabby Tabby Island. Flathead are still being caught in large numbers around the top of Crusoe Island, Cobby Passage, the

Pandannus weed banks, the Pig Sties, bottom of Kangaroo Island and the mouth of the Logan River. Pillies, prawns, mullet, herring and soft plastics are the best baits and the last of the run-out tide will be the best time to catch a feed of lizards. Winte r w hiting should be around in good numbers as well. Easily distinguishable from their summer whiting cousins, the winter whiting are usually smaller although they do get to over 30cm and have dark spots at the base of their pectoral fins. There is no size limit but they do have a bag limit of 50 per person. They can be found on the sandy flats of Moreton Bay right down to the Broadwater of the Gold Coast. They’re great for family fishing outings as they are easily caught on worms, squid, pipis and small yabbies. At the ‘Pin you can find

A quality morwong caught from the Logan River. They can grow a lot bigger than this one! could also try the beach across from south Straddie for better quality fish and the odd dart and bream thrown in as well. The crabs and prawns have gone a bit quiet but there is still good cause to throw some pots out during winter as there are still some good muddies

near Marks Rocks. • Thanks for all your reports and fish weighed in. If you need to order any bait or want up-todate fishing information, give me a call at Gem Bait and Tackle on 3287 3868 or email gembait@ tpg.com.au. I’ll catch you next month.

Grunter bream are a schooling fish so when you find one there should be more. 30

MAY 2018

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The autumn fishing hasn’t slowed down yet GOLD COAST

David Green

May is a transition month between summer and winter species on the offshore grounds of the Gold Coast. There are plenty of good opportunities, particularly for those interested in chasing Spanish mackerel, wahoo and blue marlin. In May, the East Australian Current generally slows down a bit and the water temperature drops slightly. A lot of species that have migrated south on the current, such as spotted and Spanish mackerel, start to make their return runs north as the water cools. A lot of the bigger specimens are caught in May and June. This month is a good time to work grounds such as the Tweed Nine Mile, the Gravel Patch off Burleigh Heads and the 24 Fathom Reef east of Southport trolling large dead baits or live baits for mackerel. A downrigger can greatly improve the catch rate at times, particularly when you are marking big fish

close to the bottom. Spinning with metal lures and stickbaits is also effective at times and long thin lures are a good way to hopefully avoid the teeth

of the fish. A short length of fine mono or nylon wire can be used, but in general the fish avoid wire and it’s generally more productive to put up with a few bite-

offs. Most of the mackerel are between 8 and 15kg in May and some quite big spotted mackerel up to 7kg are also being encountered. For wahoo, the Tweed

A nice blue marlin on the leader.

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Nine Mile Reef is the number one spot in the region, and high-speed trolling using metal headed lures is often effective, although a slowly trolled tuna can get you onto a run of bigger fish. Trolled minnow lures also work well but can catch you plenty of big and generally unwanted mackerel tuna. This is a good searching method that catches a wide range of species. Most of the wahoo are 12-18kg but occasionally much bigger fish turn up as well. Other good wahoo spots include the Mud Hole east of the Tweed Bar, the 36 fathom line and the Gravel Patch off Burleigh Heads. Out on the continental shelf there should be quite a few blue marlin around and May is generally quite a productive month on the wide grounds for blue, striped and black marlin. The water temperature is generally around 23°C and there is also the odd wahoo out on the shelf. Trolling large skirted lures on 37kg tackle is the standard method used. Bottom fishing in May improves as the current slows and the water cools.

The 50 fathom line should produce mixed bags of pearl perch, tuskfish, juvenile snapper, samsonfish and kingfish. In closer, there should be quite a few teraglin and the odd mulloway. In general, the snapper start to show in late May on the 36 fathom line and increase in number as autumn turns to winter. The large bommies on the 18 and 20 fathom line are well worth a fish in the night or evening for mulloway this month, as are the artificial reefs located to the north of the Seaway. RIVERS AND ESTUARIES May sees a significant drop in water temperature in the estuaries and an increase in fishing activity. As the water cools species such as flathead, bream and mulloway become more active and summer species such as whiting and mangrove jack become harder to find. May is the first month of the year where I begin to target flathead in my local waters. The numbers generally increase throughout the month and most fish are 40-60cm long. There are often big schools

of white pilchards in May, and the flathead often feed actively on the clean water of a run-in tide chasing this bait on the flats and channel edges. Cast white soft plastics and small shallow running hardbodies are often very effective in these situations. In May most of the flathead will be in the central part of the estuary

between Crab Island and Tipplers Passage. Both trolling and casting will produce results. Throughout autumn there have been plenty of prawns in the estuary and these should stay around this month. As well as providing a great feed these prawns are a major food source for a wide variety of fish species and numbers

of threadfin salmon are starting to show north of Jumpinpin and around the mouth of the Logan River on the change of tide. A lot of these threadies are over a metre long and they are a great eating fish. May is the last month to target both sand and mud crabs on the Gold Coast. The old saying ‘you only get crabs in the months

Charles Britton and Helen Zahos with Spaniards.

with an R in them’ doesn’t hold true here, and there are quite a lot of good mud crabs available in May in both the Pimpama River and Coombabah Creek as well as sand crabs on the run-in tide in the Broadwater. Mulloway should start to show in both the Seaway and Jumpinpin entrances. Both soft plastics and live baits are effective and live pike can be the undoing of some big fish this month. The mouth of Swan Bay occasionally produces fish between 25 and 30kg in May. Most of these fish are caught on live baits on the run-in tide. Bream start to move downstream towards the entrances with the first of the westerly winds in early preparation for spawning. Deep jigged vibes and small soft plastics are all effective at this time of year. There should still be a few whiting up the rivers and a few jacks. There are quite often some nice mangrove jack caught in the Seaway on live baits in May, particularly near the end of the north wall of the Seaway. Overall, May is a great month with plenty of fishing options for all types of anglers on the Gold Coast.

Mark Frendin with a typical May flathead.

MAY 2018

There’s prime prawning at the powerlines SOUTHERN BAY

Nick Whyte

The bay has been fishing very well the last month. There have been good catches of sweetlip, bream, snapper and flathead all coming from the shallows around the Southern Bay Islands. Snapper and sweetlip have been coming from around Potts Point, Goat Island, South West Rocks and the sunken reefs at Peel Island. Light line has been doing the trick. I have been having good success throwing 8lb leader, 1/6oz Jigheads and 2.5” ZMan GrubZ in motor oil colour. The low light periods have been fishing best and producing the better quality fish. There have been some longtail tuna caught in the Northern Bay but they are still yet to move to the southern end. There are some good quality fish amongst them too, with fish to 25kg being reported. Because the

A good feed of prawns from the salt works. fish are bigger they have been chasing larger baits, and good options to try include big plastics and 120-160mm stickbaits. The Fish Inc 120mm Wing is a great lure

for longtail tuna. The fish have been north of Harrys so make sure you are careful around the green zone in the middle of the bay. Winter whiting have been

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the big surprise; they are being caught in good numbers throughout the Southern Bay. There have been plenty on most banks, but the Pelican and Banana banks have been the stand-out locations. Drift along the bank edges until you find a patch of fish, and then do short drifts over the productive area or anchor on it. The best baits have been worms or small strips of squid. The Brisbane River has been producing some nice fish, with good numbers of mulloway and good-size snapper coming from the walls and wharfs. There have been a few threadfin salmon being caught as well, especially at night on live baits. The majority of the bigger fish have moved back upriver. The mulloway and snapper have been coming on plastics and soft vibes, with Zerek Fish Traps producing the goods. Mulloway to just over the metre mark and snapper up to 75cm have been reported. Make sure you keep an eye on your sounder and look for the larger schools to target. Prawns have been around in good numbers, and most people are getting their limit pretty easily. The smaller tides will produce larger schools that will stay reasonably stationery. When working the larger tides you have to move and chase the

Richie Lucker with a pan-sized bay snapper. school with the tide. There have been good reports around the Power Lines and the bottom of Long Island. There are also good prawns up around the salt works and Lamb Island. There have been some quality flathead caught down around the Jumpinpin area, with lots of 60-80cm fish reported. Most of these fish have being coming from shallow water on smaller soft plastics or small trolled hardbodies. Some of the best performing areas I’ve fished include Pandanus

Island and the Never Fails. It’s also worth a look at areas close to the mouth of the Logan River. There have been quite a lot of small chopper tailor caught around the Pin area. These guys are balling up bait and chopping on the surface, so it’s always a good idea to have a small plastic or slug rigged to cast at the surface-feeding schools. If you have a great capture from the Southern Bay you would like to share, feel free to email me at techfishing@hotmail.com.

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Having some fun at Blakesleys Anchorage if you want a bit more fun, have a heavier rod rigged up and use a whole strip bait, as bait can lead to great success, especially in the summer months. You’ll notice that on a low tide the weed banks on the northern and southern end of the campground. As the tide rises, these weed banks are a great area for the use of small hardbodied and

MORETON BAY

Ryan Smith

Every school holidays a few mates and I pack the boat full of camping and fishing gear and make the trek across the bay to Blakesleys Anchorage located on North Stradbroke Island. Blakesleys Anchorage is located on North Stradbroke, roughly 8km south of Dunwich. This wonderful campground has a variety of fishing opportunities within casting distance of the beach. The drop-off out the front can be fished around the low tide period and as the tide runs in the weed beds on the northern and southern side are also great areas to get onto a few fish. As you arrive to Blakesleys, if you have a sounder, you will notice the sudden rise from the deeper channel up onto the beach. If you don’t have a sounder, on a low tide you can see how the bank drops away into the channel. This runs along the beach from the northern side to the south. The most effective way I have found to fish this is to start on the northern or the southern end,

surface lures. Atomic Crank 38s, Daiwa Double Clutches, Imakastu Wasp 50s are a few examples of diving lures that we had success on. In the surface lure department Bassday Sugarpens, OSP Bent Minnows and Imakastu Dilemma Poppers always produce fish, especially in these areas. Wading into the water and casting was the best

Finley Pell with a flathead caught on an Atomic Crank 38 twitched on a weed bank. spread out your casts along the drop-off then move 20m and repeat. This allows you to work as much water as possible. I tend to throw a small to medium sized soft plastic to begin with then change if needed. I start with a prawn profile such as the Atomic 3” Prong or the Squidgies Wild Prawn with a jighead around 1/8oz just to reach the bottom, even when there is some current. This is something I really enjoy because you

never know what you are going to hook-up to; there are a plethora of species that cruise through this area. Another way to fish this area is by setting out a couple of baits. If you are looking at doing this, I highly recommend bringing a cast net because there are always huge schools of hardiheads or mullet that hang around the Anchorage. Rigging a hardihead live and casting it out is bound to catch you a fish. However,

Hopping soft plastics along a drop-off can produce fish like this trevally.

way to fish these areas. Gently twitching the lures just above the weed was the most successful technique, as you don’t tend to get your lure caught up in the weed. This technique works wonders when the schools of bait are pushed up into the shallows by other predators. This allows you to be casting into the bait schools that are being harassed by bigger fish. Numerous bream and flathead were caught like this and we found that as we were unhooking the flathead, quite often they would have fresh hardiheads in their mouths. Blakesleys is a spot that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys camping and fishing. Being able to relax and watch the sunset across the bay with a few mates is something I enjoy. Blakesleys is a free campground, however there are no facilities there apart from bins so you will need to bring everything. Always make sure to put all your rubbish in the bins provided and be mindful of other campers. I hope all of you have the chance to get out on the water and wet a line. Until next month, tight lines and screaming drags.

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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Incoming cold weather and winter species BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

With the weather changing as we ease into the winter months, anglers will notice a change in the prominence of many species over the next month. Coming to the fore will be prime winter targets such as mulloway, snapper, tailor, luderick, diver whiting and squid. However, many warmer weather targets, including threadfin, school mackerel, longtail tuna and crabs will still be available for anglers to consider targeting. Although I hate the cold weather, I do like the piscatorial rewards it offers. The days will become shorter, the mornings crisper and the nights colder so slide on the tracky dacks, slip on a flanno, slop on a beanie and slurp on some warming fluid to get amongst a few of these beauties. SNAPPER The numero uno bay target for most anglers during the colder months is snapper. Better numbers of large, breeding-class fish will enter the bay as the water temperatures drop. The last two years have been a little

slow on the snapper front, however with early year rains in February and March, I think we can expect a much better season this year, due to increased nutrient levels throughout the bay and filtering systems. The artificial reefs (Bill Turner, Curtin, Harry Atkinson, Scarborough, East Coochie, and West Peel) offer great areas for anglers to get amongst a few knobbies and plenty of smaller specimens. These reefs have been constructed either by dropping objects such as car bodies, concrete pipes and vessels or by the placement of artificial reef balls – the latter being used in the newer reefs such as East Coochie, Bill Turner and West Peel. All these structures attract and offer homes for baitfish and other juvenile species, which in turn attract larger predators including snapper, sweetlip, kingfish, cod, sharks, morwong, mulloway and many others. Snapper can be targeted around these structures on both baits and artificial offerings. Anchoring up current from the various structures and drifting your baits back towards them will provide the ideal scenario. The larger snapper will roam further from the structure and higher in the

water column than the smaller specimens, therefore it is not imperative to have your baits immediately adjacent to the structure to achieve a quality capture. Often your bait will be engulfed as it sinks, so be ready to engage the reel to set the hook. Good quality baits will go a long way to achieving a quality capture. Frozen offerings of squid, pilchards, bonito fillet, mullet fillet and gar pieces can all achieve quality fish, however fresh baits including yakkas, slimy mackerel, herring, banana prawns, pike fillets, squid, tuna strips and the like will heighten your chances considerably. Using fluorocarbon leaders and floating your baits down with a minimum of lead will go a long way to increasing your chances in these hardfished waters. Lure fishing for snapper is also a very productive method. There are numerous lures and fishing methods that can be employed including vertical dropping micro-jigs, trolling minnow lures and casting offerings such as plastics, minnow lures and soft plastics. Micro-jigs offer a great way to deliver an offering to fish sounding below the boat. You can put the offering directly

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Curtis ‘Reggie’ Green with a quality Brisbane River mulloway. They had to present the live herring lightly weighted on 6-8lb main line with 16lb fluorocarbon leader to get the bites. in front of them and often the fluttering jig will get bit on the drop. Trolling of lures is often done around the shallow rubble and reefy areas on the outskirts of the bay islands, along the edges of channels and around the submerged reef balls at areas such as the East Coochie Artificial. In addition to snapper, estuary cod, mulloway, mackerel and numerous others can be encountered. Soft plastics are often cast around the fringes of the bay islands, the artificial reefs, the edge of the main Peel Island Reef and submerged wrecks. Vibration baits, both hard and soft, are commonly cast in deeper areas such as the artificial reefs and submerged wrecks and ledges. Minnow lures can be rolled over the shallows, around the bay islands and along the edges of any shallow reef areas. Occasionally anglers even roll vibration baits (especially small blades) and work topwater offerings such as walk-the-dog style stickbaits in these shallows. The snapper fishing will ramp up in the coming weeks with an increase in both quality and quantity. Often we see an influx of larger fish coming in from offshore waters during May, however the timing of this will depend on water temperatures. It pays to sort out your gear and be ready for the snapper exodus. TAILOR Although it is still very early for tailor, there are often a few to be found during May. The nutrient levels in the rivers and estuaries from early rains often mean a dramatic increase in bait species within these inshore areas, especially herring and prawns. The

tailor fishing in the Brisbane River can often be ridiculous as a result with more than a dozen quality tailor taken with relative ease. The lit areas at night often produce good numbers of tailor with almost every cast producing a hit or hook-up when casting lures such as plastics, minnows, vibration baits and even poppers and stickbaits. The area around the Gateway Bridge and the numerous lit jetties along the river’s length will all produce. Additionally many other systems can offer similar results and the Jumpinpin Bar, the shallows of the bay islands and inshore artificial reefs can all produce tailor during May. PRAWNS The bumper prawn season we have been experiencing should continue during May if previous years have been any indication. While the creeks and rivers can be a little quieter, the numerous bay locations can fire. The Salt Works, eastern end of Lamb Island from the last moored boats to the second green marker, power lines area, end of the leads beacons out of Weinam Creek, Jacksons Hole (top of Russel Island), edge of the bank on the western end of Karragarra, Cabbage Tree Point, mouth of the Logan River and the Redland Bay Channel can all hold prawns. Usually prawns will hold in an area at the same stage of the tide for several days and then just disappear overnight, so you may have to look around a bit to find them. A quality top pocket net (preferably 12ft drop) will make gathering your maximum 10L bucket of prawns a lot easier and having the sensitivity on your sounder set fairly high will allow you

to find prawns. They will often show as a blue or blue/green haze on the bottom. Prawn schools can be located at any stage of the tide, however around the top of the tide and first hour or two of the run-out is often the prime time. Hopefully we will have a few more months of prime prawning if last year’s season is any indication. MULLOWAY Even during the warmer months, many anglers were still able to locate and catch good numbers of quality mulloway on a regular basis. During winter, numbers of mulloway often increase throughout the rivers and bay, especially around the artificial reefs. Often large schools of mulloway can be located roaming the artificial reefs and anglers with side imaging sounders can locate these with ease. These fish are fairly easy to tempt and any vibration bait, micro-jig, blade or plastic put in front of them will produce results. Sharks can be a problem at times with almost every hooked fish engulfed or shortened considerably. In the Brisbane River, mulloway will often hold along the face of ledges, fronts of the major jetties and in the deeper dredge holes along the retaining wall at the mouth. The lit jetties and bridges can often produce numbers of mulloway at night due to the large baitfish and prawn presence. In this situation the fish are often right on the surface and can easily be hooked with shallow diving minnow lures, soft plastics, vibration baits and even flies. When fish are in deeper zones anglers can take the relaxed approach with live offerings or quality dead baits. Live baits are more likely to get the attention of a mulloway with banana prawns, herring, mullet and pike all being worthy offerings. Allow the mulloway plenty of time to swallow the bait before striking, as they can be a little pedantic at times, especially with larger baits. Usually mulloway will be in numbers, so if you find one there will often be several more on offer. LUDERICK Last May I was catching a few luderick throughout the Brisbane River. However, the timing of this year’s run will be dependent on weed growth. This can be minimised if the estuarine waters are too dirty or have a lower salinity due to recent downpours. Weed growth is the key to good fishing, although there is usually always an occasional luderick lurking around during the cooler months. As the water temperature drops, cabbage weed will begin to show around the edges of channel markers on rock walls, floating pontoons, jetty

pylons and anything else that is in constant contact with the water. Luderick can generally be found around the rock walls and along steeper banks. You can drift your baits along these spots with a near neutral buoyancy float setup and the weed bait suspended beneath it. This bait is generally drifted close to the bottom but it will often need to be altered, as luderick may be feeding on growth attached to structure higher in the water column. Centrepin reels, such as the Alvey 475B, are ideal for this type of fishing. With the impending closure of the Alvey company, anglers will need to look further afield for such reels in the future. Soft rods between 2.7m and 3.6m are commonly used – the longer model on the ocean rocks and the shorter models in the creeks and estuaries, especially when fishing under bridges. Models around 3.15m are used for the more open estuarine waters and rock walls; this is my preferred length. There should be a few luderick for anglers to target during May, however the best is definitely yet to come. SQUID Again, it is water quality that will determine how good the squidding will be during May, especially in inshore waters. Squid like crystal clear waters, especially ones that flow over reef, rubble, rocks and weed beds. This supplies them with cover and offers habitat for the prawns and baitfish on which they prey. Casting egi (prawn profiled squid jigs) around such areas is likely to score you a few quality squid. Retrieves can vary from a slow wind with the occasional pause to rather erratic hopping with abrupt lifts of the rod tip to elevate the jig through the water column. During the latter retrieve, the egi is often grabbed as it sinks after being hopped. A quick strike will see the barbs of the egi embedded into the tentacles of the squid. A slow constant wind (no pumping of the rod) while keeping a bend in the rod tip will see the squid within net reach in a few seconds. Larger specimens

will exhibit a few lunges and may even strip a little drag. Constant pressure will keep them pinned. I would suggest that the better squid fishing options will exist further into the bay; the Rous Channel, weed beds on the western side of Moreton and just south of Dunwich, the shallows of the bay islands and the Amity wall are good spots to try during May. Westerly winds should clear the waters over the coming months and the squid fishing will get much better around the shallows on the western side of the bay. THREADFIN As the water temperature drops, threadfin will begin to move further upriver in the

rock walls, rock bars and prominent structure further up which will hold quality fish. A quality side imaging sounder and decent knowledge of its workings will go a long way to help you find these sportfish, which are prominent in numbers and size. A wide array of lures will tempt threadfin; soft plastics, vibes, minnow lures, flies and many other offerings work well. Live baits will also work a treat and will attract attention from river whalers, which become more abundant the further upriver you venture. CONCLUSION Plenty of fishing options exist for anglers hitting the waters in the Moreton Bay area

Quality prawns have been plentiful over the last few months and should continue well past May. This bucket came from the eastern end of Lamb Island recently. Brisbane, Logan and many other systems. They will still be caught around the mouth of the Brisbane River however the majority of anglers tend to head further up the system. Oxley Creek and the Bremer River also hold numbers of threadies and offer plenty of land-based spots. Ironically, few anglers explore these waters, except for the occasional land-based angler fishing around the pontoons, CityCat terminals and other structures in the city reaches. There are numerous

during May. Due to recent rains there could be a few scenarios which play out in relation to the prominence of certain species, however one certainty is that there will be plenty of variety for anglers. Cooler conditions will require a little more clothing to keep warm, especially for those going out early in the morning or fishing into the night. The days will be lovely and warm. With so many options during May, anglers will have a tough time deciding what to target next.

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Southern Queensland

Gearing up to fish deep water BRISBANE OFFSHORE

Jeremy Lamb

Thanks to unfavourable conditions, over the last four or five months we’ve mostly been restricted to working the closer grounds in 25-30m of water. You can still get good mixed bags there though, and with species

guarantees you’ll get better catches of bottom fish than you will in closer. Out further we’ve been doing well on mahimahi (dolphinfish) though, one day getting 15 of them off Point Lookout. When you see them pop up, quickly put a handful of berley to keep them next to the boat while you rustle up a bait on gang hooks. Rig

mackerel around but most have detoured past us and shot straight down the Gold Coast. There are schoolies and spotties being caught by anglers specifically targeting them. You can also pick up the odd one by floating out a pilly (pilchard) or live bait while you’re anchored up bottom fishing. Other species showing up lately include rainbow runners, cobia and trevally. We’ve been getting a few nice diamond trevally up the cape, caught on half pillies and mullet. With winter coming up, the weather will start getting better

and the current will hopefully start to back off allowing anglers to work in 50-120m of water. Locations such as Deep Tempest, the 32s, 29s, 35s, Cathedrals and the 50 fathom line off Point Lookout will all be good places to try. The reef species available won’t really change, but the pelagics will; the colder months are prime time to get your arms stretched by yellowtail kingfish and amberjack. You can send out a live slimy or yakka, or work knife jigs or micro-jigs – pretty much any bit of metal that gets to the bottom quickly, which you rip up in front of their face.

Anglers are having fun catching diamond trevally up the Cape.

Spanish mackerel catches are dwindling, but kingfish and amberjack will soon take their place. including snapper, spangled emperor (yellow sweetlip), grassy sweetlip, moses perch, coronation trout, gold spot wrasse and moses perch. And even if you do manage to get out wider, say, in front of south passage bar in 50-70m of water, there are no

MAY 2018

the gang unweighted, and feed it out the back of the boat. Good spots are Deep Tempest and the 50 fathom line off Point Lookout, but numbers will start to dwindle as the cold sets in. When it comes to pelagics, there are a few Spanish

Good size yellow sweetlip (spangled emperor) are getting around.

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NORTHERN BAY

Grayson Fong graysonfong@bigpond.com

What a torrid time we have had with our weather systems over the past month, so much so it sometimes makes you feel like selling your fishing gear. Mother Nature has not been kind to us lately but as keen anglers, we always find a way to get onto the water regardless of the conditions. Ample opportunity has still been available to anglers in our vast estuarine systems in the northern bay with the Pine River and the Pumicestone Passage still producing reasonable fish despite the plethora of rains and wind that we’ve had. BREAM I think if we had a nuclear holocaust two things would survive: cockroaches and bream! These hardy fish can sometimes be found in the skinniest of waterways and the murkiest of waters but they are a godsend when it comes to looking for something to catch. The Pumicestone Passage has still been producing solid bream around the Ningi Flats, Cooks Rocks (wind direction permitting) and Tiger Rocks with the making tide being the peak time for anglers. Lightly weighted presentations with both baits (freshly pumped yabbies and mullet strips) and soft plastics (2.5” ZMan GrubZ, 2.5” ZMan Slim SwimZ and Gulp Crabby) have been the successful formula. Small slow hops with soft plastics are working a treat. Redcliffe Peninsula has also been producing good bream with hardbody lures doing the damage in this area. Finding cleaner waters has been the key for the peninsula with these patches holding better schools of bait for bream to feed on. Shields Street, Queens Beach and the Newport waterways have been the

Decent lizards are lying in the Pine River at this time of year. pick of the areas with the occasional pan-sized juvenile snapper being a welcome by-catch. As mentioned before the Pine River has been a shining light this month with the rains helping bream numbers by pushing prawns into the system. Our biannual prawn run has also accelerated bream in the area with the change in the tide after the high seeing most fish being caught. The lower reaches have always

produced well around the bridges, with the wells also fishing great lately. If confined to the estuaries due to the weather, a great backup for the kids is Cabbage Tree Creek. Fresh baits are definitely the go in the area with many bream milling around the abundance of trawlers looking for food. FLATHEAD Numbers have been stable for these bottom dwellers. The Caboolture River and the

Pumicestone are producing better than average numbers and sizes, especially on the last half of the run-out tides. Fish the many drop-offs in these rivers. Drifting is more successful than anchoring when looking for better fish. Shad style soft plastics have been the ticket with Zerek Flash Minnows and ZMan 5” StreakZ the popular choices. MUD CRABS These rains have certainly brought one good thing to our northern bay rivers, and that’s good numbers of mud crabs. Laying pots close to the mangroves in good tidal flow has produced the goods with all the major rivers recording decent catches. Hays Inlet has been a standout along with the mouth of Glasshouse Creek. BANANA PRAWNS Good hauls of banana prawns have been caught this year with Nudgee Beach being the star of the show. Shorncliffe and Clontarf have also shown scattered patches but with these rains the pick has been Nudgee. Numbers should slowly dwindle as we get into the cooler months but be sure to remember they will return for their first run again towards the end of the year. TIP OF THE MONTH With adverse weather conditions like we have had, fishing the incoming tide can be the more fruitful time due to the increased influx of saltier water, especially in our estuaries where fresh rainwater is constantly running off the land. Fishing the top of the tide or deeper areas may increase your catch rate.

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Ashley Kirkup and his mates enjoyed some Nudgee Beach prawning.

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The May flathead will just keep on coming! fish taken around Pincushion Island. Mullet gut, prawns and white bait have all been prime baits. Flathead are also in good numbers with plenty of fish taken on the run-out tide. Fishing the mud banks between Petrie and Eudlo creeks has seen some good results. Tailor are also on the increase with the Jet Ski area opposite Bradman Ave

NOOSA

Peter Wells

In the Noosa River the flathead season just keeps rolling on. Live baits are still the go-to method with herring being the most popular bait. Dead baits are also working well – the standout is still whitebait fished on gang hooks. A lot of anglers are also employing a scented dye to change the colour of their baits. This is an added visual attractant and gives the bait an added scent layer. Soft plastics have also been claiming their fair share of flatties. ZMan MinnowZ in 3”, Chase Baits in 2.5 and 3” and the new Bio Tough range from Squidgy have all recorded good catches. Don’t forget the scent when casting plastics to improve your chances. Whiting are in great numbers with plenty landed on poppers up in Weyba Creek. In the windy conditions, try

and get the wind at your back so you can cast lighter lures and cover more ground. This is a very exciting way to fish as you see the follow and the strike all in about half a metre of water. Fishing small poppers and surface walkers is the go with the incoming tide always the best for this technique.

For bait anglers, live yabbies and live worms have seen some good catches recorded. Excellent bags of large winter bream are being reported as we start to move into their spawning season. Fishing those crisp mornings has seen fish responding well to fresh mullet strips, mullet gut and frogmouth pillies. For the lure anglers, the new Nomad Riptide in the 58mm and the Atlas Cranks in the 38mm size are also perfect for chasing those fussy bream. Trevally numbers and sizes are on the increase with golden, cale cale, bigeye and giant trevally all accounted for. A few hard-fighting queenfish were also taken down around the river mouth and on the current lines. The good old Storm Chug Bug in the 65mm size is really doing the job with quality VMC hooks. These hard-fighting predators find it hard to shake them loose once they are hooked. Tailor are starting to show up with most fish taken on the incoming tide. This will only get better as the water cools. Fast moving soft plastics, surface walkers and slugs have all claimed the hardfighting tailor. In the Maroochy River plenty of whiting have been taken around the river mouth and down towards Chambers Island. Bream are also in good numbers with some larger

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caught up in the upper reaches of each arm with surface lures working a treat in the early morning and late afternoon. Lake Macdonald has fished well lately with a few nice bass taken along the bubble line and up around the botanic gardens. In the upper reaches some really big bass and a few saratoga have been claimed with surface walkers doing the damage.

Alexander Milne joined his dad Jason for his first offshore kayak trip and landed a 85cm longtail tuna casting a ZMan StreakZ 3” lure in pearl.

Steve Kane managed this 80cm flathead from the Maroochy River. The fish was taken on a soft plastic and was returned to the river.

with either a pilchard or slimy slowly making its way to the bottom. The reefs off Double Island have seen pearl perch, scarlet sea perch, Spanish mackerel, grassy sweetlip, red emperor, cobia and the everpresent hussar. On the beaches the cooler water signals the start of the winter bream season and this year should be no different. Winter bream will be in their

Alexander hooked-up to his first-ever tuna. After one cast into a bust-up and a 30-minute fight with this speedster he managed to get it into the yak! producing good fish. Noosa is blessed with some great reef systems and Sunshine Reef is right up there. Sunshine has really been firing with some solid coral trout taken on pillies and live baits fished hard on the bottom. Quality snapper, sweetlip and Maori cod have also been coming over the side. Even though the water has cooled a little we are still seeing a great run of Spanish mackerel in the 10kg+ range. Having a pillie floater out on a 5/0 set of gangs in a solid berley trail is going to get you into them if you are at anchor. If you are trolling using Halco Laser Pros, Rapala X-Rap and Samaki Pacemaker divers in a couple of colours and dive depths to help to entice a strike. On the slow troll, Davo’s Spaniard Specials are the way to go. They come in two weights and a varietyº of colours. Longtail tuna are still in great numbers with the size of the fish increasing every week. Plenty of bust-ups can be seen from Noosa Main Beach as well as plenty of bird activity and as usual for this time of the year the schools are moving fast, so if you can get to the north of them they will usually come to you. Cast to the edges of the school so you don’t put the wind up them. Slugs micro-jigs and soft plastics have all been successful. Up on North Reef we have seen some nice snapper, grass sweetlip, pearl perch and cobia all on offer. The floater rigs always seem to work well at North Reef

spawning season and will be constantly looking for food. Small baits like prawns, whitebait, small strip baits of mullet and bonito and chook gut should deliver great results. We also see some good whiting at this time of the year with worms and pipis getting results. In the freshwater Borumba Dam has been fishing well with the timber at the junction of the Yabba and Kingham arms a great area to start casting. The fish were holding deep and soft plastics fished over the top of the schools worked well. Qatermelon red was the most popular colour. Saratoga have been

Don’t forget to check into www.fishingnoosa.com.au for all the latest up-to date info on fishing and bar crossings. The knowledgeable teams at Davo’s Tackle World Noosa and Davo’s Northshore Bait and Tackle at Marcoola can provide you with the right equipment, bait and advice to ensure success! • For all the latest information log onto www.fishingnoosa. com.au for up to date bar and fishing reports. Drop into Davo’s Tackle world Noosa or Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola to find out where the fish are biting, and remember tight lines and bent spines!

Andy Takats got this great 62cm cod fishing the rock wall at the Noosa River mouth. The crafty cod went for a herring live bait.

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Rock fishing made easy – hints for the beginner BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Long before I owned a boat I did a lot of fishing around ocean rocks, sea walls, headlands and the like. At Iluka’s Woody Heads if the water was sudsy and looked likely to conceal a fish, I’d have a bait in it soon as I could safely see of a morning at any time of year.

FISHING CLOSE TO THE ROCKS One thing I quickly learned almost from the outset was that my target species were never going to be far from the wash as it concealed them and served tucker from time to time when things were washed in. This meant that a small bream-sized bait had to be cast out a little way and then submerged; trouble was that a sinker usually resulted in a snag and pesky re-rigging.

GOOD FOOTWEAR IS ESSENTIAL First up is attire. When fishing from the rocks it’s usual to be close to the water, which will see some of the salty wet stuff likely being splashed about the place, so a spray jacket is a good idea, but don’t overdo things in order to keep dry. Waders, gumboots, plastic or waterproof trousers and the like are out. These all offer resistance for wave action to work with and upset the

Setting up for a session at the Seaway. Note the length of those rods.

Mullet strips are excellent bait but if a fresh one isn’t available, salted is the next best thing. The author’s Kaydee plastic sandals are 15 years old and still going strong. Results always varied but some mighty feeds of fish such as bream and tailor – even a snapper on one occasion – were taken when things worked out to my advantage, which meant that seas were not so rough I couldn’t fish close to rock edge, the chosen area of white water was safe enough to access with confidence and the sudsy stuff from wave action was remaining long enough to coax fish into casting range. The reality is that I loved rock fishing then and do so just as much now!

You can, of course, be lucky and have a fish do the right thing and grab the hung up bait. Here’s a hint. Don’t hold the breath while waiting for this to occur, as a blue contorted face is not a good look on the rocks or elsewhere. Jokes aside though, there’s quite a bit to know about this business – and how to avoid those snags – so it’s likely best to start at the beginning and understand just what rock fishing entails, which is far more than I have indicated in the opening paragraphs.

balance, which should be avoided at all cost. Joggers, track shoes, and any ‘standard’ shoes are out too, as they usually don’t offer sufficient grip. The safest, essential footwear consists of purposedesigned rock fishing shoes, which are set up to offer maximum grip. These won’t be as cheap as the old half worn-out joggers from last year but will save a nasty spill when marine grown or slippery rock surfaces are underfoot. I have a pair of Kaydee plastic sandals – old

but still good, although I’m not sure if these are still available. Also it’s pretty wise to wear shorts to prevent waves and wash from pulling at the legs should a big green one come up. Rely on layers of clothing on the upper body to maintain warmth. In winter this is a big ask, but it’s actually quite surprising just how warm the sea can be in contrast to the surrounding land and things are not so bad once a few fish start to brighten the picture. Remember, proper footwear is the key; it’s essential to maintain balance

it because when waves are coming in there it’s at best very uncomfortable, at worst even dangerous. If an adjoining area is dry but within reach of the chosen fishing spot, it’s likely a suitable position to fish from. Next is the state of the tide. A rising tide is a time of serious caution as waves will be building, so the higher the spot, the better. A falling tide presents less problems but again, if an area is already wet, be very wary of it. LEAVE THE BREAM GEAR AT HOME There has been a

serious trend towards using ultra fine tackle in the last decade, doubtlessly honed to perfection by the bream fishing competitions featured in this magazine and although this is fun tackle to use, it really has no place around the rocks and wash areas. Here we looking for reach, winching power and a degree of brute force at times to turn and then lift a rampaging fish. You let that fish run and he’s bricked you! Got the picture? A 3m rod will likely be just too short. It’s far better to make use of one around 3.5m in length to assist in

Plastic sandals are on, the rod’s at the ready and out goes a cast.

The float in action just past the rocks. 46

MAY 2018

at all times. My last advice is to watch the water for a short while before starting out to ensure that the location is safe enough. WHERE TO FISH Sudsy water is the key but some caution needs to be exercised when it comes to actually getting at the hotspot and this starts with a really hard look at the area adjacent the wave action. Any area that’s wet will likely be copping a wave now and again, so avoid

“Does it look like I’m enjoying things?” The author loves his rock fishing.

keeping tackle just out of the reach of snags which are always happy to grab a bit of terminal tackle for the fun of it. The rod should be

mono line. The most important part of the whole setup is – drum roll, please – a float. Yes, a $2 polystyrene float – these are best as

The float’s in just the right place – in an area of suds just off the rocks.

system; the depth where bait is suspended is controlled by having a small bead on the line above the float, which in turn is set to come up against a bit of floss, wool, or onion bag material tied a few times around the main line higher up. It’s similar to luderick fishing, but far less refined, because bream in a wash aren’t finicky. They react quickly to anything moving about, so a large easilyseen float is no obstacle to success. Completing the rig will be a small sinker about 20cm above the bait; this is also kept in place by a split shot. A well-presented bait kept a small distance from the sinker by the split shot, moving and dipping with wave action, is virtually impossible for a fish to

offer the chance of tailor as well as bream. If tailor are biting the hook off an upgrade to ganged hooks is necessary. One bait that makes a beautiful bream breakfast is a couple of legs or the body of one of those little crabs we see around the rocks. They are hard to catch, but always offer fun for the kids. TACKLE TIPS It’s important to keep the float close in, but not so close that the terminal gear will snag. The clue is to cast out past the wash and then draw it back. As a wave recedes the float can be allowed to drift out a bit again and that’s a hot time for a bite. As soon as the float bobs down the rod is lifted quickly and the fish will be on – it’s that simple. What’s not so simple is gauging exactly when and how to lift the whole rig back in without locking onto a ledge. When the angler decides a fish is ready to be brought in, the idea is to work it up on a wave by reeling the line in quickly to avoid any slack. As a swell comes in lift the rod up quickly and the fish should come up, stranded. This is pretty straightforward and comes with little chance of a snag. When it’s time to replace a bait, reel the rig in close, again lower the

rod right down to minimize slack and with an incoming swell. Lift smartly and wind very quickly to clear all obstructions. If the rig goes

flying up that’s fine, at least it hasn’t snagged. Those are my tips on successful rock fishing, particularly for bream.

Snapper like this one taken by the author at Woody Heads are a real prize when rock fishing with the float.

Keeping the rod up will allow some line to go out as the float recedes with a wave, while also assisting with a retrieve should the float drift out too far. matched to a reel that can handle 5kg line and yet be light enough to use for extended periods without strain. Many anglers rely on monofilament for their rock fishing. Braid is lovely

they cannot shatter – is the key to a lot of rock fishing success. Here’s why. That float offers a highly visible means of keeping bait in just the right position in the wash without becoming

ignore. The depth of drop will depend on the overall depth in the area but 1.5m is a good starting point. This setup casts well as the float will fall down onto a swivel tied about 1m above the

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Rock fishing involves waves and wash; the scene here is not for the beginner. stuff but it can either float (and make a pest of itself) or be blown about by the breeze and end up touching something sharp (and make more of a pest of itself) hence the trend towards

snagged. Moreover, as the suspended bait is always on the move it’s a mighty big temptation for a bream or tailor to latch onto it quickly before it gets away. It’s a really fool-proof

hook prior to the cast. BAIT Strips of salted fish flesh are hard to beat in this situation. Mullet, bonito, gar, pike and pieces of salted pilly are all very good and

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Boaties are being kept at bay by the weather HERVEY BAY

Dane Radosevic

The wild and somewhat torturous weather over the past month has definitely kept fishos and boaties questioning when it will ever improve. The ongoing blow of the strong southeasterly trade winds has kept most from venturing out for a fish, however it’s not all doom and gloom as there are some benefits. Due to the lack of traffic on the water many high pressured areas will have had a muchneeded break from anglers, therefore giving these areas time to rejuvenate and for a larger biomass of fish to move back in. The inshore waters and even the wider grounds have been stirred up shifting sand and silt, which in turn (once things settle) should see the fishing improve dramatically. This month the wind patterns will change and fishos can expect more consistent patches of glorious weather to get out and enjoy what

Double trouble – a double hook-up on queenfish enjoyed by fishers on charter with Hervey Bay Fly and Sportfishing. the Fraser Coast has to offer. Let’s take a look at what’s on the cards for this month. Tuna are the talk of the town with the annual run of large schools of both mac and longtail tuna gorging themselves on the masses of baitfish. This

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has been one of the few options anglers have had to wet a line in the windy conditions, due to the island providing that muchneeded protection from the southeasterly winds. The majority of the fish have been school size (5-10kg) and in large numbers. They’ve been eating a variety of soft plastics, metal slugs, stickbaits and fly presentations. These speedsters provide awesome sport, adding a great visual aspect, especially when they smash a lure on the surface. Their numbers will start to decline quite rapidly as they move further south towards the end of May, leading into the winter period. The prized golden trevally have been quite prolific over the rubble and coffee rock grounds throughout the Wathumba and Station Hill area with anglers micro-jigging and hopping soft plastics pinning hooks into some quality fish. Find the bait find the fish, there is no secret to it and some days it requires a lot of sounding around until you find them. Queenfish are also in

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good numbers throughout the same areas and pack attacks from metrelong fish are a common occurrence. The majority of fish have been taken on jerk shad imitations. Skipping pencil poppers across the top is another option and can often really stir this species up and entice them into biting, creating some incredibly visual surface strikes. The dropping water temperatures will also trigger the first run of snapper to move into the bay with locations such as the 25-fathom hole, Burrum Eight-Mile and Platypus Bay all likely areas to start searching for a big knobby. Although many of these areas don’t boast any large reef structure, the mostly flat rubble patches, weed growths, isolated coffee rock and wonky holes are all that are required to congregate masses of bait, which in turn draw in the snapper. During the low light hours snapper can be very pelagic-like in their characteristics, feeding throughout the entire water column. They have been known to push large yakka schools to the surface before devouring them. Once the sun is out, snapper generally prefer to feed closer towards the bottom. There are numerous ways in which to target snapper and one of the simplest is to anchor up on your desired mark and start a berley trail. This attracts and stimulates the fish to feed behind the boat at which point wafting down a lightly weighted pilchard or pencil squid will produce results. Another method is to target them on lures and trolling deep diving hardbodies has become a very effective technique. This technique allows

you to cover ground quickly in search of schools of fish and will generally draw a bite when the fish are shut down. Hopping soft plastics through the water column is also a very successful technique as snapper respond well to a lightly weighted presentation. Nannygai numbers will be prevalent in similar areas throughout the central bay and will often mix in with the schools of snapper. This species will respond to both soft plastics and bait, however bait will often produce the better quality fish. Less is more when it comes to bait fishing for this species as they can be rather tentative feeders and well-presented smaller baits such as a strip of bonito, pencil squid or – a personal favourite – the long tentacles pinned a few times leaving good hook exposure are the favoured technique. The 25-fathom hole and southern and northern gutters will begin to fire once this extended blow eases and anglers can venture further afield. Fishing the 30-35m flat country, anglers can expect to encounter a mixed bag of quality sweetlip, Moses

technique that has become popular and very effective over the last few years, allowing anglers to cover the entire face of the ledge on the drift. There is nothing finesse about this style of soft plastic fishing as we are using 1-1 1/2oz jigheads and pairing them up to large soft plastics and then vertically hopping them. Whiting, bream and flathead have started to show up in numbers throughout many of our estuarine systems. The Burrum River has produced exceptional captures of all three species, particularly around the building full moon tides. Targeting the lower reaches of this system on the making tide with fresh yabbies or sand worms has been providing dividends for most anglers. Smaller soft plastics and topwater lures have also been accounting for some good fish and provide for some great light tackle fishing. Flathead have and will continue to be a good target species and their numbers should continue to improve with the creek mouths on the western side of Fraser Island producing exceptional numbers of fish,

An average nannygai taken on a soft plastic while fishing an isolated structure up in Platypus Bay. perch, tuskfish, nannygai, cod, snapper and even the odd red. A standard running ball sinker rig is the preferred rig of choice and strips of bonito, pencil squid, pilchards or large banana prawns are ideal baits. Coral trout will be a worthy target species as they congregate along the face of the ledges waiting in ambush for passing prey. Dropping down large live baits such as yakka or pike will often result in trophy size trout up to 8kg, or you’ll experience an unforgettable bust-off as they smash your bait on their way back into the hole or crevice. Hopping or tea bagging soft plastics is another

especially on soft plastics. These same creeks have been producing quality size grunter on fresh bait with yabbies or banana prawns being the preferred choice. Alternatively, smaller soft plastics such as the ZMan 2.5” GrubZ in bloodworm are a standout colour. Good numbers of grunter have also been caught extending down through the Straits. The run-out tide is the ideal time to target them. The drains and small creek mouths have been holding some quality threadfin salmon with most reports coming from the bait fishos using live prawns or herring as bait. Get your cast nets out as the prawning this To page 49

Change of luck needed RAINBOW BEACH

Ed Falconer

We haven’t had much luck with the weather lately; we’ve had pretty much wind and rain for two months. Offshore we only managed a few days on the water due to very ordinary conditions. The good news is the fish are biting crazy when you get there. We have had some good snapper coming on board for anglers using soft plastics. For all the bigger fish on the close reefs you just need a bit of patience and some chopped up pilchards to start a steady flow out the back of the boat. Pearl perch are also in good numbers and also in fairly close. Floating whole pilchards on ganged hooks has been the best method lately. Out wider tuskfish are thick as ever. Doing a slow drift over ground has been ideal for a big catch of these beautiful fish. Using big baits has also seen some quality red emperor landed in the same area. On the beach with the

580 WITH

Harry with a pair of cracking red emperor. strong winds beach fishing has been a bit of a write off apart from the lagoon at Double Island Point where flathead and whiting have been on offer. On the Great Sandy Straits if there’s one good thing that’s come out of all the rainy weather, it’s mud crabs and lots of them. It’s probably the best I’ve seen in many years –

everyone I talk to has had big catches. May is usually when the weather conditions are more stable and it’s a fantastic fishing month. It’s my pick especially for coral trout. • To enjoy a day on the water with Keely Rose Fishing Charters phone Ed Falconer 0407 146 151 or visit www. keelyrosefishingcharters .com.au.

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Some quality snapper caught in close. From page 48

season has been nothing short of exceptional with all the major river and

creek systems providing anglers with their limit of prawns on most occasions and it appears they could

Longtail tuna provide for great sport and are a great drawcard to the Fraser Coast.

be around for a while yet. Remember if you’re chasing a feed of prawns that there is a 10L possession limit per person. We anticipate the start of our annual winter whiting run some time towards the end of May. Early parts of the season will see the majority of the fish scattered from Toogoom down to Urangan and time will tell where the better schools will congregate. This is a very basic style of fishing that is fantastic for the kids and family to get involved in. Fingers-crossed we have endured the bad weather for long enough and conditions begin to stabilise again along the entire East Coast so fishos can get out and put a bend in a rod.

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Target the wind-affected areas for barramundi LAKE MONDURAN

Rob Howell

Constant southerly winds have made for a cracking barra bite through April and we can only anticipate the same for May. Around this time of year the winds from the southwest and southeast are highly predictable, which is essential for finding feeding barra. The best areas to find active barra are the windaffected points and bays from White Rock to Two Mile Creek on the Kolan River system in the lake. These areas include Insane Bay, the island outside Insane Bay, Bustup Bay, Jacks Bay, Heart Bay and all the points that lead into them. If you aren’t familiar with these areas, you can purchase a detailed map at the Lake Monduran tackle shop/office where we can also explain and mark in further information. LURES Soft vibe jigging in shallow water has been a very effective way to get

Monduran barra to bite. This technique requires you to drop your vibe straight down to the bottom. Normally you would be sitting in 2-3m of water. When your vibe has touched the bottom you then take up the slack in your line with your rod tip touching the surface of the water, then give your rod a couple of quick upward cranks and let your lure touch the bottom again. It is also essential that your vibe has not picked up any weed, so be sure to check your lure is clean from any debris. This method may seem a little unorthodox at first, but when the bite comes they are powerful and you have to be on the ball. SPONSOR A BARRA The hard-working team from Sponsor a Barra Inc have raised enough funds to purchase 5000 barra fingerlings at 120-150mm long for release this month with an added 400 fingerlings at 200mm long with tags in them. These tagged barra are great way to track the movements of the fish at a juvenile stage.

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MAY 2018

Over the last couple of years we have released tagged barra as far up as Wallily Creek at the top of the dam and they have been re-caught more than 15km away in the space of a year. These barra were released at 200mm long and when caught again they measured 600mm long, which shows they have a staggering growth rate. • For further fishing info or accommodation and camping enquiries, please don’t hesitate to contact myself or any of our amazing staff here at Lake Monduran Holiday Park. Phone (07) 4157 3881 or email us at info@lakem.com.au.

Warm weather sticking around BUNDABERG

Jason Medcalf topwater@bigpond.com

I saw a funny meme the other day; it ran along the line of the fact autumn has failed to download so we are going to run with summer until further notice. Similarly, we have had some very unseasonal warm weather with hot northerlies and windy conditions. May traditionally produces some of the best weather of the year with warm, calm days and just a hint of coolness in the evening. These cool nights are just great for camping and sitting around the campfire enjoying a chat and maybe even a beverage or two. THE BURNETT RIVER Our mainstay, the Burnett has really started to produce since the upper reaches have begun to clear up. There have been some nice grunter and big bream being caught on fresh baits around the road bridges and a few flathead being taken across the sand flats above the bridges. This will only get better during May. The grunter love all the fresh that we have seen, so they will hang around for a while. In the lower reaches there have been some great catches of barramundi and mangrove jack. While the water temperature may drop a bit they should be around to target and will bite on the tides. The mouth has already seen a steady run of baitfish cruising through and with them come the predators like mackerel and tuna. We see quite a lot of baitfish movement in May and this is a great time to target these speedsters. Watching for birds diving or even just trolling around the lead markers is a great way to start looking for pelagic fish. Keep an eye on your fish finder, too; I

like to have my side imaging right out looking for bait. It’s a great way to find fish and you can troll a lure at the same time. My favourite lure for this is a Halco Laser Pro 120, because you can troll them at 8-10knots and they catch fish all the time at that speed. When you spot clouds of bait on the side imaging, you know what side and how far away they are. Also often you will see fish hanging wide of the bait waiting for their time to attack. You can target these suspending fish by casting sinking vibes, metal slices or even by just rolling soft plastics. THE BAFFLE The holiday period saw

quite a crowd on the water up at the Baffle and from all reports the fishing down the mouth was the best. There is still a lot of freshwater coming down the Baffle and that will continue pretty much for the rest of the year. The sand flats produced the usual flathead and whiting with some stud bream also eating a fresh yabby. Grunter have moved in and are in good numbers with the deeper holes and junctions being the best places to find them. The grunter just love fresh yabbies and if you’re targeting the bigger specimens, use larger hooks, fish deeper and be patient – big fish are cautious. There were some schools of barramundi around the

mouth but the spearfishers gave them a touch up and they moved on. The flathead, bream and whiting all put up a good showing and this should continue during May. The upper reaches – as I mentioned – are very fresh and the water is already quite cool. I manageed a couple of good jack sessions from the kayak while on my Easter break but they were pretty fussy. I found a slowly worked suspending hardbody lure worked well with the Jackall Squirrel and Tilsan Barra producing the goods. May will fish very similarly so slow down and work your lures with plenty of pauses.

Flathead are still moving around the Burnett as JJ found out.

Best results on good weather weekends GLADSTONE

Liam Jones

Finally the weather gods have gifted us some good weather. Mid-April saw some 5knot weekends for the first time in months! Those who made the trip offshore were blessed with glassed out seas and hungry fish. The first lot of

begun to turn up around the shoals and 12-Mile. A lot of big Spannos were landed over the good weather weekend, which is a sign that it should be another bumper season! Fishos who ventured north around Cape Capricorn and Hummocky found good numbers of largemouth nannygai on the turn of the tide once the soft

is about all anyone could do for the first half of April, so plenty of jacks were landed and some absolute crackers were amongst them. It’s also great to see so many juvenile QLD grouper being landed amongst them. These fish have really started to increase in numbers over the past few years and should only continue to grow in numbers for years to come.

Chris Hill with a nice red taken in the recent window of good weather.

Mitch Innocend with one of the Spanish caught on a recent trip. good weather fell only a few days prior to the new moon, which meant plenty of run but some really good bite periods for those that fished the right areas. Those tides just so happen to be my favourite tides for big red emperor. Fish isolated bommies, particularly the last of the run-in tide and run-out tide. Unfortunately I had to work all weekend but all reports are that everyone who targeted reds found reds. Lipper and trout were in good numbers for those who fished the shallower country. Stickbaits and jigs once again accounted for the better quality fish. Spanish mackerel have

fern stood up. The harbour has been fishing as good as ever despite the nonstop wind we had for the first half of the month. Barra and golden snapper have been around most of the rocky points and big salmon are starting to pop up in Grahams Creek. Grunter are still biting their heads off both inshore and offshore. I really can’t remember a grunter season as good as the one we have had this year. Not that you would really call it a season, as they have continued to bite over the past 12 months. Colosseum, 7-Mile and Turkey Beach are all fishing really well for jacks. Getting up the back of those little creeks chucking lures at snags

Les Jones jigged up this solid trout on a Yakamito Rager jig.

hardbodies like Jackall Squirrels and Yakamito Hyper Jerks have been the standouts along with Happy Rock Softies Grubs. As we move into May expect salmon numbers to increase and touch wood some more consistent weather moves in. Mackerel numbers should increase

with both doggies and Spanish turning up as the temperature begins to drop. • For more information on what’s biting, or to stock up with all the tackle and bait you need, drop into LJ’s

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Chris Hill with a nice Spanish taken on a Halco Laser Pro. Word has it there have been some XOS whiting falling for small poppers down Colosseum and 7-Mile area. This is certainly a very entertaining way to catch these fish and will also account for the much bigger fish in the school. The standout lures have been Shimano 50mm Risepops and Yakamito Side Shifts. Boyne River is still fishing well for barra but they seem to have shifted further upriver. From the train bridge up there are schools throughout most of the deeper holes. Happy Rock Softies grubs, willies and Castaic Jerky J Shads have been doing the damage. Awoonga hasn’t stopped firing just yet although the water temperature has dropped a fair bit. Any bays with timber and weed are holding the fish. Suspending

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Weather has done great things for the fishing save a whole lot of storage and weight coming to Stanage. The Plumtree Boat Ramp is to be refurbished and you can see the plans by visiting Stanage Bay Marine Facebook; feel free to comment on it along with the parking. There is a petition you can sign at my tackle shop at the back of the boatyard to have the

STANAGE BAY

Von Ireland

The islands and reef around Stanage Bay have had a sensational spell. Recent weather events of the past month have certainly made sure of that – we had a low form into a cyclone, then back to a low, bringing loads of wind to the mainland but not much rain, meaning the road is still in fairly good condition. What has the cyclone got to do with our road, you may ask. Plenty. Usually cyclones bring us rainfall and plenty of it, which causes the holes in the freshwater side of the creeks to fill then overflow into the creek crossings on the Stanage Bay Road – our

for just-legal red emperor. With the cooler months approaching the Spanish mackerel will be ready to chew, so don’t forget the big gear when you pack. Until next time, pray for good weather, good tides and good times fishing. • Don’t miss out on the amazing fishing and crabbing at Stanage Bay!

A happy angler with some Stanage Bay crabs from the campsite end of Barramundi Street. big driveway. This year that hasn’t happened, confusing even the barra, which mill at the mouths of the

Gene with a decent muddy.

saltwater creeks, waiting for the waterfalls of fresh to run so they can have a productive time spawning. This year the barra have been on the headlands, which is where they usually are in the winter months. Some were seen in the cut-through and the northwestern side of Long Island, but wouldn’t even take a live poddy mullet. One of the keen regular estuary fishers, and some very persistent visitors could only catch a barra on soft plastics. The muddies have come to life again with expected good catches in May. The low pressure system seems to play

havoc with the mighty muddies at times up here. Just when you think you have a consistent habit with the monsters, they pull off something entirely unexpected. The best hope is to have your heavy-duty pots made for up here, with fresh bait everyday. You can buy it from Stanage Bay Marine & Accommodation where pots are available too. With the bottom being totally stirred on the reef, good fishers should do extremely well. I would expect anyone who wants a budget trip to fish the close reefs and islands first. Take plenty of ice. I now sell 20kg and 10kg fisher ice, which will

These young crabbers are annual visitors to Stanage Bay from the Sunshine Coast. parking area sealed. When you are heading out to the reef, be sure to check if the wreck at Pier Head is uncovered as the sand comes and goes over it. At times it is stupendous

Call us at Stanage Bay Marine & Accommodation on (07) 4937 3145, check out www.stanagebay.com, email stanagebaymarine@ bigpond.com or look us up on Facebook.

The river recovering this month ROCKHAMPTON

Clayton Nicholls clay94_fishing@live.com.au

The Fitzroy River was still flowing with some fresh mid-April with a decent amount of water still coming down. The river normally takes a few weeks to become fishable and a lot longer to really clear up and become pretty salty again. For the meantime there are plenty of other places to fish like Coorooman, Corio, Keppel Bay and even the Gladstone side of the Narrows. FITZROY AND THE NARROWS The river has been in flood for a while now and there is more water predicted which will eventually work its way through. It will take a while to clean up completely. It isn’t all bad news, as the rain Rockhampton itself actually received wasn’t huge. It certainly kickstarted the bait, the prawns and baitfish in the other estuaries are of great size and numbers. The Narrows on the Gladstone side are still 52

MAY 2018

worth fishing and a few people have been getting some good fish on live baits there. On the lure side of things there have been many barra taken in Coorooman and Corio on lures while trolling in the 6-8ft range of water and using vibrant colours such as yellow and chartreuse. A top pick is the +6 diving 120 Barra Classic Elton on Chrome. The diving sizes that have been working are anything between 6-10ft. Generally the lures are placed 20-30m

behind the boat and trolled at around 4knots. If there are two people in a boat while trolling then the other person can be up on the casting deck if they desire casting lures into the structure on the banks. Some very good fish have been pulled using this technique with hardbody vibes. RIVERS, CREEKS AND THE BEACHES The creeks, bays and beaches have been fishing very well for all species. The front of Kinka where it opens

The author with a smaller model taken on light gear.

up into the salt flats has been a key area for targeting flathead, bream, whiting and salmon. One of the reasons this creek was so successful at the start of April was how small of a catchment it is; it didn’t really see a big influx of fresh. Other creeks in a similar situation like the one along Farnborough and even Ross Creek have all been fishing well. The beaches and smaller creeks may look a bit dirty from all the flow out of the Fitzroy, but it is definitely still fish-able. With the water so turbid and murky, the best bet at the moment is fresh bait like prawns from the causeway or fresh pumped yabbies from any of the flats down at the beach. FRESHWATER LAGOONS The freshwater has been a very viable option with all the rain – both for targeting the lagoons and creeks and for hitting any of the areas with visible flow. There have been a few along the highway with visible flow over culverts and flow along tree lines and over recently To page 53

Matt Hildebrandt picked up a good barra on his ACM Custom rod; this fish took the vibe right at the boat!

John Egan with a ripper golden snapper.

May is a month of fishing opportunities YEPPOON

Scott Lynch ifishcq2@bigpond.com

May is just what we need up here after a fairly rotten end to March and most of April with Tropical Cyclone Iris taking a drunken path for so long and ruining weeks of fishing for most of us. The rain and wind hasn’t let the bay settle enough for the bait schools and pelagic predators to take their usual course.

If the weather comes good, all the lesser mackerels should appear. In May, spots such as Wedge, Pelican, Quartz Rock, Coorooman Creek mouth, Ritamada, Ironpot, Rosslyn Bay Harbour (around the entrance, the northern wall corner, the blowhole and the southern point at north Kemp), Claytons Reef, the Septic Tank, Farnborough Reef, Bangalee, Findlays Reef, Corio Bay, Corio Heads, the Jew Hole, the Barge, Stockyard Point, Five

Fabian Sutton with a fine red emperor caught out from Yeppoon.

Rocks and the Pinnacles can fire up. All of these spots are a short run from the beach or local ramps. Doggies (Queensland school mackerel) have a minimum size of 50cm and bag limit of 10. These are the most common schoolies here for most of the year. People still have trouble identifying them even with

all the apps we have these days. They have large splotches, a white patch on the dorsal fin and white anal fins. Greys (broad-barred Spanish mackerel) have a minimum size of 60cm and a bag limit of five. They look like a deeper bodied doggy mackerel (school mackerel) with faint bars instead of the blotches. Spotted mackerel have minimum size of 60cm and a bag limit of five. They have defined spots with grey dorsal and anal fins. All these mackerel can be caught with the same methods of a floating out a pilly, trolling or casting lures. We like to jig lures, because you can score a lot of fish in quick time. Varying your lure retrieve until you find the one that works is the go. I also find it much more exciting than sitting and waiting for a pilly to get smashed. Flasha are one local lure that works, although any small chromie that can be

retrieved at speed with some action will do the job. Pilchards on either a floater letting it run down with the current or a pea sinker just above the gangs will work as well as anything. School Spanish in the 5-10kg are turning up at the grounds just outside the bay within range of the small boat anglers. They will take lures and baits meant for the lesser mackerel at times. I prefer gold deep divers of 100-150mm; the pinks and greens go pretty well too. The cooler weather means wahoo could be about. They usually hit the wider grounds and run along the shoals and rubble patches. They travel the contour lines with the bait schools and stop at features that hold the baitfish along the way. As a rule I troll for Spanish mackerel at approximately 10km/h and wahoo seem to prefer the speed upped a bit to around 12-15km/h. I like big deep divers with plenty

fresh will help give it a little boom. A good old pack of Tweed mullet heads will do the trick and lately that’s what many people have been

coming and buying to use. The crabs are predicted to be this way for at least the next month and if the little patches of rain

continue and the trickles of fresh keep coming into the river, this trend for crabs will continue. Fish light, get the bite.

Dean Pearce with a barramundi landed at Port Alma. We have missed the complete run of spotted mackerel, greys and doggies in close. Now May has the opportunity to turn it all around. Pretty much all of the mackerel, a fair swag of other pelagics and bait schools should move through the bay giving the guys with smaller boats their turn to score a feed. From page 52

inundated grass levels. The little bit of flow or stirred up water from it spilling over either artificial or natural blockages certainly helps when targeting the barra and tarpon in the fresh. Depending on the area, lure selection will vary from 4-6” minnows to 50-70mm surface lures. The surface lures have been great for working over the flooded grass levels and the minnows have been great for fishing the spill over areas like piled up trees and culverts. CRABBING Crabbing is pretty good at the moment with many people catching a heap of bucks in Corio and Coorooman. Once the Fitzroy stops flowing and salts up back down at the port, the decent dose of

Patrick Egan with a solid Fitzroy barra before the river started running.

of colour like pinks and greens. Other mates prefer to troll big hexheads and skirts in similar colours. The average wahoo here seems to be 8-10kg, which makes them great on the lightest gear you can use and still hold your lure. The fresh flow has attracted nannies and grunter into the bay over the last few weeks. They work the spots along the edges of the dirty water picking up the prawns and more that have been flushed out of the river and creeks. Findlays and the Pinnacles are two spots that benefit from bad weather and floods. Prawns are obviously the pick bait for nearly everything, but as expected WA pillies aren’t far behind. There is a good chance of picking up a black jewfish or a golden snapper as a by-catch, especially at this time of year. Black jewfish numbers were on the increase at some of the local reefs and

clean fresh flows coming into the Fitzroy, the local lagoons and road crossings were firing. Big barra right down to little 300mm fellas were taking virtually any little natural looking vibe or lure. As the water got dirtier, the fluoro and darker coloured lures did the job. Whenever we get heavy localised rain around Rockhampton spots like the Woolwash and Frogmore are a special. If the flow lasts long enough then Moores Creek and Gavial Creek can have epic sessions too. Otherwise the Delta has been showing quality fish in the saltier extremes towards Connors and the Narrows. King salmon have been in numbers down at the port but there have also been a few up the river from Pirates Point to Gavial on the better tides. The big bream of previous months are still around. We’ve heard of several fish in the 2kg+

A 480mm bream caught in Central Queensland. headlands up just outside the bay. These spots are very weather-dependant and definitely work much better four days either side of the full moon or the new moon. Big black jewfish will take surprisingly small prawns but I like to use a decent bait to get the smell out there. The local favourite is the old squid pilly cocktail. When the school mackerel are in, slabs of mackerel are the standout bait. However, I only use the belly flaps and wings because I like mackerel heaps better than black jewfish on the table. We have started using more plastics for mulloway in recent times. As we get the bigger soft plastics from local mobs like Happy Rock who cater for the dam big barra fishers, it gives us more choices for bigger fish offshore. Some of the huge paddle-tails and vibes go off like lollies. I am finding the darker colours are by far the best at night. Barramundi and threadfin are still in good form despite conditions in the river. After Iris, the

range caught recently. Bream have been on the chew and now as they start to aggregate for breeding they will be in form, particularly down the mouths of the local systems. Remember they are a very slow growing fish and we have better eating fish, so put back what you don’t need. Coorooman Creek around the oyster rocks and pipe crossing and the banks down from the Keppel Sands boat ramp are a great start. Corio is much the same, so look for the oyster features that run from shallow to deep and work the incoming tide through the flats where there are yabby beds or soldier crabs. Whiting, flathead and mangrove jack are doing okay at present over the warm, sticky days we’ve had lately. All of these fish are available around the Keppel Islands. When the weather is very average on the mainland, it’s only a short ride in the big cats to the islands where you can walk the beaches and score a great feed at the same time. MAY 2018

Freshwater and estuaries are fishing well MACKAY

Keith Day habdays@bigpond.net.au

After the late blast of the wet season around Easter things are slowly settling into normality. May is traditionally a month of change here in paradise; the last of the hot weather is behind us and we’re not yet into our winter chill, mild as it is. There will be plenty of action in the Pioneer River as the waters should still be warm enough to have the resident barra moving about and smashing lures and flies. Anglers chasing either barra or sooties should remember to keep an eye out for any peacock bass; if these fish are caught, anglers must dispose of the fish and not return it to the water. The strong rumour around the traps is that several hundred fingerlings of peacock bass were released into possibly McGregor Creek in the Pioneer River catchment and this could prove disastrous for our native fish stocks including the iconic barra and equally important sooty grunter. Anyone knowing anything at all about this apparent release of fingerlings should immediately contact

Fisheries or MAFSA and provide them with details. Down in the saltwater creeks and estuaries, barra are slowing down as the water temperatures drop, but there are plenty of other species to chase. The recent rains have stirred up the prawns and crabs and indications are that May should continue the good crabbing results. May usually sees the muddies tapering off, so fingers crossed they stay on the chew through the month. The crabs are now moving back up the creeks after the flush out and the best results will come from fresh bait such as fish frames or several pilchards in some gutter guard or similar. As always the pot lifters seem to be about, so keep an eye on your pots to stop the share farmers’ activities. King threadfin salmon have started to move around in the creeks, no doubt prompted by the prawn run and I expect they will feature pretty much in angler’s catches over the next few months. Threadies are more prevalent during the cooler months and will be the main creek target during May. They replace the barra and jacks, which both prefer the hotter humid conditions, and can be found from the creek mouth

almost up into freshwater. Threadies don’t mind a bit of dirty water either, so if we get an unseasonal dump of rain and a fresh during May, they will be out in force. The baits that work include prawns (either live or very fresh), live fish baits, strips of fish flesh and the humble yabby. If you’re using yabbies, load up the hook with plenty of them. As with prawns, you will be plagued by every picker bream in the creek. Still, one decent thready around 800mm will provide plenty of fresh top quality feeds for the angler. Another species that will provide good action in the creeks during May is the blue salmon. These fish are top fun on lighter gear and will happily smash baits, lures or flies. They have quite large eyes indicating an upper level predator and can usually be found in schools, so catching one isolated fish is unusual. Wherever there is bait in quantity, blue salmon can usually be found in attendance. They are a relative of mullet, so to ensure the quality of any fish kept they should be gilled and gutted and put straight on ice. This is hard to do in the heat of the moment with a school of them creating mayhem around the boat, but at least

Japanese visitor Tomoki took a charter with Paul Dolan to Teemburra Dam recently and was rewarded with this fantastic barra when twitching a 3” Deep Lively Lures Mad Mullet among the trees.

Recent rains should see anglers score plenty of mud crabs like these two beauties caught by Troy Taylor. get them brain-spiked and on ice straight away. There has been an early run of quality grunter in the estuaries along with perennial favourites such as flathead. If you’re chasing grunter, look at low tide for yabby beds near patches of gravel and fish the rising tide and top of the tide over the beds and the gravel respectively. Grunters are great fun to catch as they don’t muck about taking a bait. The first indication is usually a screaming run that can easily strip 50m from a lightly set drag and then they use their flanks to resist the angler. The trick is to not go too hard on them. Patience will wear them out, as they are clean fighters and prefer open waters rather than snaggy areas. For flathead go the time-honoured way of fishing the run-out along any sand bank and drop-off. The lizards will be right up on the sand at high tide but they’re usually very skittish. As the tide falls they drop back into slightly deeper water to knock off bait moving off the banks. Any fresh bait will work, as will plastics, hardbodies, and flies. If we are really lucky towards the end of May, there may be an early run of

small pelagics like doggies and spotted mackerel. This will be very wind dependant, and if we can score some frequent calm days with easterlies then the schools of small bait will come inshore followed by the predators. Queenfish will be very active through May and can turn up in all sorts of places, sometimes in surprisingly big sizes. Spots to chase queenies include the inshore side of Flat Top and Round Top Islands as well as the mouth of the Pioneer River. The queenies will work right up the river and are regularly caught during the cooler months up around the hospital areas. The islands out from Seaforth in the NFZ will also have plenty of queenies around the rocky points and anywhere where there is an accumulation of bait. I expect there will be plenty of trevally mixed in with the queenies. Handled carefully and iced down immediately, they provide a more than acceptable food fish. Just watch the green zones around the islands and if in doubt pick up a zone map from the tackle shops. For visitors my advice is always to call into our local tackle shops and have a chat to the staff. They are happy to pass on info on

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what species are on the bite, where and what bait or lures to use. A few purchases will always see the visitor get better info, too. Up in the freshwater we will have the annual World Sooty Championship on the May Day long weekend at the home of big sooties, Eungella Dam. The response has been great with what looks like being a record number of junior entries. The naming rights sponsor INDT is particularly pleased at the junior anglers entries and hopefully the weather will produce one of those glorious calm Eungella days. This is a major fundraiser for MAFSA Inc and all funds go towards stocking barra fingerlings in the Pioneer River. and the tagging program supported by Mackay Regional Council which is starting to turn up some interesting data on barra movements and growth rates. A quick summary of what is available during May would be that the freshwater will continue to fish well, the estuaries will have plenty of action and offshore fishing will as always be wind-dependant. As always we have plenty of options available, so why not take advantage of the cooler weather and join us in paradise?

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FISHERIES QUEENSLAND – SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES STRATEGY The spread across good catches, average catches and small to no catches is probably fairly consistent across the general fishing community. The main difference must be remembered though – club fishers fish for 15-16 hours and the average family fisher might fish for four hours, so the numbers of fish caught could be erring a bit on the high side. • In Queensland we don’t have ‘bag limits,’ we have ‘in-possession limits.’ This means – for example – you can only have a total of four snapper in your bag, your esky, your boat and your freezer at home combined. • 89% of recreational fishing days in SEQ result in catches of 0-5 fish, 7% result in catches from 6-10 fish and only 4% can

multiple surveys based around discussions from the individual working groups. The first one was released a couple of weeks ago with little to no communication. That survey is with regards to amending the Fisheries Act and has some significant general concerns in addition to some specific concerns around specific questions (Question 2 in particular). Firstly, it has not been sent to us to distribute through our networks and, secondly, actually finding the survey on their website isn’t straightforward. There is no mention on their home page or their survey page or even their news page. I have provided the web address below, so please go online and complete the survey(s). We need as many responses as possible to give a strong voice from

The catch data that clubs provided was invaluable in creating a recreational fishing profile for Moreton Bay. Most people welcomed the MRAG review with the expectation that whatever the consultation outcomes, there would be a significant change to fisheries management in Queensland. The subsequent announcement of the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy appeared to provide a reasonable framework within which the necessary changes and how to implement them could be determined. What has transpired since sadly seems to be a lot like what we have seen before. The committees aren’t balanced equally between the sectors and meetings are called even when individual members give prior notice of days that they are unavailable. The most important of the committees to the majority of fishers in South East Queensland is the Inshore Finfish Committee. According to the last Fisheries Queensland Recreational Fishing Survey, “More than a half of Queensland’s recreational fishers (approximately 350,000) live in South East ADDITIONAL SURVEYS East coast otter trawl fishery – www.surveymonkey.com/r/VPTH8FV Queensland crab (mud & blue swimmer crabs) fishery – www.surveymonkey.com/r/9VG562X East coast inshore fishery – www.surveymonkey.com/r/XCY6MK9 Coral reef finfish fishery – www.surveymonkey.com/r/999WMFN *All surveys close on Sunday, 20 May.

Queensland.” Yet, of the three meetings that have been held we have only had a representative at one of them. Hopefully, that will now change since Mick McDade has been appointed to that committee. Sunfish Queensland and some of our Member organizations made multiple representations to the Premier, the Minister and the Department but until the last week these had all fallen on deaf ears. Through the unfolding process, it now appears extremely likely that recreational possession and size limits will be negatively impacted. If there was peerreviewed scientific evidence to support those changes, recreational fishers would work with Fisheries Managers to rectify sustainability issues. What will most likely happen is that all commercial fisheries will be subject to a Total Allowable Catch or Quota and the commercial sector will in turn demand that our possession limits are tightened for their perceived equity. The problem with this position is that when Stage 1 of the East Coast Inshore Finfish Review occurred in 2005 we received possession and size limits on most of the species we catch. Stage 2 was intended to control the commercial catches and we are still waiting for Stage 2. There are a couple of important things to understand before entering the discussions around recreational limits. Before that though I would like to thank the fishing clubs that supplied me with sufficient data to make some considered deductions. With the amount of trip data and the number of clubs I had data from I used this as my rec fishing community data set.

Further reductions on recreational possession limits would have a negligible impact on current fish stocks, but we’re still waiting for more controlled commercial catches. get their possession limit in one fishing trip. What this means is that any further reductions on recreational possession limits would have a very negligible impact on current fish stocks. • One haul from a beach seine net on Moreton Island can often haul 500kg of whiting. This equates to about 4,500 fish from a single haul and each operator has multiple hauls each day. Fisheries Queensland have now released

the recreational sector. In early April we provided extra information to assist in completing the other surveys. I can forward that to anyone who needs it. The survey can be found at www. surveymonkey.com/r/LJGZ6SB. You can also read the discussion paper at w w w. d a f . q l d . g o v. a u / _ _ d a t a / a s s e t s / pdf_file/0008/1382435/discussion-papermodernising-fisheries-act-1994.pdf - Judy Lynne

Recreational fishers need to respond to the Fisheries Queensland surveys. We need as many responses as possible to give a strong voice from the recreational sector.

www.sunfishqld.com.au

MAY 2018

KING THREADFIN SALMON

King threadfin salmon: the sportfish of the future ROCKHAMPTON

Ryan McCosker

King threadfin have always been thought of as more of a by-catch species in the Fitzroy – the fish you catch while targeting barramundi. Although in recent years, as knowledge and interest in the species has grown, they’ve started to become less of a pest and more of a sportfish. This has been helped along by a steady increase in numbers as a result of the recently implemented net-free zones. King threadfin are most often caught by searching for

fish from each system are genetically isolated, with king threadfin from the Fitzroy growing significantly bigger and older than fish from the Mary and Brisbane rivers. All the available data shows that Fitzroy River fish live to up to 22 years and reach 1222mm fork length, compared to 10 years and 975mm and 14 years, and 1047mm for the Mary and Brisbane fish respectively. This information is important in regards to the conservation of this species, as the legal limit for king threadfin is 600mm total length, which converts to roughly 490mm fork-

threadfin are in a league of their own. They are a long, slender fish with long and pronounced fins. They feature a large bump on their head that extends out past the lower jaw. Perhaps one of their most interesting features is the large filaments that extend from the throat of the fish. King threadfin have ten filaments in total, five on each side. Nobody is quite sure what they are used for; they could be used to help muster prawns and other bait up into the mud, or to feel around and pinpoint bait in murky water. Another theory is that they are used to detect vibration, working similarly to the lateral line. There aren’t really any concrete methods of locating edge-feeding king threadfin in the Fitzroy, as more often than not they can be spotted hard up against the bank in shallow water, such as bankslips, drains, or creek mouths. Jelly prawns showering, as well as boils and bow waves in the shallow water, are dead giveaways of actively feeding king threadfin. It is also common for fish to breach the water or run themselves

This chunky specimen was taken around port Alma near the mouth of the Fitzroy River. swirling back eddies around structure, reversed currents along a shallow bank or into the mouths of drains. This makes for a perfect place for king threadfin to feed and is another good indicator of where the fish may be. Long story short – if there is trapped

This king threadfin was taken in the town reaches of the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton and tagged to assist the research being done on this species. large schools in deep water and casting vibes through the school with the current. However, they frequently breach the water in front of drains and bank slips. This article will provide a basic overview of the anatomy of a Fitzroy River king threadfin, and cover how to locate these edge-feeding fish, as well as how to target them. King threadfin reside in large estuary systems across north Australia and southern PNG, and are found as far south as the Brisbane River. However, the main habitats for these fish on the east coast are large tidal rivers, particularly all throughout the Fitzroy, Mary and Brisbane river systems. King threadfin can exhibit a great level of diversity in habitat, even throughout one river. In the Fitzroy, king threadfin can be found around the shallow rocks of the town reaches, right down to the strong current and deep water of Port Alma, the mouth. Studies on the size and age of king threadfin from the Fitzroy, Mary and Brisbane river systems found that 56

MAY 2018

length. This clearly needs to be changed, as this is significantly lower than the size of maturity in all three major systems, meaning fish can be taken well before they have a chance to contribute to the population as a male, let alone a female. When it comes to anatomy and structure, king

A good photo of a king threadfin with clearly displayed filaments, as well as the prominent bump on their heads. up onto the bank while herding prawns. Keep in mind that the Fitzroy River has very strong tidal influences, so currents will force bait to congregate in

This photo really highlights the massive sizes king threadfin reach. This fish went 1190mm total length, 990mm fork length, meaning it hasn’t even reached sexual maturity as a female yet. The good news is that fish these size are becoming common.

bait in shallow water, you’ll more than likely see king threadfin. Both incoming and outgoing tides work for this style of fishing. Fish drains and creeks as the water drains out of them on the outgoing tide. Similarly, work your way up creeks and drains with the current on the incoming tide. A good indicator as to whether or not king threadfin have previously been in the area is to search the areas mentioned above at low tides for indents in the mud. These marks are made as the king threadfin muster jelly prawns into the mud, essentially trapping them. It is thought that once the prawns have no escape, they charge headfirst at the banks with their mouths open, inhaling prawns. The indents themselves are made by the large bump on their head, and the size of the fish can be estimated by the size of the indent. The mud banks in Nankin Creek are often a prime example of these

indents, with most of them looking fresh. Perhaps schools of king threadfin muster great numbers of prawns into the creek with the tide. King threadfin can often be difficult to find this way, let alone catch. As a result of the small size and large quantity of jelly prawns, you’re looking for a reaction bite out of the fish. There are a couple of different ways to go about this; either mimic jelly prawns as best as possible or try to present a lure that stands out, such as weedless-rigged long paddle-tail grubs. In my experience, mimicking jelly prawns with tiny spider prawn-like plastics has worked best. Weedless plastics are used, as they are much less prone to snagging up, due to the point of the hook being contained inside the plastic. If using prawn imitation plastics, let them sink all the way down if

the current, if there is any. This means the boat will need to be positioned facing into the current. Because of this, fishing lightweight plastics can become virtually impossible if the current is too strong, or if the wind is blowing hard in the opposite direction. To avoid this, try this style of fishing on smaller tides, as the run won’t be as strong. Cast along the stretch of bank you’re attempting to cover, making sure the lure is brought back with the current. As you’re essentially sight fishing for these fish, cast around showers of jelly prawns, or the fish themselves. King threadfin will move quickly, so if one is seen breaching the water, cast around 5-10m in front in the direction it was heading to allow time for the lure to sink. Keep your eyes peeled while fishing, as one fish could be seen right by the boat, yet a

This photo shows the spider-prawn imitation, compared to a jelly prawn coughed up by a barramundi caught while sight fishing a few large king threadfin. For reference, the lure is roughly 5cm long not including the jighead. the current permits. For the retrieve, small hops and lifts of the lure along the bottom are effective, as it looks like an injured and helpless prawn in the water. That being said, mix up your retrieves with the occasional slow roll off the bottom, as sometimes king threadfin will hit anything in front of them that moves. Make sure to work your lures back towards you with

minute or two later that same fish is showering prawns 50m up the bank. Fishing for king threadfin this way is often extremely frustrating. Quite big fish can be seen charging around, half out of the water, yet they may only hit your lure once. In addition to this, they’re eating prawns too small to mimic and the bait is so abundant in the Fitzroy that they only need

King threadfin salmon to feed for a few minutes at a time. Because of this, the fish can shut down or leave just as quickly as they appear. Trying to offer up the most natural presentation is essential for this kind of fishing, so fish as lightly

towards open water, so keep this in mind when attempting to net the fish. The photo hereabouts shows a prime example of a healthy king threadfin, minus a tail. It fell for a 3” weedless Gulp shrimp, as it was

A photo taken in Nankin Creek clearly showing mud indents; a dead giveaway of recent king threadfin activity. as possible. From personal experience, 16lb leader coupled with 4-6lb braid on a 2000-2500 size reel is the way to go. I prefer Sunline FC 100 leader paired with a Daiwa Freams 2000 or Daiwa Caldia 2500. King threadfin are strong and fast fish, but they fight clean and won’t play near structure, meaning fishing light is achievable. Go easy on the fish – let them do the fighting and wear themselves out. One thing to note is that they’ll often swim to the boat until they work out what’s going on, then bolt off

sized king threadfin were seen feeding, and it took around half an hour of casting before this one was coaxed into being hooked. While fishing for king threadfin, by-catch in the form of barramundi and

FORK LENGTH AND AGE WHEN 50% OF THREADFIN REACH MATURITY/ CHANGE SEX

Other locations worth mentioning include the creek around the corner from Nankin, on the opposite bank, as well as the rock bars around the red buoy. All locations work well on incoming and outgoing tides;

Fork Length Age (years) System (mm) Maturity Fitzroy 765 4.4 Mary 755 3.9 Brisbane 710 3.3 Change sex to female Fitzroy 1140 9.7 Mary 960 8.3 Brisbane 932 7.5 * This table shows the age and fork length at which 50% of king threadfin reach maturity in their respective river system, and the age and fork length when 50% change sex to female. All figures from CSIRO Marine and Freshwater Research, 2011.

A closer look at the mud indents made by king threadfin in Nankin Creek. Notice how some look very recent, while others not so much.

hopped through the mouth of the creek in the background, as well as along the edges of the bank. This particular spot was fished during the break between the outgoing and incoming tides, as the bite generally slows down as the run stops and then fires up as soon as the tide starts running again. There was a slight back eddy swirling in the mouth of the creek, potentially congregating bait in the area, and jelly prawns were seen showering in and around the creek. A handful of good-

blue salmon is common, as literally anything will eat a jelly prawn. Normally accidentally hooking barra isn’t something to complain about, but hooking them on 16lb leader is just asking to be busted off, so keep that in mind. A notable location to fish for king threadfin in the Fitzroy is Nankin Creek (the creek itself on the incoming and the mouth on the outgoing and start of the incoming). It becomes an outstanding spot after rain, causing the wetland to flood and drain into it.

it’s just a matter of positioning yourself correctly in relation to the current. That being said, however, they can be found hard against literally any mud bank if the bait is there. Sight fishing for king threadfin is at times the most frustrating way to target this species, but it’s even more exciting and rewarding when it all comes together. Once considered a pest, they’re beginning to become somewhat of an icon, with numbers and sizes set to skyrocket in the years to come.

This is a prime example of a healthy king threadfin, apart from the fact that it didn’t have a tail. It measured 58cm, but would probably be around 70-80cm total length with a tail.

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MAY 2018

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How good is 60% of our original fish stocks? WEIPA

Dave Donald

The major goal of the Fisheries Reform process in Qld is to return fish stocks to the arbitrary figure of 60% of their original numbers. The concept of the marine wonderland that prevailed in its ‘original’ state is hard to grasp. Over the past 55 years I’ve experienced some absolutely insane fishing scenarios, but few of them took place in an untouched marine environment. So how good is 100%? In today’s much-exploited world, it’s the stuff of scientific postulating and fishers’ dreams! It’s something mankind will never see again. In search of a more tangible figure, how much is 60%? On one hand, it can be seen as a ‘glass half full with a bit more’ – a positive sounding figure that looks good in press statements. On the other hand, it allows for 40% of all our fish life to be removed, and that’s a big slice in terms of keeping each species in good condition genetically. Scientists have said for years that individual populations of animals need to maintain at least 40% of their original stock levels to maintain their genetic integrity. This might be the case when spawning conditions are ideal, but what happens when they aren’t? For instance, barra congregate in large numbers during major wet seasons, ensuring good mixing of milt and eggs, but what happens when the rain is scattered or sporadic? Poor wet seasons have become more common in the last 20 years. Let’s talk in less scientific terms – real observations that some former Fisheries managers have condescendingly referred to as ‘anecdotal’ evidence. You’d think that experienced fishers, particularly pros and charter operators, would have a better idea of what’s happening in an area than a person based in an office. However, the input from those with their feet in a boat has taken a back seat. The obvious solution would be to combine the two. Maybe the ‘new’ postFisheries Reform managers should pursue this more collaborative approach. There is currently a lot of social media banter centred around having 5-7 regional zones along the east coast, each containing a very reduced number of commercial fishers. These would be managed, in the first instance, by a local stakeholder group with the intent of being able to act swiftly on issues such as species exploitation and climatic variability. This would bring another level of integration

to the table, consolidating our shaky centralized system of management. One of my greatest regrets is that younger anglers today will probably never get to see some of the amazing experiences that I’ve been privileged to witness during my fishing career. Although our marine environment wasn’t exactly untouched, many of the memories still seem unbelievable in today’s terms. Those of us who lived through the sportfishing revolution of the 70s and 80s know that the fishing was better – much, much better! You could sit for hours on top of Indian Head at Fraser Island every September during the early 70s marvelling at the schools of tailor as far as the eye could see, being harassed by sharks, dolphins, huge tuna and kingfish. We would drive up the beach, find a dark mass of tailor in one of the many gutters then fish gentleman’s hours using Abu Toby lures until our shoulder bags were too heavy to carry. And in 1973, during a round-Australia trip, the average barra in places like Lakefield and the Kimberley weighed 7-8kg and were easy to catch. The pros have many stories too. The North Qld Fishing Eldorado by Ralph De Lacey offers a fascinating insight into the early days of east coast mackerel netting, Gulf prawning and barra fishing. It’s a sobering account of how badly our fisheries have been managed for decades. Mindful that he quit the industry in 1991, in his forward Mr De Lacey offered this profound observation: “The large patches of fish I talk about are no longer around today. Those of us who saw them disappear, and perhaps contributed to their disappearance, are the ones most aware that the North Qld commercial fishing industry is in far greater trouble than anyone will admit publically.” De Lacey first began commercial fishing in the Bowen area in the mid-60s and was one of the first operators to use a net to capture grey mackerel offshore from Bowen. In those days, the greys were large fish averaging 10-15kg and were taken by trolling the Rayward Reef area about 1km offshore from Queens Beach. Huge schools converged on that area for 2-3 months every year. When these fish were first netted using cotton nets in 1969, the mackerel immediately stopped biting lures and not long after, moved elsewhere. By the 1971 season, after being netted by a large contingent of pros for 20 days, the mackerel schools left and never came back. The same thing happened to the spotted

mackerel a few years later further offshore. De Lacey describes following the ‘shines’ of spotties (before heavy netting) that extended for 16km and as far as the eye could see either way. Considering this scenario today in terms of the 60% goal, we’d be looking at a school 10km long and at least 2km wide – and that’s just in the Bowen area! This illustrates how far the mooted reforms have to go! DeLacey’s history of the introduction of mono nets into the Gulf should be essential reading for all Fisheries managers. He was one the Gulf’s best producers of barra and king salmon for 15 years, and was amongst its most innovative professionals. His crew tailored their fishing to suit their freezer capacity that could handle just over 1t of fillet (100 trays) per day, avoiding wasted or inferior product. During one session at Inkerman Creek north of Karumba, he landed 92 king salmon averaging 17kg, the largest of which was 29kg. The haul yielded 540kg of fillet. On another occasion during the wet season run-off before barra size limits were in force, one net set in the upper reaches of a river yielded 42 fish from 19.5-37.2kg. His heaviest ever barra was 42kg from the Nassau River. De Lacey noticed the fish sizes and numbers dropping quickly in the mid-80s and was forced to reduce his net mesh size from 175mm to 150mm to compete with other operators. He said it was the beginning of the end for Gulf barra. By sticking to the 175mm net, his fish would have had time to reach a more commercial size. With the 150mm mesh, he had to process a far greater number of fish to achieve the equivalent weight in fillets. Many pros were reluctant to accept the introduction of mono net when it first became available during the 70s, fearing that it caught fish too easily. As De Lacey points out, the alarm bells should have been ringing down at Fisheries by the mid-80s! Instead, they are used even more prolifically today, 30 years later. Clearly, the task facing the Fisheries Review is daunting given the shortcomings of past Fisheries regimes. The one small positive is the impressive recovery of fish stocks in the areas recently declared net-free. Maybe having a close look at what is happening in these areas will shed some light on the extent of the changes needed. It’s vital that recreational fishers as a whole take an interest in our fishery reforms and keep our managers focussed on achieving that 60% target as quickly as possible. MAY 2018

May the weather calm down a little, please WHITSUNDAYS

Mick Underwood

Recently it has been raining persistently and we’ve had plenty of days off the water and away from the piscatorial sport that we all love. Thankfully May is upon us and here in the Whitsundays that normally means very little rain and good runs of clear calm days. Last month’s fishing was a bit of a mixed bag. Up in the estuaries there were piles of mullet and prawns around, but strangely for this time of the year there has only been a limited amount of action from predatory fish taking advantage of the smorgasbord of available bait. Out in the bays and around the islands the fishing has been a little more consistent with the pelagic brigade leading the way. We’ve been enjoying a nice bite from some XOS-sized queenfish and multiple species of trevally. I love chasing these guys, they make reels sing and anglers grin all day long. The reef fishing has been fair to middling with reasonable numbers of coral trout, sweetlip and a

Local lad Callum Patience with a golden snapper jigged on a soft vibe. have such an array of flats to choose from. May is one of my favourite months or the year to get out on the water. Being the change of seasons, it gives us so many options with most fish that are active during the warmer months still having a good chew and the winter feeders just starting to make an appearance. Up

to embarking on a creek mission as most of our local systems have expansive flats out in front of them, making them near impossible to enter or exit on the bottom half of the tide. Out in Edgecumbe Bay and around the inner islands I’m expecting there to be action aplenty on the shallow reef and rubble patches. Leading to the full and new moons we normally get a good bite from big trout and other reefies. If the bait schools move inshore there will be some awesome shallow water pelagic activity to be enjoyed as well. I expect that the school mackerel will be prolific in patches, these are a good fish

tasty little critters. If you’re new to catching mackerel, be careful when you bring them aboard; they generally go nuts and their teeth are like razors. Keep your kids away from them until they have been subdued. Out around the outer islands as the water temperatures drop the action on the deeper wrecks, rubble and fern patches should start to heat up. This can be a piscatorial lucky dip and species such as largemouth nannygai, golden snapper, grunter and black jewfish will be amongst those making their presence known. As we make the transition from autumn to winter the deeper water fishing will only get better. It’s around this time of the year that I get all my microjigging gear rigged and ready to go; this is awesome fun and an effective technique for chasing big fish in deep water. Out in the same country the action won’t be limited to just what’s happening down in the depths. If the schools of herring move in then the surface fishing for big pelagics will be on fire as well. Both longtail and mac tunas should lead the charge here, but quite often there will be good numbers of queenfish, golden and tealeaf trevallies in amongst them as well. To target these other species, get your lures down underneath the tuna boils; you’ll be surprised at what can come out of there. Those of us that either don’t own or don’t have

Reef Underwood with a tealeaf trevally caught on a soft vibe. along one of our many beautiful beaches. Whiting are around in good sizes and numbers already and the flathead have started to fire up as well. If you’re keen to get yourself a tasty feed of fresh whiting, try targeting

and Cape Gloucester Resort. There is an added advantage of fishing out in front of the resort; once you’ve had your fill of fishing, it’s only a short stroll to the bar for a coldy or a cuppa to refresh at the end of a session. As I said earlier, May is

Robert Lloyd-Lewis, a local and regular patron on Reel Addiction, with a cracker of a diamond trevally that measured 1.07m and was one of a pigeon pair – caught 10 minutes apart from each other. the areas of shoreline where the water is shallow with a clean sandy bottom,

one of my favourite months to enjoy a fish, as there is so much on offer and the

Simon Ballard with a horse of a golden trevally caught jigging a soft plastic in a berley trail. few golden snapper coming aboard, however few have been monsters. Most of the fish boated recently have been in the average size bracket. The sight fishing on the flats has been a non-event due to the incumbent weather conditions that we’ve been enduring. This will only improve over the coming weeks and I’m looking forward to grabbing a fly rod and going into stealth mode to sneak up on some big pelagics in gin-clear water. We are truly blessed here at Hydeaway Bay to 60

MAY 2018

in the estuaries the water temperatures will still be high enough for barramundi and mangrove jack to be on the prowl and I expect that there will be some nice catches of blue salmon as well. Locally, the Gregory River and Billies Creek are good places to start your estuary hunt, but don’t disregard some of the smaller systems that enter into the back of Edgecumbe Bay to the north of Billies Creek. If you’re a newcomer to our region and keen to get into some estuary action, be sure to check the tides prior

Simon again, this time with a good queenfish that ate a jig skipped across the surface. to get the kids into. Trolling hardbodies or spoons is pretty simple and a highly effective technique for getting a feed of these

access to a boat won’t be kept out of the fray this month as there will be plenty of fish to be caught just by going for a stroll

Robert Lloyd-Lewis with a pan-sized trout that ate a Chasebait on a charter with the author recently. particularly between patches of coffee rock. Hydeaway Beach holds plenty of this sort of country, as does the shoreline between Frog Rock

weather is generally nice and stable. Don’t let it pass you by, get out and have some fun and hopefully I’ll see you out there somewhere.

Species makeover for Burdekin fishing scene AYR

Steve Farmer

Keen Burdekin anglers who are hitting the estuaries and bluewater between bouts of late wet season rain and flooding have been modestly rewarded for their persistence. Over the past month the mainly discoloured water in the creeks and along the beaches has made bait fishing more productive than lure tossing or trolling. Mangrove jack (some monsters measuring in at more than 56cm), flathead, grunter and the occasional barramundi have kept estuary anglers keen. A few whiting have also been featuring in estuarine catches and catches of this species should continue to improve as the weather cools. When weather conditions permit, bluewater fishers are still notching up the likes of largemouth nannygai, coral trout, cobia, trevally, queenfish and a sprinkling of Spanish mackerel. CHANGES IN MAY For North Queensland anglers May really is a great time to be out boating or wetting a line anywhere in the tropics. The weather is usually cool and dry and not

too windy and the winter fishing is ramping up on the bluewater and in the estuaries. For example, May often produces the first decent run of Spanish mackerel for the season. While these early schools usually consist of smaller Spaniards than those that move through local waters later in the year, local anglers will be making the most of any opportunity to get out there and tempt them with a drifted bait (either dead or live) or a cast or trolled lure. A variety of lures will attract Spaniards, but this species can be very fickle at times and matching the size of your lure to whatever they are feeding on can be essential. Carrying a selection of poppers, shallow and deep diving minnows and metal slugs in a variety of sizes will ensure you have a chance of matching whatever is on the menu that day. The same is often the case for bait fishers too, so if you aren’t attracting any interest with that big juicy pilly, don’t hesitate to cut it in half and re-rig it on a shorter set of ganged hooks or even a single hook. Carrying a variety of terminal tackle that you can quickly rig can pay off when

Flathead should respond to a carefully worked lure throughout May. the mackerel are fussy. Stopping to cast net a supply of fresh or live mullet or herring on your way out of the creek can also be time well spent.

If a variety of baits still won’t do the trick, try varying the depth at which you fish your bait. Even remove your float altogether and let your bait drift in the current.

The Spaniards may feed at a certain level and not be interested in offers closer to the surface. If this fails and you’re really desperate, add a sinker or some split shot to your rig and try your luck down deep. Local spots that are likely to attract and briefly hold the Spanish schools are the Alva Shoals, Cape Upstart and Camp Island. Tow your rig to Bowen and you’ll open up a multitude of mackerel hotspots in the clear, inshore waters, some just a few kilometres from the town’s boat ramps. The fishing is also changing in the estuaries at this time of the year. Catches of barra, mangrove jack and golden snapper are slowing, but other species are coming online. It’s the good old bread and butter species of flathead, whiting and bream that most estuary fishers associate with the cooler months. Flathead are already about in reasonable numbers and sizes, while the whiting are just coming on the bite. As usual, some of these early season whiting are quality fish. Bream are usually the late arrivals and often won’t show up in good numbers and sizes for another couple of months.

Grunter seem to be on the bite all year round these days, especially if you’re fishing the fertile waters in Bowling Green Bay. Fresh baits and a minimum of weight will improve your chances with this species. Increasing numbers of these bread and butter species, combined with near perfect weather means May is an ideal time for families to be out wetting a line. Whether it’s from a beach or the boat, these smaller, more prolific species will provide enough action to keep the kids busy and get them hooked on fishing. While you’ll have to work harder for barra and jacks this month, I wouldn’t be giving up just yet. If you’re flicking for these species, concentrate on areas where the water might be a bit warmer. Gutters draining wetlands exposed to the sun or low tide run-off from estuary shallows may be a bit warmer and might attract the fish you are after. I know one successful barra angler who targets the shallower Burdekin estuaries during the cooler months; his theory is that they are a bit warmer than the deeper creeks. This can be worth a try throughout the winter months.

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MAY 2018

Autumn barramundi battle tactics using plastics forget your faithful old hardbodies, as they can quite often out-fish your plastics, no matter what you’ve been told. As with any lure on any given day, try to mix up the retrieves until you get a response. What I mean by this is that if you’re casting an area that you know holds fish, then don’t just persist with the standard old twitch- twitch, wind, twitch-twitch routine if you’re not getting results. Good mate Ryan Tully and I went for a wander the other day to see what was

TOWNSVILLE

Dave Hodge

I have to admit that the last couple of weeks have been dominated by barra, and with all the rain that we have been enjoying they’ve been around in good numbers. Actually, it’s not just the barra that are benefiting and going off their heads – it’s also the crabs, prawns, the offshore fish, grunter, bream and just about everything else that lives in and around the water. The lucky buggers who have been able to fish mid-week – when the weather has been at its best and the majority of anglers are slaving away at work – have done quite well. Select stretches of water have been holding quite good numbers of barra, with some spots being right along

The 7” Paddle Prawn is a great all-round size for hungry barra that aren’t too focused on a specific food size. About 10 minutes before this fish, the author jumped one off that would have been around 115cm on the same lure, so they’re pretty versatile. on a weighted snag resistant hook. More associated with rigging for snags and timber hopping, the weedless hooks can be worked reasonably

Really fast retrieves were the secret on this day and Ryan nailed several fish at warp speed on his shallow diver. It’s brutal on fast retrieves, so have a firm grip on your rod. side of the road. Bottomless necks, or areas of reduced distance from one shore to the next speed the water up and become funnels for the bait to be condensed into a smaller area, and therefore easier to target for the predators. Similarly, points, bays and any irregularity in the water’s edge offer a few different opportunities for fish to position themselves in an area of opportunity. Generally speaking, the right lure needs to be presented to get the results, and with the freshly flooded grass fringing the weirs and billabongs a weedless rig is the only really effective way to make the best of these prime bait and fish holding areas. Weedless twin hook rigged frogs are probably the best weedless presentation available to throw at the floating grass beds and while the hook-up ratio can be frustrating at times, they do get the bite in difficult conditions. If you don’t have any of the described frogs for the thick grass, then the next best thing is a paddletail plastic rigged weedless 62

MAY 2018

ended up landing all of the fish; at one stage we landed five from five casts. Well-rehearsed barra fishers will describe a sub-surface boof, which sounds more like a muffled ‘oomp’ coming from below the surface of the water when it happens close by. This sound is clear evidence that something just died very close to your position in the form of a baitfish or prawn, and should not be ignored. That amazing sound could be heard every few

well amongst creek weed and grass, but you may find it necessary to conceal the hook point just under the surface of the skin of the plastic to make it harder for the hook point to find something to bite into. If prawns or shrimp are relevant to the food source the barra are focusing on then 3-4” plastics and 4-5” prawn imitations work very well when rigged on 5/0 or 6/0 Seekers, which are built on a strong and super sharp Gamakatsu screw-in retaining spring that reduces the amount of wear and tear on the plastic and helps them ride straight and true. One tip that may help with positive hook-ups on weedless hooks is to slightly flex the hook point upwards so that it just sits proud of the body a fraction. Now I know this goes against the whole ambition and design of the hook and it’s going to snag up a bit more, but in a situation where the snags aren’t real thick, and especially if you’re missing lots of bites, this very slight flexing of the point doesn’t weaken the hook and will certainly make a

difference for you. The speed at which you ride a weedless hook over structure will also dictate how often it hangs up on you, and a slow slide up and over the structure will tilt the hook point upside down and dig in if it’s sitting proud of the plastic. Sometimes the most effective way to get the lure over something is to give it a slight flick of the wrist and accelerate it as it’s about to contact the structure, and this will flick the lure upwards if only for an inch or two. It takes a bit of practice with the timing, but it’s worth the practice. Edges of floating debris that has banked up against a point or accumulated at the water’s edge are where I prefer to use 7” prawn imitations. Wind these just under the surface and close to the edge of the debris. Anything sitting under it will hopefully see your offering

Frogs are pretty much a mandatory lure to have on hand for the grassy stuff. Try and count to two before setting the hook after the bite. Sounds easy, but it takes a bit of practice sometimes.

through closed season. It’s a very safe environment when the weather gets too rough to venture out the front and some of the fish are dead-set stonkers. So yeah, I think a measly $50 is worth it. Recently, we have just had another batch of 100mm+ of rain and we are forecast to receive more, so bring it on I say. The Ross Dam went from 14 to 87% with the first batch of rain and to 92% with the second batch. If this next lot hits the 100% mark then the weirs will cop a proper flush for the entirety of the system and that will be awesome for the fishery up and downstream of the weirs. THIEVING MONGRELS ROBBING POTS Over recent weeks there have been several videos of people robbing pots taken on mobile phones and this is bloody terrific, as the perpetrators can’t deny the footage and an accumulated bundle of evidence for Fisheries from switched-on recreational anglers and crabbers makes prosecution a breeze, so have that camera at the ready, and even if you don’t let the mongrels know you’ve caught them on camera, take the time to

poking around some of the upper tidal and brackish reaches of one of our rivers. We found an area that we were sure held fish and after about ten minutes of the standard barra twitch retrieve with no result, began burning the lures through. At about three winds of the handle per second, the lures were travelling quickly, but the reaction from the fish was

This jack came from the small drain in the background when an Atomic Prong was skipped underneath the branch going across the entrance. The radioactive rooster is a great dirty water colour.

The hook point picked up in the roof of the mouth and wasn’t ever going to come out without pliers. Such a simple adjustment can make a world of difference. and charge out the short ambush distance and grab it. When you see or feel this strike, strike back and pop that hook point free from the body of the lure and stick it in the fish. The weight of the hook shank will determine the depth at which the lure will best be worked at, and I find that 1/4oz and 3/8oz cover just about everything you’re likely to come across. Whatever you do, don’t

definite and the hook-ups very positive. This type of retrieve is used by many anglers when conditions are tough, and the bite is referred to as a reaction bite. The targeted fish holding area has the lure wound back quite quickly through it and the fish reacts without having the time to think about it, or to detect the deception. It often works and on the day mentioned we

seconds once we got the bite happening. It turned into one of the best little sessions I’ve experienced in a while and definitely made it worth trying the fast retrieve. The fresh reaches of the Ross River in town are also producing quite well, but I have to admit to not being able to give it a good go due to family stuff, but some of the pics I’ve seen have been quite impressive. I would make sure that you have a SIPS permit though because Fisheries officers have been patrolling and finding plenty of people unlicensed. Honestly, a $50.00 fee to access this amazing fishery legally is bugger all and it can be fished year round and

send it to Fisheries, please! A thief is a thief, and deserves everything the law can throw at them, so be part of the solution to stamp out a serious problem. Apparently there are also those who think the rules don’t apply to them and set way above their legal amount of pots per person, and again, this is just asking to get fined. They aren’t little petty fines either. If you’re interested in what the repercussions would be for the offences then do a little research and I’m sure that the law-abiding fishers and crabbers will be delighted at the potential punishments for law breakers. Anyway, stay safe and happy fishing.

Rain events have stirred up the fishing HINCHINBROOK

Ryan Moody info@ryanmoodyfishing.com

Since last month’s column the north has experienced two major flood events thanks to some coastal troughs and convergence lines. Recently we were looking down the barrel of another event. It was certainly a testing end to my charter fishing career, but very rewarding catching some lovely fish in the run-off that followed. The rain jackets have had a workout, believe me. With so much fresh and rubbish weather I have not seen very many people on the water and who can blame them? However, we have been having great success with run-off fishing targeting oceanic barra that come in for the floodwater. There are some proven techniques I have developed for run-off fishing and it was great to put them it into practice once again. One of our best sessions was on my final charter ever. We went out and fished two hours and caught 18

barra but then retreated due to the relentless rainfall that followed. Even though this rain can be a nuisance for many anglers for some time, it is also the lifeblood of our fisheries and when we reach the final stages of the drought periods the fishery is begging for new beginnings. A month or two to settle down, providing we don’t get more rain, will see a big improvement with species such as grunter and golden snapper as they make their way back inshore. While they can

take some fresh tolerance, the fish do tend to push out deeper during times of flood. There is still plenty of salinity in the deeper waters as the fresh mainly runs off the top except in excessive current. A good wet season will usually bring an abundance of pelagic life together in the following winter and spring. Herring species explode in numbers as well as yakkas, pilchards and anchovies. These spin-offs from this rain will bring the golden trevs and queenies

There has been some great run-off action lately with all the rain.

to life around the inner islands and headlands along with GTs and diamond trevally, which is a soughtafter sportfish due to their uncommon nature. The Spaniards will also boom in numbers both inshore and offshore, so good times are ahead for the pelagics if the past patterns are anything to go by. During May as mentioned, the estuaries and inshore regions will improve for all fishing pursuits. May is generally a very good month for weather as we have gotten away from the monsoons well and truly and still maintain fairly warm waters. During the later part of May the barra start to aggregate in numbers and for the switched-on angler there is always the possibility of some big sessions. This would have to be one of my favourite months during my charter career. Mangrove jack will be on fire too, as they thrive during and after the floods. The end of May usually starts to see the migratory longtail schools show up. Also known as northern bluefin tuna, they are

There has been a good consistent size among the smaller barra this season. popular with sportfishers and are reasonable eating if bled immediately. They make a good sashimi too. We have had occasions where a school will pop up while we are on a barra spot and then they smash the lures and scream off for the horizon leaving everyone unprepared for the turmoil they cause. Usually after a couple of hours of to and fro you can go back to chasing barra again with very tired anglers. If you’re planning a trip up here anytime soon

then take care on the water as there are lots of big logs about. Don’t go out at night, as you will be playing Russian roulette. Some of them would also be big enough to sink a larger vessel too. So make sure you take care out there, and don’t head out in potentially dengerous conditions. No fish is worth your life. • Check out our online barra course, Barra Basics, at www.fishsmarter. com.au. Later this year I will be teaching all my run-off secrets.

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MAY 2018

Port Douglas finally gets a real drenching PORT DOUGLAS

Lynton Heffer www.fishingportdouglas.com.au

It certainly took its time coming but the Far North finally received its proper wet season rains during the March to April period. It was at times a drenching, with Port Douglas itself receiving an extraordinary 593mm in a 24-hour period – amazing stuff! Even though there were difficult times to deal with during the downpours, what it has done for the local fishery is huge. We’ll see the benefits carry on for the remainder of the year. In the short-term volumes of water from the mountains, rivers and creeks have created and flushed a massive amount of bait around the region. Freshwater was recorded as far as 20 miles offshore at its peak and stretched as far as the horizon up and down the coastline. We don’t have long river systems in our neck of the woods, so the water

flushes away and clears up fairly quickly and the fishing kicks into gear. Our rivers and creeks have been rejuvenated with a new lease of life and all manners of fish have been knocking on the door. Barra, jacks and golden snapper have been far more active and, with daytime temperatures still a bit balmy, they should keep biting well into the coming month. A variety of methods tare working but the simple way of putting things is this; dirty water means quality fresh dead baits and clean water means live baits, lures and soft plastics. The other good sporting fish that have been up and about of late include mid-sized GTs, some big grunter across the flats and good queenfish at mouth entrances and the main part of the channel. The beaches have also fired up with the breakthrough creeks being great places to wet a line. There have been barra schooling up in close, blue

Dragon Lady Charters have been sourcing big numbers of quality largemouth nannygai. salmon have been common and trevally, tarpon and queenfish have been busy on the incoming tides. Some days at daybreak it has been

a fishing smorgasbord with schools of fish just hammering the jelly prawn hatches and various other baits right up in the shallows. Hopefully this

trend continues. Along the coastal reefs things have ramped up beautifully with trevally schools, small and largemouth nannygai and mackerel all zoning in on the good supply of bait. The pelagics have been acquired by jigging and casting metal jigs and the nannygai are happy to chew on a combination of squid and pilchard. On a nice, calm day you don’t have to travel too far from the coast to enjoy fishing success. Further offshore on the outer reefs, once again the fishing has gone to another level, especially as water temperatures continue to drop. The bigger small and largemouth nannygai are on the bite on the deeper isolated patches and bommies. In my opinion now is the best time to target them; having been a bit lethargic over the warmer months they have now been triggered into an aggressive feeding pattern. They can pile on big time when the trigger is pulled.

As per usual there have been associated trevally around the same marks including bludger, goldspot, tealeaf and some cracking golden varieties. The coral trout are also getting keener by the day and the barcheek trout in particular have been right up there in size. More and more Spanish mackerel are getting around and you’ll pick these up on your nannygai marks or right on the pressure points of visible reef and contour lines. The likes of cobia have been consistent working right through the water column collecting weighted and suspended baits. Other species that you don’t often hear about have also turned up including Robinson’s sea bream, Bowen snapper and green jobfish. Basically it’s a bit of a lottery draw as to what you may drag up to the surface. The fishing overall will continue to be productive over the next month. Calm days with clear waters and a bit of run in the tide should deliver the goods.

The monsoons are back in the Cairns area CAIRNS

Dan Kaggelis dkaggelis@gmail.com

The only thing better than having a Net Free Zone in your backyard is having a cracking wet season to fill it with fish! This year has certainly seen a return to solid monsoon conditions in Cairns, which has been well overdue. With over a metre of rain falling in the last couple of months it has been fantastic to see all the drains and landlocked lagoons link together, which is conducive to some excellent recruitment, especially for barramundi. Even though all this rain has turned the creeks and rivers dirty and muddy, when they have cleared up between the rain the fishing has been outstanding. Talking to many anglers, especially those fishing the Cairns Inlet, the number of XOS barramundi being marked on sounders and caught on lures and live bait is off the charts. The size of these barramundi has also

With the dirty water around vibe lures are a great option. been outstanding with plenty of fish around that 85-95cm mark. This is a great sign as these are our breeder fish and with all this rain around there should be plenty of smaller ones coming through in the next couple of years to keep the stock strong. There hasn’t been much news from the Barron River

SEASON

section of the NFZ, however there have been some catches of barra and salmon out of the mouth during the calmer conditions. Queenfish continue to be a good catch off the beaches in this area and the larger tides seem to be producing the better fish. To the north the headlands and rock walls are continuing

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Every Saturday 4.30pm on 64

MAY 2018

to be productive for those wetting live baits. With all this dirty water around lure fishing has been tough, so live bait has been the best option. With a big flush the drains have been worth flicking, especially in the Half Moon Bay area as there are plenty of prawns about. Slowly fished prawn-style lures have been producing excellent barramundi and the odd jack as well. The jack fishing has been consistent even in the dirty water and getting those lures right in their faces has been a must. I have been using vibes a lot for some excellent success. Removing the rear treble helps with snags, especially if you’re throwing them deep into structure. Just make sure you’ve got your drag loaded for bear and some high-quality leader as it can be quite a battle to get them away from the sticks when you are fishing that tight. Sunline Siglon and FC 100 has been my choice of leader and line and is always reliable to get you out of trouble here. On more positive news, the Cairns Council has put together

a committee to develop a recreational fishing strategy for the NFZ area. Being on the committee is has been great to see a draft document almost complete, which will be out for consultation shortly. This document will see strategic funding and planning for the future to ensure our NFZ is world-class. Exciting times are ahead. Finally, I would encourage everyone to have a look over the current discussion put out by DAF about the future of

our fishery. Some changes are on their way as we move to a harvest strategy management framework and we are in the consultation period as we speak. This is your time to have a say so visit publications.qld.gov. au/dataset/sfs-discussionpapers-fisheries-reform/ resource/bd3be825-c728420a-a8c3-5c7d170ad268 and have a look over all three discussion papers. Each has an avenue for survey collection, so have your say.

Barramundi are returning in big numbers to creeks along the NFZ.

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Hopefully the winds are kind this month CAIRNS

Garry Smith garrysmith@fishingmonthly.com.au

May is generally considered the start of the better offshore fishing months, with the water temperature drops and reef species and pelagics start to school up. In the estuaries it usually depends how quickly the water temperature drops; if it’s a steady decline, species like barramundi, mangrove jack and golden snapper will hang on longer. Last year barramundi in particular bit well right through May, so let’s hope for a repeat on that front. Winds are often an issue in May but when those calm, warm days arrive make sure you have cleared your calendar and get out there. Extended periods of good weather will extend the barramundi bite but can delay the schooling of the most targeted reef species, especially largemouth nannygai and red emperor. Trout should be active, especially up shallow, as they feed up in preparation for spawning in coming months. When the winds drop, and there is usually at least one weekend in May where small boats can access the reef, head as wide as your

boat will allow and work the deeper water, gradually moving back into shallow water until you locate feeding fish. I have always favoured going wide first and then working my way back in, as it allows for a shorter trip home at the end of the day/night, when the skipper and crew are hopefully muscle sore and tired. Locating good country holding bait is the key to finding schooled reef fish. If it’s just good country then the likes of largemouth nannygai and red emperor are often scattered. It’s the concentration of bait that triggers the reef fish to school, so go looking for the concentrations of bait rather than the good looking bottom. Quality coral trout were a feature of last year’s reef fishing throughout the greater Cairns area and here’s hoping they are just as plentiful this year. The wet season this year has been significant, unlike recent years, so it may impact on how the reef fishing pans out. This could be especially so up shallow, with a lot of dirty water and nutrient run-off from the significant amount of flooding along the coast. Mackerel and tuna will begin to feed higher in the water column as the water cools, making them much

easier to locate through the presence of birds. Pelagics will also be feeding on the deeper bait schools, so during May it’s worth trolling at a range of depths initially, until feeding fish are located. Trolling garfish with one on the surface, another on a heavy Wog Head rig and a third on a downrigger is a sure-fire way to cover the water column and put you in with a good chance of nailing a trophy Spanish mackerel. Keep a close eye on the sounder when trolling for mackerel, as this is a great way to locate good bottom fishing country for later in the day or subsequent bottom bashing trips. Trevally and cobia will hopefully put in another appearance this year both at the outer reef and around the more inshore reefs, islands and wrecks. Cobia have appeared in good numbers in recent years and are a worthy target in their own right or a handy by-catch for bottom fishos. Unlike mackerel hooked on bottom rigs, the chances of landing a bottom-hooked cobia are much higher, provided the angler brings the fish right to the boat for identification and doesn’t cut it off early thinking it’s a shark. Cobia are brutes in the battle and eat surprisingly well, for

Here’s hoping quality coral trout, like this beauty caught by Rob Cannon, are plentiful this month.

John Wedrat with a red emperor of the calibre all anglers pine for. those who don’t mind a stronger flavoured fish. If you find them a bit strong in the frying pan, try them barbecued with a few rashers of bacon. This is also a great way to barbecue mackerel. A mackerel and bacon burger is right up there in my taste book! Barramundi, mangrove jack and golden snapper will all be around this month and how they bite will depend on water temperature and your perseverance. They don’t disappear when the water cools, rather they change their feeding habits. Generally they aren’t as active, so you need to be more active in your search for fish. If you are confident that fish are present, through technology or past experience, it can be more a matter of patience. Wait for the fish to come on the bite, or keep changing your approach until you trigger a bite or the blighters just suddenly decide to turn it on. A combination of live baiting and luring is a good way to rustle up some action. Have one rod set up with live bait using a dropper rig with the reel engaged, drag set and in a solid rod holder, while you flick a few soft plastics, soft vibes, prawn imitations or deep diving minnows around the area or at specific structure. Position your casting

stance so the bait rod is in your line of sight and there is a handy rod holder to drop the luring rod into in a flash, should the bait rod double over. I have seen a few luring rods disappear into the depths from simply dropping them on the floor of the boat, so take another fraction of a second to place it in a rod holder. A striking fish or the lure rod getting bumped in the heat of the battle or caught in the net when going to scoop a fish can

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be an expensive exercise! Queenfish, trevally and salmon will also be around for those who prefer kicking back and soaking a dead bait. Mud crabs should be starting to make an appearance, so don’t forget to drop a few pots in when the opportunity arises. All up May has a lot to offer on the piscatorial front and is one of the more pleasant months temperature-wise in the far north, so get out there and have some fun when the sun shines and the wind smiles.

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MAY 2018

After the big wet the fishing is set to fire WEIPA

Mark Bargenquast

The end of the wet season is here and with all the creeks and rivers flowing it looks like we will have a ripper

season ahead. Everyone knows drought on the land means drought in the sea – to a great extent it’s true. The big rains up here in the gulf get everything breeding and feeding. This is a great time

Lewis Puls with a pair of solid Weipa tuskies.

for shallow water fishing up here; masses of blue salmon, queenfish, golden trevally and every other fish you think of up here hunts jelly prawns in the shallows, making for some exciting fishing. Barramundi have been going hard with some nice fish in the 80-90cm range and plenty of smaller fish being taken. A few black jewfish and golden snapper have also been caught by anglers in the know fishing vibes and micro-jigging certain reefs. Offshore there have been a few Spaniards, tuna and queenies around the beacons, but also those bull sharks are close behind. Don’t tell me their numbers are decreasing; it’s the opposite and not just up here. All down the east coast everyone complains about them as well. Longtail tuna, Spanish and grey mackerel, giant and brassy trevally and queenies have been active on both fly and lure charters this week as well as some memorable bust-offs. Rapala X-Rap long cast shallow stickbaits and Gomoku micro-jigs have

A nice juvenile golden snapper caught on a vibe. been doing the damage! Reefies have been fishing well too over the last few months. I just went for a quick fish for a few reefies and landed tuskies, sweetlip and a couple of legal reds in

a couple hours of fishing and I wasn’t really trying! Just a quick warning for the newcomers visiting this area – I had a quick barra fish off the beach last week and saw quite

a few big crocs that have obviously been pushed from the rivers during the wet. Be careful when gathering bait or wading the shallows as these big fellas play a one-sided game!

Run-off fishing is the highlight this month amazing captures. The first southerly change or bout of cooler temperatures will at times send them off the chew. Barramundi that have been on the bite for a whole week in a certain section of the river can suddenly turn off due to atmospheric pressure and a sudden dip in water temperature. Some of the fish in isolated pools, billabongs and lagoons may not be so

CAPE YORK

Tim O’Reilly wildrivercompany@gmail.com

With some great late rains into the Cape and southern Gulf of Carpentaria, plenty of fisheries will be in fullswing come May. That brilliant hue that many of the rivers get during autumn will be at its height in May. Clean, green currents full of fun will be found on both sides of the Cape. What I like most about May is that most of the estuarine environments are still charged with nutrients, following the end of the wet season. Some of the smaller feeder creeks are still pushing out into the main system that in turn creates fantastic food-webs and a variety of bait for predatory fish to chase. Barramundi fishing in late April and early May is at its peak in many of Cape York’s rivers. Estuaries will be alive with smaller barramundi and the upstream sections of the some of the larger rivers will be fishing well for bigger fish. Is there anything better in the world than luring larger models of barra from clean snags and rock bars in some of the most 66

MAY 2018

A queenfish sliding into view after chasing down a popper.

A ripper queenie taken on an East Coast creek mouth. spectacular and pristine rivers on earth? This is an easy question for most fishers to answer. May is a great month during the neap tides to find good numbers of barra gathered around structure. Often a little deeper down than at other times of the year, they will still rise to shallower presentations and poppers, especially after the first is hooked. Peak bite times become

very important at this time of year and when these tides coincide with early morning and later afternoon, the barra can really fire up. Some of the young guns of fishing and those looking for a competitive advantage such as guided operations will be running top of the range sounders with side scan these days. Their ability to mark concentrations of fish hanging around structure can lead to some

A muddy threadfin taken as the tide trickled in. susceptible to a weather change and walks into these locations can be a pleasure. Late afternoons will be the pick, just be sure to find your way out before full

darkness. I forget how many times this threshold has been crossed in a last-light attempt to entice one final surface strike. The inshore fishing

will be equally productive this month. Schools of queenfish and little trevally will be marauding bait around the current lines, To page 67

Finally a decent wet season for northerners LUCINDA

Jeff Wilton jeffwilton83@hotmail.com

Another late wet season has set up what should be a great few years of fishing here at Lucinda. With some decent flooding in early March and a cyclone bearing down on us from the gulf, there should be plenty more water pouring out of the rivers. I know that flooding and cyclones cause plenty of devastation but it’s a part of life living in the tropics and on the fishing scene there is nothing better. The last month has been difficult due to so much freshwater pumping into the channel and terrible weather making heading out into the blue water near impossible even for those with big boats. It has been hard fishing as the fish have been very hit and miss. I believe this

be very frustrating as the fish will feed up on them and ignore everything else. Matching the hatch in this situation can be very difficult. Hopefully the weather settles and everyone can get out wider as the fishing should be red-hot. HINCHINBROOK CHANNEL Tough and inconsistent are two words that describe the channel over the last few months. I have spent plenty of time up there when the weather has allowed and finding feeding fish was difficult. The fishing will get a lot better this month as the wet season has ended and weather patterns will be stable. With the flooding and constant fresh pumping into the channel over the last few months there will be loads of bait and the fish should be in great condition. It is around this time of year that the water temperatures begin to drop a

Toni with an average-sized mangrove jack.

Barra this size should be about in great numbers. is due to unsettled water, which could mean the fish aren’t comfortable to actively feed. There have also been ridiculous amounts of bait about including small prawns and these prawn schools can

little more significantly, which also means the water becomes clearer. This temperature drop can normally trigger great sessions as fish feed up before the lower temperatures slow them down.

Mangrove jack should be chewing their heads off now. Find a good deep channel with plenty of nasty snags and start frothing the water with lures. Jacks love some current pushing into their

homes, as it brings baitfish right to their faces. If your lures aren’t getting deep into structure, you won’t be in with a chance. If you have not already done so then I suggest giving soft plastics a go and rig them on snag proof jigheads. Match these jigs with some soft plastics in your favourite colour and hang on. Barramundi will also be active before that cold water shuts them down and they suffer lockjaw for a few months. Afternoon sessions over the flats as the tide bottoms out should have some Hinchy chrome leaping about. Some well-placed live baits set in creek mouths for the start of the incoming tide are also a deadly way to easily hook up a few of these iconic fish. There will be some good fishing to be had for golden snapper and grunter over the rubble patches throughout the channel. Fishing live sardines or squid if you can get it is the best way to get rods bent,

especially fishing smaller tides around sunset or sunrise. These spots can also be fished effectively with soft plastics, jigs and vibes. The use of an electric motor makes this task much easier, find your spot and sound around until good shows of bait or fish mark up and press spot lock on the electric. You can stay on top of fish and send a variety of lures down to entice bites. JETTY, ISLANDS AND REEF The last session I had along the jetty resulted in me losing six poppers in under an hour to rampaging GT. I landed one fish which was only a pup during this session and I went home thinking of what new rod and reel I was buying to try and even up the score. The reality is it wouldn’t have mattered what I was using that day as all the fish were sitting in the pylons and didn’t want to eat anything unless it went way into the structure. I remember tying plenty of new leaders that day with shaking hands

knowing I was sacrificing rather expensive poppers. Although that session hurt the tackle box and bank account, I can’t wait to get out there for another go. The jetty normally fishes great after years of bigger wet seasons and I believe this is due to the amount of bait that pushes out and schools up. I’m hoping the queenfish and mackerel will be in big schools this year as the previous couple of years have been good, but not great for the Lucinda sugar loader. The weather has been horrible, so there isn’t much to report from out wider. There will be some red-hot fishing on offer as soon as the weather settles down and I’m sure there are plenty of reef boats full of fuel and ready to go soon as the chance arises. The closer spots should fire as once again the fresh pumping out for the last few months brings new life and new structures. Predatory fish move in closer to feed on the baitfish that get carried out into the ocean – it’s a cycle that normally means bent rods for a few years to come. I’m now starting to slowly get the gear ready for the run of black marlin that should show in the next few months. My goal is to target and land some out of the tinny, which should prove a challenge and heaps of fun. For those that are interested in trying their luck the good news is that fish can be caught from around the Palm Islands, which isn’t that far from home. The last few years have seen a few blacks around so I’m hoping they show up again. Find some solid bait schools, get comfortable and troll some skirts around. This style of fishing can be very boring until that rod bends over and it becomes adrenalin-fuelled mayhem. Best of luck to everyone getting out and having a go; this is a great time to visit the area, so hopefully I bump into you down at the ramp.

From page 66

creek mouths and sand spits. Out around the shoals and rubble and artificial structure such as loading facilities, beacons, boys and pylons, pelagic fish will be showing up and ready to feed on the change of tide and during peak bite times. Access into most places in Cape York should be open this month and besides the chance of some scattered showers, anglers can expect calm, clear conditions and perfect temperatures for exploring the upstream sections of the hundreds of waterways crisscrossing Cape York.

The last of the freshwater runoff in May from above. • For information on remote charter operations for tailored fishing

adventures, please email Tim on wildrivercompany @gmail.com

Jobfish like this have been available to anglers who have been able to get out. MAY 2018

Southern Junior

Pelagics fire for end of autumn WEIPA

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So the wet season has just about finished and it’s finally time for the dry season and the fishery that accompanies it. While the barra will tone it down and large golden snapper and black jewfish are also a little more seductive in the cooler months, this is the time of the year when truly massive bait balls erupt and the pelagics are out in force. The bait balls mostly consist of sardines and anchovies and the intense masses of tiny, shimmering bodies are a magnet for hungry predators – everything from giant trevally, tuna and cobia to golden snapper and sharks. The action is unbelievable to see and there must be literally millions of baitfish sliced, chomped, crushed and downright devoured every day. The predators respond

The bait balls hold all kinds of challenges for both spin and fly anglers. soft vibes and live mullet. King salmon, juvenile groupers and queenies are also to be found in the same environment so tight lines.

The end of the wet doesn’t really affect the reef fishing, however it does improve water turbidity and therefore many species

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MAY 2018

Phone: 0410 173 060 basscataustralia@gmail.com

Isaac with a black jewfish caught the most reliable way – a 100lb handline and a slab of mullet. well to metal slugs and spoons, however jigs like the Gomoku Koika jigs are a great way to target fish down deeper such as fingeries and cobia. Stickbaits are awesome for convincing surface strikes. Throwing a big popper around is also a good idea and although fewer tuna may end up on the hook, it’s likely that any big trevs or queenfish in the area will be convinced, that is if the 6ft bull sharks don’t smash the lure first! While the barra are beginning to settle down, they are still around; chucking lures always results in a chance to land one of these chromed up horses of the rivers. Jacks will bite readily throughout the year and can be caught effectively on lures and baits such as diving minnows,

such as tuskfish and even large reef cod can be sight casted on lures and flies over shallow reef. Despite this being good fun, the hostile nature of these fish results in a lot of lost lures and cursing however, at the end of the day this is all part of the fun and makes it a challenge. This is good fun and all, but the best way to capture the reefies is a fresh prawn, crab or pilchard set out on heavy string. The dry season also brings along some other fun adventures such as chasing sooties, togas and barra in skinny water along with a good dose of pig hunting; this is great fun and protects native wildlife such as both fresh and saltwater turtle species and other small ground dwelling animals. Good luck to all anglers over the upcoming weeks and remember to think like a fish!

While barra are beginning to shut down for winter there are still a few about, such as this silver beauty caught off the beach on a popper by Kevie.

Cooking

How to tenderise a bigger squid for the table BRISBANE

Lynn Bain

This month we’ll continue from last month’s squid/ calamari theme. When those bigger squid come aboard, you can use this neat tenderising trick. Many believe that the bigger a squid gets, the more likely the flesh will be tough when cooked.

To reduce the incidence of toughness, the squid flesh can be treated with a natural tenderiser. For example, the enzymes in either kiwi fruit or pawpaw (papaya) will tenderise the squid flesh. To achieve this tenderness, the fruit is mashed and mixed through the squid rings. The squid and kiwifruit mix is then stored for around two hours

in your fridge while the enzymes do their thing. Be mindful that the enzymes may overly soften the squid, so unless you desire mushy squid (you don’t) don’t marinate the squid in fruit for longer than four to six hours. Ingredients This recipe has only two ingredients – squid rings (and tentacles, optional) and an unpeeled kiwifruit.

CLEANING SQUID

Scan the QR code to read up on how to clean and prepare a squid for the table.

The tentacles can either be used as bait or chopped into 8-10cm length pieces for this recipe.

Cut the hood into rings.

Bag the kiwifruit and squid mix and place the sealed mixture into the fridge for two hours while the kiwifruit’s enzymes do their thing.

First catch your big squid and clean it.

4 Slice the ends off the kiwifruit and halve it.

You can rinse the kiwifruit flesh off the calamari with fresh water if you like, but it’s not neccessary. Oil a hot BBQ plate and cook the calamari rings on all sides.

Mash the ripe kiwifruit with your fingers over the tentacles and rings. The kiwifruit doesn’t need to be peeled, and squishing the fruit through your fingers is the simplest way to mash the fruit. Toss the kiwifruit flesh through the calamari.

A stacked pyramid of large barbequed calamari rings – enjoy! MAY 2018

Take advantage of the fishing before it slows down TOOWOOMBA

Jason Ehrlich fishability1@bigpond.com

We hit the transition time this month, where the fish begin to change their habits, with cooler water temperatures and shorter days on the way. Expect the shallower holding fish to change the most. Reaction lures may need to be replaced with something that has more finesse about it or something that stays in their faces. Longer bite times may be experienced in the shallower water

areas, as the fish will be less pressured to move into deep water to find protection from the bright sun and heat. As the golden perch and barra steady up due to their metabolism slowing, the mighty Murray cod will become a good option. The cooler months are a great time to chase a goodoo in the dams and rivers. The swimbait craze has only grown over the last year and there are so many new big lures to toss at these fish. Big lures require specific tackle and tossing them on an outfit that is too light is likely to end in tears.

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND CRESSBROOK CLOSEST TOWN: CROWS NEST Cressbrook Dam remains closed to all water-based recreational activities due to the blue-

green algae outbreak. It has now been closed for several months and it seems the only thing that will roll this algae is the onset of some colder weather. The lake’s current state

Lures over 2oz (60g) require specific rods to throw them. Using a standard baitcast or spin rod is likely to overload it and the result will be the dreaded loud crack of broken graphite. Gear up for tossing these lures with a dedicated swimbait rod and a tough reel suited to bashing out casts with heavy lures. As some things slow down, there is still plenty to be excited about, so start planning that next trip. Take advantage of the fish before they get even tougher and get ready for when the big cod come out to play. Until next month, buckled rods from the Colonel!

14 31

Weipa

Toowoomba

BRISBANE

IMPOUNDMENT DAM

should be hot. For all your fishing supplies and the latest reports on Cressbrook and the surrounding dams, call in to see Fish’n’Bits in Alderley Street. They have a great range of lures and fishing gear. The staff can sort you out with the right gear and give you some tips on where to find them. Just remember there is a speed limit of 8 knots and a restricted area at Cressbrook Dam. Check

Gold Coast

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

can be monitored on the Toowoomba region website if you Google search Cressbrook Dam. Check in case it reopens, as the fish will have almost forgotten what a boat and lure is. Find them and the action

Golden perch will still take lures this month, but things will get tougher as it gets colder. Make the most of the action now.

Gympie

Cairns 1

Townsville 2

3 4

Proserpine 6 Mackay

Rockhampton

Emerald 29 7

Highlighted dams are covered in this issue

Gladstone

30 8

Bundaberg 9

Maryborough

Roma

out the signage to ensure you stay out of trouble and abide by the rules. When the dam reopens to fishing, the open hours will also change to 7am to 6pm. SOMERSET CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, KILCOY The bass fishing has been a bit tough but on the right day anglers are still managing to whack some quality fish. Bigger fish seem to be coming from the middle reaches of the lake

BRISBANE

with most action within sight of Pelican Point. Spoons are hard to beat but the fish will also take soft plastics, tail spinners and blade baits. Up in the timber north of Kirkleigh, the bass action has been a bit better. These fish will also take smaller profile spoons, tail spinners and definitely blades. Golden perch numbers may start to drop off but fishing the humps and To page 71

WATER STORAGE LEVELS Dam............................ % Full

        

DAMS Atkinson Awoonga Bjelke-Petersen Boondooma Borumba Burdekin Falls Callide Cania Clarendon Cooby Coolmunda

FEB MAR APR 11 14 14 97 98 96 17 17 22 41 42 40 99 102 100 74 106 104 80 80 77 97 99 98 3 4 3 47 47 45 58 50 45

Dam............................ % Full           

Copeton Cressbrook Dyer/Bill Gunn Eungella Fairbairn Glenlyon Hinze Julius Kinchant Koombooloomba Leslie Macdonald

30 29 29 58 57 56 4 9 8 92 92 100 25 27 26 59 57 54 99 103 100 71 70 98 56 62 97 42 92 98 11 10 10 99 105 102

Dam............................ % Full           

Maroon 97 100 100 Monduran/Fred Haigh 100 103 100 Moogerah 87 90 88 North Pine/Samsonvale 73 89 90 Peter Faust/Proserpine 67 69 78 Pindari 63 60 59 Somerset 76 77 79 Teemburra 90 91 98 Tinaroo 38 48 95 Toonumbar 100 102 100 Wivenhoe 69 77 77 Wuruma 98 101 99

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 17/04/18

(All levels correct at time of going to press. Dam levels can change at any time, so please check with local authorities to ensure safe boating and fishing.) 70

MAY 2018

DARLING DOWNS GRANITE BELT REGION COOBY CLOSEST TOWNS: HIGHFIELDS, TOOWOOMBA The golden perch action has been a bit unpredictable over the last month. One minute they are on and the next they are near impossible to tempt. I don’t expect too much to change as things cool down even more. Trolling the weed edges will score a few fish with TN60 Jackalls being a standout performer. Hopping small blades can also produce golden perch. Bait fishing tends to be the most reliable technique as things cool down more. Live shrimp or saltwater yabbies are the best baits. Fish these

directly below the boat just outside the weed edges in the afternoon. During the day, also try your luck out in 6-8m of water. For all your bait, hooks and sinkers call into Craig’s Home Hardware in Highfields. Cooby D a m ’s proximity to Highfields and Toowoomba makes it a very popular fishery. If you are looking for somewhere close to home to drop the boat or kayak in, Cooby is definitely worth a visit. The dam hours are now 7am until 6pm. Remember, no outboard motors are allowed to be used on the dam. The concrete boat ramp is on a shallow angle when the dam is full and

can be slippery in places, but a big electric powered boat can still be launched with care. Outboard motors can be left on the boat and must not be used. COOLMUNDA CLOSEST TOWN: INGLEWOOD The fishing has been pretty steady at Coolmunda. A few goldens and the occasional cod are being caught, but they are hard work. Put the time in and you will be rewarded. Adam Krautz learned this last month when he landed a few golden perch and one Murray cod for the day’s fishing. The cod was a beauty of 109cm and took an Austackle Gizmo spinnerbait fitted with a trailer plastic and Hot Bite Assist Stinger hook. The stinger was wedged

right in the corner of the jaw. When the bites are hard to come by, make them count. Ensure all your knots are up to the task, your hooks are sharp and you have a stinger hook on your spinnerbait. One good bite is sometimes all it takes to make a slow day a memorable one. If you’re chasing the cod, head to the timber and fish the trees and laydowns. If I’m not fishing structure on the sounder, I like to prospect through the trees, concentrating around the bases in shallower water (under 3m) and up in the tree forks in deeper water (over 3m). Don’t be afraid to cast between the trees and

draw your lure back through tight country. My motto is ‘hook ‘em first, get ‘em out later.’ Hardbodies cast and trolled can also pull a few cod in the timber. There was also a cracker caught on one of the new Jackall Mega Pompadour surface lures. This just goes to show you need to be out there having a crack and put in the time to catch them. You never know if the bite will come on the first or last cast of the day. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t come at all. The Coolmunda Caravan Park is only around 1km away from the lake. The park is just off

SUNSHINE COAST REGION MACDONALD CLOSEST TOWNS: TEWANTIN, NOOSA There have been quite a few reports of saratoga caught over the last month. These fish are falling for poppers fished around structure. Expect bass as well when fishing these topwater lures. However, the action will only be reliable early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Schooling bass have been caught in the deeper water on 3” curl-tail grub plastics. Davos in Noosaville is

just a short drive away and they carry all the right lures to use on the lake. Check in with them to see if they have heard the latest news on how the lake is fishing. Word is they also have some sweet new offerings that the bass and toga are going to love. BORUMBA CLOSEST TOWNS: IMBIL, NOOSA Toga are still taking lures in the upper parts of the lake. Quite a few bass are also coming from up in the timber as well. Blades and beetle spins are a good

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 and the river below, give the park a call on (07) 4652 4171. option throughout the day and surface lures are worth a try early in the morning. The start of the Kingham Arm has been worth a flick for quality bass. Jackall Squirrels fished with plenty of pauses or slowly wound Bassman spinnerbaits have been the go. 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.

Adam Krautz extracted this 109cm Coolmunda Murray cod on an AusTackle Gizmo spinnerbait. A Hot Bite Assist Stinger Hook was all that was wedged in the corner of its mouth. Make sure you make the bites count, as fish like this don’t come all that often. From page 70

edges of the creek bed out from Kirkleigh should see some action on live shrimp. Small bass and barred grunter can be a pest at times, so if they plague you and steal the baits, it’s time to move on. The redclaw crayfish have been abundant. Setting pots in 5-6m of water seems to be most effective with the middle reaches of the lake producing well. Good baits are part-boiled potato and over-ripened pawpaw. Somerset Fishing has moved the tackle van up the hill closer to the campground. Look for them inside the day area up near the toilet block above the boat ramp. The staff will be there from Friday to Sunday. They have the right gear, and they can steer you in the right direction, as they always know where the fish are schooled up.

MAROON CLOSEST TOWNS: BOONAH, BEAUDESERT Maroon is a great lake to fish this month. A lot of the bass will be smaller fish below 40cm in length but there is always the chance of a bigger model. The weed edges will be the place to hit. Early and late in the day, surface lures may still produce a few fish. Fish tight to the weed edges and even over the top of submerged weed if you can stealthily find it. It doesn’t take the fish long to drop back into deeper water as the light level increases. Switch to deeper presentations like hopped blades and soft plastics. Spinnerbaits are often a good way to nail some of the better quality fish out of the weed. With cooler weather on the way, they may soon refuse these and prefer something a little more natural and slower.

Suspending lures will be excellent over the colder months. You can start fishing shallow in the early morning and push deeper as the day wears on. The water is very clear. so use stealth and place long casts to the weed edges. Try to fish as close as possible to the weed without continuously fouling up in it. A few upward rips will usually free the lure from strands of weed. Bass lures have finer hooks, which tend to cut the weed if you use an aggressive rip to free them. Don’t be surprised if the commotion of tearing the lure from the weed draws out a hiding bass, which then hammers your lure. When the water is very clear you can slow your surface and suspending lure presentations down a lot more. The fish have much better visibility and if you can entice them to rise, they will swim a long way to take your offerings.

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MAY 2018

WIDE BAY AND SOUTH BURNETT REGION BOONDOOMA CLOSEST TOWNS: PROSTON, KINGAROY Boondooma will be one of the better lakes to fish for bass and golden perch this month. A little further north, the action will continue longer as the days will still be quite warm. The transition will be taking place with numbers of fish out in open water around places like the Barbers Pole, Junction and Pelican Point as well as up in the shallows in both timbered arms and around the lake’s edges. Casting spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits or hopping small blades will be the way to entice the edge fish. Look for healthy weed around the edges in the main dam and fish the timbered banks up the top of the dam. With these styles of lures, you can fish quite fast in the hope of coming across an active patch of fish. It may be a little early but I have a feeling with the clearer water this year we will see an awesome jerkbait bite on the lake. I would be trying my luck with a deeper running suspending jerkbait like a Pointer 65XD or Jackall Squirrel. Twitch these lures down to depth and then pause and twitch them back to the boat.

The takes when the lure is paused or twitched to life are rod-jarringly awesome. Boondooma is a great place to camp right near the water and sit by the fire while enjoying the view. You could also stay in more style and comfort by booking into one of the cabins overlooking the dam. The kiosk at the main office does hot food and other basic items including an excellent range of proven fishing tackle. For campsites, cabins and bunkhouse rooms call (07) 4168 9694. BJELKE CLOSEST TOWNS: MURGON, GOOMERI The fish have slowed down a bit at Bjelke but are still worth a crack. The mornings and arvos will be the time to try your luck in the shallows. Blades and small spinnerbaits at the edges of the lake can produce some bass and even the occasional golden perch before they retreat to deeper water around the Bass Point area, out in front of the wineries and along similar banks. Just keep moving and fishing edges until you find a hungry patch of fish. Fishing up in timber is also worth a try, as the golden perch were a bit better in

quality up there last month. Spinnerbaits fished around the trees did the trick. While the dam had a small rise a bit over a month ago, you still need to take care when navigating up into the timber, as the lake is still low. In the deeper water of the main basin, schooling

what they want to eat. Suspending hardbodies are ideal when the fish are reluctant to chase a soft plastic. These lures can be twitched down closer to the fish and then paused for a second or two before twitching them a few more times. This twitchpause style of fishing keeps the lure in the strike zone longer and a lazy fish still has plenty of time to come and inspect before committing. Soft plastics are good lures for covering water faster. The fish need to be in the mood to chase them and sometimes the speed can actually work in your favour. The faster-moving lure can get a reaction from the fish and they bite at it before it has the chance to escape. Down below the dam, barra can be caught either side of Pikes Crossing in the

freshwater. This is a good spot for smaller boats and kayaks. There is plenty of weed and lily pads to explore and, due to the clarity of the water, the barra are often buried in them. Make sure you have plenty of weedless offerings to ensure you fish where they live. At dawn, dusk and night they will roam more and this is when hardbodies, surface lures and heavier plastics come into play. Mark from Awoonga Gateway Lodge has a few productive secret spots he’s always willing to share. The Gateway Lodge is on the way in to the dam after turning off at Benaraby. The accommodation is great with plenty of boat parking space right beside the comfortable air-conditioned, self-contained cabins – each with its own veranda. To book in a stay, give Mark or Lyn a call on (07) 4975 0033.

report. With cooler days and nights just around the corner, we’ll look at what to expect over the coming month. Barra are likely to move closer to the western side of the dam. Here they can find warmer water and it is in those warmer pockets that the action will be best. If the weather remains warm, the

action should be good with various lure styles producing. Hardbodies and plastics to the points and edges, deep diving hardbodies in the deeper trees marking the old creek and river courses and vibes and plastics across schooling fish on the flats are all worth trying. After a cold snap, the fishing can get tougher and the mood of the fish will change. While these big

CAPRICORN REGION AWOONGA CLOSEST TOWNS: BENARABY, GLADSTONE It’s not too late to get into some barra action before winter sets in. The fish will be willing in the dam and the Boyne River below. In the lake, try fishing the lilies and weed edges of the main basin. The trick is to keep moving until you find fish and if you have a quality sounder, you have no excuses for not locating them. The eastern and western sides of the lake both fish well in the middle reaches of the main basin. I have heard of fish caught in other areas, but they never seem to be as prolific. Once a productive or fish-holding area is found, stick with the fish and try to work out WHITSUNDAY REGION PROSERPINE CLOSEST TOWNS: PROSERPINE, AIRLIE BEACH Despite a lingering cyclone last month, the dam hasn’t changed much. The level has remained almost the same. The wind made fishing last month very tough, so there is little to 72

MAY 2018

Nathan Palmer caught this saratoga on a 1/2oz Bassman Shorty at Cania Dam. fish should be easy to locate. These fish tend to hold along the drop-off to the old creek bed between the two boat ramps and out in front of the quarry. Hopping blades, tail spinners and rolling spoons through them should get the bites. A while back they were loving Gulp curl-tail

grub plastics, but for some reason they have slowed down on them. Mix it up and see what they want. There’s no point trying to make them eat something they are simply not interested in. A change to the right lure can turn the day around. 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 staff 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 Cania Dam can be an awesome fishery and over the last couple of months it has delivered some great sessions. Double-figure catch rates are common on the dam’s bass. The main

concentration tends to start up in the timber around the second cattle yards. Sound around just as you would in open water, manoeuvring around the trees to try and pinpoint the depth they prefer. Sometimes they can be found near the bottom while at other times they may be out deeper and suspended. Once found, the fish are usually pretty easy to catch however, like all fish, at times they will turn their nose up at everything you throw. Spoons smashed a heap last month and the month before soft plastics were smashing them. Around the edges and close to structure, saratoga will be on the prowl. These fish are prevalent enough in the lake to specifically target them with success. Casting lipless crankbaits is a good way to hedge your bets and nail bass as well. Spinnerbaits seem to be a better lure for specifically targeting the saratoga. They aren’t a fussy fish; as long as a bite-sized lure is in front of them, they will have a crack at it. Surface is a fun way to target them early in the morning and years ago this lake was a reasonable bass fishery on surface lures as well. You just don’t seem to hear much about the bass taking them anymore. Make sure you have sharp hooks, because a toga’s mouth is very bony.

The water will be cooling, so try up in the shallows for barra. This one was up in the thick lilies and ate a weedless-rigged plastic. fish still need to eat, their slower metabolism over the cold months means they don’t need to feed as often. To get the bites, we need to be smarter and offer them something easy to snatch with minimal effort. Suspending hardbodies are ideal for these slower fish as they give the fish heaps of time to suck them in. In-theface presentations like vibes can also be good.

It’s around that transition time and the fish and temperature will dictate what to fish with and where to go. Regardless of the conditions, they will still be catchable – it’s just a matter of how easy it is to do it. As long as the wind gives the area a break, the barra will be waiting. For all your fishing supplies or a guided trip on the lake, call Lindsay

or Dane at Barra World on (07) 4945 4641. Lindsay’s barra tours have been busy so book ahead. You won’t be disappointed as he often delivers the goods and always shares a wealth of knowledge. The store is right on the highway in Proserpine and specializes in barra fishing tackle. You can also keep up-to-date by visiting their Barra World Facebook page.

Push through tough times at Lake Somerset SOMERSET DAM

Matthew Taylor

In last month’s report, I stated that anglers were regularly catching bass up to 50cm in length. Since that time, the fishing has shut down. Many seasoned anglers have struggled to catch a legal fish, let alone numbers. One thing that is still relevant to my last report is how quickly the lure of choice for the fish is changing. Nearly every day, and sometimes even hourly, the fish will be biting on one lure and the next day won’t even touch it. When Lake Somerset is under immense pressure, the fish shut down. Hence, I can’t stress enough how important it is to continually mix up your lure and retrieves. A recent tournament highlighted this; on the pre-fish day, skirted jigs were the go-to lure. The first day of the event saw the fish biting on blades and spoons, while on the final day the fish were after a blade with a beetlespin. No matter how tough the fishing is, I find that the fish still have a pattern in some way or another. During this tournament, only a few anglers keyed onto the pattern at hand. In the early morning, it was vital to reach Pelican Point as quickly as possible, as

A nice bass over 40cm that was caught on a Little Max blade at Pelican Point. this is where the big fish were located. Often you will find that if you are the first to fish a school on any given day, you will catch a fish in your first few casts then they will shut down. This is exactly what was occurring during the tournament. Then, to continue catching fish, it was crucial that you headed to the Kirkleigh flats or into the timbered

Craig McDonald with a cracking yellowbelly caught at the Kirkleigh flats.

section. While these were smaller fish, once the sun came out and it heated up, they were willing to bite. If these fish shut down, there were also fish on the edges. While this isn’t typical for autumn at Lake Somerset, it can be expected when there are large inflows into the lake. In the late afternoon, there would be a small bite window at Pelican Point; recently this was still the pattern. However, in typical Somerset fashion, this is bound to change very quickly. The main point I’m trying to convey is that to be successful, you need to observe and make sense out what the fish are telling you. Once you establish what the pattern is, you will catch far more fish. The schooling fish have been located in two main areas, which are Kirkleigh and Pelican Point. Earlier on in the month, the fish at Kirkleigh were located on the flats. However, with the recent rain, the bass moved further up into the timbered area of the lake looking for recently flooded vegetation, about 200m up from the start of the 6-knot zone. The majority of fish on Pelican Point have been on its eastern and southern sides. It’s also worth looking at Brads Bank. I successfully fished this area recently, catching numerous bass over 40cm. As I previously mentioned, it has been rare for the fish to be biting on the same lure two days in a row. However, some of the most successful lures have included Hotbite Gangbangers, yellow

and red Nories Wasaby spoons, baby bass coloured Charlie Brewer Slider soft plastics, Smak Smakos, Jackall skirted jigs, Hotbite Torpedos and 1/2oz Little Max and TT blades. The fish on the edges have responded well to Jackall TN50 and TN60 lipless crankbaits, along with Smak Spinnerbaits. Trolling has been the most productive technique for both bass and yellowbelly. I have received many reports of sessions of over 30 fish using it. Hardbodied lures like the Smak Golden Child and Smak Blitz Baga have been the standouts, with darker colours like harmo and mystique working to great effect. It is also worth trolling spinnerbaits. However, to keep your lure in the zone, let it out a long way, troll relatively slowly and use light braided line. • When heading to Lake Somerset, be sure to drop in and see the team at Somerset Fishing Tackle, which is located next to the food van and amenities block in the Lake Somerset Holiday Park.

They stock a wide range of competitively priced fishing tackle. If you’re after any fishing tips or information, drop in and talk to the guys or check out their Facebook page, @SomersetFishing, Instagram page, @ Som er set Fi shi ngTackl e,

and website, www. somersetfishing.com, to stay up to date with all forms of fishing information. To see more from Matt, you can find him on Instagram (@matthew____ taylor) and Facebook (@ matthewtaylorfishing).

Matt Johnson with two nice bass. It’s a good idea to fish during the week, as the fish generally bite much better during this time.

The author caught these fish slow-rolling 1/2oz Little Max blades.

Gary’s Marine Centre

3201 6232

217 Pine Mountain Road, BRASSALL MAY 2018

We have barra aplenty – handle with care LAKE TINAROO

Warwick Lyndon

May is upon us and it’s that time of year when the Tinaroo barra are ready to feed up before the true onset of the cooler months. Water temperatures tend to stay relatively steady until winter really sets in and the barra are generally quite aggressive and willing to eat most offerings if you put yourself in the right place at the right time. With all the rain from this year’s wet, the dam is full and while this means more places for the fish to hide and slightly cooler water, it also means more bait and more fishable ground to explore. All of the lake is now accessible and there are far less obstacles to contend with when getting around. It is the first time in many years that there has been this much water in the dam and this is great news for the

Sometimes it’s best not to even attempt lifting the bigger fish. already established, as well as the recently stocked, juvenile barramundi. There have been good fish taken from all parts

Zack Wilkinson releasing a healthy Tinaroo barra.

of the lake on a range of techniques recently, however as per usual they can be very fickle and may only respond to certain lures or times of the day. Fishing around dawn or dusk and matching this with a tide change in the salt certainly seems to be the best bet. Vibes, swimbaits, hardbodied lures and soft plastics will all work and anglers should stick to what they are most confident using and fish hard in areas where fish are located. With good numbers of decent barra about, remember when releasing these fish to please handle them gently. While Tinaroo is a ‘put and take’ fishery and there is absolutely no issue with taking one for a meal, those who choose to release them should do all that they can to ensure the survival of these magnificent (and often large) creatures. Let’s face

Jaega Desainis with 120cm of saltwater barra caught on opening night of the 2018 open season.

MAY 2018

it – a big barra that can continue to grow and be caught again as a genuine monster is a good thing! Barramundi respond quite well to release if handled appropriately. If not, many of the larger fish die long after they appear to have swum off healthy. The first thing anglers can do to ensure survival is to get the fish boat-side as quickly as possible. Long, drawn-out fights tire the fish and reduce the chances of a successful release. Once caught, barra should be lip gripped or netted with a large knotless net and kept in the water until brag mats and cameras are ready. It’s important to wet the deck of the boat and/ or brag mat to reduce the chances of removing the fish’s protective slime layer. Once ready to lift for a photo, barra should be well supported under the belly and never hung from lip grips or dragged into the

Swimming the barra next to the boat allows it to be revived easily. boat by the mouth. Doing so will strain the barra’s throat and gills, and almost guarantee the death of any big fish. Minimising time out of the water will greatly enhance the survival rates of any fish, and large barramundi are certainly no different, so try to take a few quick pictures and then release the fish. Although the spear release is popular in North Queensland for obvious reasons, due to the fact that there is no risk of sharks or crocodiles in the lake, the

best way to release a large barra is to swim it gently beside the boat by gripping its lower jaw until the fish bites down on your hand. This is the signal that the fish is revived and ready to swim off. Following these steps should ensure that your prize is released healthy and will be ready to catch again next time you visit the lake. As always, you can check out more of my FNQ adventures by liking my Facebook blog, Wazza’s Fishing Page.

A large knotless net and wet brag mat made carefully releasing this fish an easy task.

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Nissan’s Y62 wagon: big, bold and a great drive BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

With the discontinuation of the reliable 4-cylinder 3L diesel Y61 Patrol wagon, Nissan have taken a huge step forward with their replacement, designated as the Y62. For a start it’s larger, heavier, more powerful and far more luxurious than its predecessor. In fact it’s like no Patrol we’ve seen in the past, just on the luxury stakes alone. What’s more it comes with a petrol engine – a 5.6L 298kW/560Nm V8 that purrs sweetly until pushed, then it snarls with a sonorous resonance that will raise the eyebrows. This should come

As can be seen the Y62 Patrol is like no other Nissan Patrol that’s graced our roads.

A well-balanced and upward lifting tailgate facilitates easy loading of the big Y62 Patrol. as no surprise, as the Y62’s all-alloy engine is derived from the same engines in Nissan’s V8 race cars where performance and endurance are put to the test. TI PATROL HAS MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK Introduced a few years ago the Y62 has now been treated to some serious buyer appeal as the result of a very serious price reduction, rationalisation of models to just the all luxury Ti and Ti-L, plus the addition of even more fruit to tempt buyers away from the nearest competitors in the big 4x4 wagon stakes. The reviewed 2018 Y62 base Ti model differs little internally from the 2017 version with just a few external changes to grille, fog light housing and front

MAY 2018

As a base model there are a lot of really useful appointments to tempt a buyer. For instance, there’s also total surround viewing via a remotely operated camera which features a split-screen mode along with front, rear and side proximity warnings to keep the driver aware of likely threats to the vehicle. While permanently in all-wheel drive mode the Y62 provides options of mud, snow, rock, hill descent control, rear diff lock and on-road drive capability in both high and

Selecting the driving mode best suited to conditions is as simple as activating the Patrol’s electronically operated selector.

Every facet of driving the big Patrol was made easy by roominess, convenience and overall user friendliness. It starts with very spacious front seats for driver and passenger.

The author’s 4.5 Galeforce centre console rig has been towed by a few 4x4s this year but never so easily as when connected to the big Nissan.

We hear of ‘road presence’ in regard to vehicles; this one has it by the tonne! 76

bumper. There’s a full-sized spare and the rear tailgate still lifts straight upwards for easiest loading. The third row of seats remain just as easily accessed via the forward folding 60/40 split second row, there’s full leather trim, some faux timber to highlight dash and other areas, climate control air for both front and second row passengers, tilt reach and height adjustment of the leather steering wheel, electric adjustment for front seats and a sunroof plus keyless entry and start up. Rain-sensing wipers and

auto headlights are also par for the course. An 8” screen in the dash takes care of everything from Sat Nav to aircon controls via touch commands. There’s also driving information, along with a fully informative fuel use/distance remaining data between the tachometer and speedometer. Air conditioning adjustments are also on the touchscreen for easy use.

low range at the press of an electronic console control knob. Changes are instant, without the slightest jar or sound; the only indication is a highlight via the dash information system. Bluetooth is naturally on hand as well as a 6-speaker stereo system with hard drive and cup holders, bottle holders and storage compartments and pockets. Storage space within the lidded centre

Second row passengers will enjoy their own air conditioning unit. There’s plenty of room as well. console compartment is large enough to hold a loaf of bread. Sections of the above list of features might sound intimidating, but the impression I gained after some time behind the wheel is that the big V8 was very user-friendly. Nothing was hard to come to terms with or to use. The cruise control

on the right of the wheel (all sound and phone systems were on the opposite side) involved nothing more than a press to activate it and another toggle touch to set the speed. If I wanted to manually find a radio station well away from town, I used the manual control knob in lieu of the pre-set station list.

THE DRIVE’S EVERYTHING Every good thing about the Y62 Patrol seems to coalesce when a driver sits behind the wheel. Some power adjustment of the seat, a change of steering wheel position, maybe, then as D is selected the big unit moves effortlessly away. All

light, very responsive feeling about all aspects of road handling and ride. With Nissan’s Hydraulic Body Motion Control system providing instant correction to any side of the vehicle that needed levelling – via hydraulically operated dampers fitted each wheel’s coil sprung suspension

The Patrol’s array of knobs and dials might look intimidating but don’t be deceived as it’s a very user-friendly setup.

Split-fold third row seating can accommodate two passengers rather than three for more storage. dials, gauges and other lesser controls are exactly where they should be and with light steering, a very responsive engine and a suspension setup that truly irons out bumps and thumps, it might be fair to say that few large cars drive as easily as the Y62 Patrol. True, there is always power to spare and with 560Nm of torque mated to a 7-speed auto gear shifter there are seamless changes, linked to almost endless power delivery. Overtaking is as easy as a quick blip on the accelerator pedal and then the big 4x4 wagon is back on the correct side of the road. I found that the driving position was faultless with very comfortable seating, great visibility and an overall

arms – the Patrol’s ride was impressively flat and controlled at all times even into sharper corners. The HBMC system is also designed to provide optimum

wheel travel and traction when off the road as well. For a large vehicle the Y62 handled remarkably well with absolutely no vices. Note that the Y62 rides on 18” high profile tyres as well, which is important for off-road work. On the latter topic it will handle off-roading with ease given the sophisticated suspension and range of drive options all mated to a high ground clearance, plus useful approach and departure angles.

FUEL CONSUMPTION In acknowledging that power and economy seldom go hand in hand there were some surprises with my test drives. Admittedly, there was limited city work with mainly highway runs and some boat towing – 3.5t braked and 750kg unbraked are the figures – and while Nissan claim a combined 14.4L/100km I recorded a genuine 13.2L/100km over two tanks of fuel. I drove in a normal manner, overtaking when necessary,

and making best speed whenever possible. In fairness I couldn’t expect fuel economy of that standard with a big mix of city work but 13.2 was mighty good on the highway. SUMMING UP My view is that the Y62 is just a brilliant thing to drive and very hard to fault. It’s virtually a true luxury vehicle and a brilliant off-road unit at the same time. Given the huge array of features and a substantially lower difference, the Y62 Patrol

must offer real value for money when compared with main competitor Toyota’s base 200 series and as such is a serious challenger for king of the towing units. Safety isn’t overlooked thanks to front and side airbags for the driver and passenger plus fulllength side curtain airbags covering the three rows of seats. The warranty is three years/100,000km. In terms of road manners, pleasure of driving and sheer capability, this is Nissan’s pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

More convenience – air conditioning controls are also on the Y62’s 8” centre dash touchscreen.

With the third row of seats down there’s 1300x1200mm of useful load space available. The high lifted roof is ideal for easy loading.

THE SHEIK OF THE CREEK

I didn’t catch anything and I didn’t care BRISBANE

The Sheik of the Creek

The creek was brown in the best western tradition. The sun was dropping and so was the temperature; even at Easter the sun packed a punch and the single beer I’d tipped down had been colder than a witch’s elbow. A light easterly carried the promise of future showers. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after, maybe not at all, but the promise was enough. Cypress branches burned in the cut-off 44 with that peculiar odour that tells you you’re west of the divide. It mixed with smoke from the plate, lamb cutlets and spare ribs from Chubbert’s home killed pigs. And kids. Not on the barbie, but running around like demented aliens. They flowed from one spot to the

next like a transference of energy on a motherboard. It was like particle physics on a grand scale, except noisier. If you’ve seen the lorikeets at Burrum Heads, you’ll know what I mean. One of the parents mentioned that a float was under; a fish was on. The energy field bulged, and an offshoot of mayhem rolled down to the waterside. Laura claimed the $12 Kmart rod and wound the line in. A spangled perch appeared. The crowd clamoured. There was clapping. There was cheering. Laura was congratulated, and the proud eight-and-a-halfyear-old glowed with pride. The bobby was wound in, wedged now against the top eyelet of the pink rod. The energy scattered, as a surge of enthusiasm for fishing flowed through the group. If the collective noun for children is not a clamour, it should be. Furious casting followed for a good two

or three minutes, until the boredom threshold was reached, and Jack noticed an itchy grub’s nest in a brigalow 20m away. Finny saw a goanna. The field of energy flowed up the creek bank, leaving a plethora of fibreglass sticks strewn along the waterline. I’ve always wanted to use plethora in my column. What is a plethora El Guapo? Those of you who don’t know of what I speak should be ashamed. As I slipped down the bank to tidy up the mess my mind went back to my own memories of similar days. They never seemed this carefree. I noticed one of the kids lagging behind the clamour. Perhaps there were elements of unseen angst in amongst this apparently happy group. Maybe he needed some attention – someone to pay him some heed. Kids can be cruel to each other, and I’d been there. I called out to him. Did he

want to fish? He threw a look at me. His mother did too. Ok. Nothing to see here. I went back to untangling lines.

Still the odd one. Nevertheless, my mood stayed upbeat. A beautiful evening. Men laughing.

Women chattering. Kids clamouring. Me outside looking in, not catching fish. Situation normal.

MAY 2018

WHAT’S NEW FISHING DAIWA TD SOL III BAITCASTER

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GAMAKATSU EWG MONSTER

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MAY 2018

HOBIE BARNACLE + 5

The Hobie Barnacle + is a durable floating speaker with Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in microphone for taking hands-free calls, and the capacity to hold 1000 songs, so you don’t have to use your phone. It mounts to any smooth surface using an industrial suction cup base, and is perfect for the kayak, SUP or tinny. This new speaker is designed to go where other speakers can’t; it’s 100% waterproof, and can be submerged to a depth of 6ft for up to an hour. It also floats! No matter how it is dropped in the water, the Barnacle will always surface with the speaker facing up, keeping your tunes afloat and jamming. As well as being waterproof, the Barnacle is sand and dust proof. Its all-terrain design is sealed tight, and is engineered to withstand the most demanding elements. No matter how dirty your speaker gets, you can freely wash it off in water and you’re good to go. It also has built-in 4GB memory, produces surprisingly bold sound, and has a battery life of up to five hours. www.hobie.com

Japan produce some of the most lifelike lures in the world and the Bassday Sugar Deep 90 Barra Tune is no exception, except this time it’s been tuned for Aussie conditions. This realistic 90mm jerkbait is available in seven fish-attracting colours, covering everything from clear to dirty water, making them ideal for inland dams as well as rivers, streams and estuaries. The Bassday Sugar Deep 90 Barra Tune has heavy-duty construction and extra strong trebles. It has a life-like appearance and can be cast accurately, quickly diving to a depth of 2.5m. This versatile lure can be used with a slow, steady retrieve producing a sharp wobble or a fast erratic stop-start retrieve which will have the lure darting about, imitating a dying baitfish. It also works well in heavily fished waters or on days where the fish are timid, as its neutral buoyancy lets you pause it near structure and it will suspend right in the strike zone. The Barra Tune will be perfect for barra,

Shimano’s Nexave spin reels represent great value for money for an entry level series, perfect for newcomers and kids who need the right start in fishing. There are five models in this new FE series, from 1000 through to C5000, with the 3000 HGFE and the 5000 HGFE being of compact body design. The cold forged aluminium spool with AR-C lip promotes longer casting without wind knots, and smooth transmission through the stripper guide, which is important when using fine diameter braid. Varispeed II assists in this regard, as it ensures that line lay on the spool is neat and even. An XT-7 body keeps weight down, while three shielded stainless SS bearings and one roller bearing makes winding the single piece aluminium handle effortless, whether retrieving or hooked up. Gear ratios range from 5.0:1 to 6.2:1, and drag power is from 3kg on the 1000 size, up to 8.5kg in the 3000, 4000, and 5000. And despite all these features, the price will come as a pleasant surprise. www.shimanofish.com.au

Gamakatsu have added two new sizes to the EWG Monster worm hook range. The new sizes offer more versatility, and build on the popular 7/0 EWG Monster. A 5/0 and 6/0 now complete the range of the strongest worm hook on the market. The EWG Monster was designed for only the largest plastics, and features extra heavy-duty wire, an inline hook point and an impressive black nickel finish. Coupled with Gamakatsu’s chemical sharpening procedure, the EWG Monster has impressive hook setting power, which is crucial when throwing big baits for large fish. The EWG Worm hook allows anglers to rig their lures in the traditional way with the hook point well exposed, or weedless. This offers incredible versatility, and the hooks can be used effectively in areas of heavy weed or timber, which are commonly encountered when chasing iconic species such as barramundi. EWG Monster worm hooks are also perfect in shallower water for offshore species such as snapper and kingfish with a slow sink offered by the unweighted hook. www.gamakatsu.com.au

PRODUCT GUIDE

Mustad has released a range of bucktail jigs designed for fishing freshwater through to the deepest saltwater ledges. Built on the 32824NP-BN 2X strong hook, the Mustad Big Eye Bucktail Jig features two line tie positions to give the angler options. The nose tie lets you cast and retrieve the jig, mimicking a swimming action. The top tie lets you employ a more traditional jigging retrieve. But don’t think there are only two uses for these jigs – clever anglers are already fitting them out for trolling dead baits for mackerel and more. Featuring oversized 3D eyes, the Big Eye Bucktail Jig has hand-tied deer hair and crystal flash to give the jigs a lifelike appearance in the water. There is also a keeper wire located near the lead head so you can add bait or a soft plastic trailer. An epoxy finish gives the head maximum durability. There are eight colours in the range, and sizes range from a 3/4oz jig with a 5/0 hook, all the way through to 8oz with a 9/0 hook. www.wilsonfishing.com

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PRODUCT GUIDE

WHAT’S NEW FISHING SHIMANO STELLA FJ

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It’s been 26 years since the first Stellas hit the market, and the innovation continues with the new FJ series. One of the latest features is MicroModule II. Unique gear teeth surface design makes the FJs even smoother and quieter, and with Improved Hagane Gear they’re now twice as strong and durable as before. The Long Stroke AR-C spool increases casting distance, and the line clip has been improved so light leaders aren’t damaged during storage. There’s also a Tangle-Proof Rotor design. SilentDrive reduces handle play and eliminates the clicking noise and feeling from the worm shaft when winding. EI Surface Treatment protects the exterior, while the X Protect labyrinth system keeps water and dirt at bay in key areas. All these advancements are housed in a Hagane Body with 12 SA-RB bearings and one roller bearing, with X-Ship bearing supported pinion gear, plus a G-Free Body where the centre of gravity is closer to the rod. There are five models, with drag power from 3-11kg, and gear ratios from 5.1 to 6.4:1. www.shimanofish.com.au

BLACK MAGIC BMAX 8 COLOURS Black Magic has updated their range of bibbed BMax lures by adding five new colours. For those who haven’t tried one, the BMax 60 is designed as a subsurface lure ideal for numerous freshwater and estuarine species across Australia. This lure measures 60mm long, is an ideal weight for casting, and is perfect for both spinning and trolling. The short bib lets the lure dive down to 1.2-1.8m, and ensures a very enticing swimming action. The BMax 60 is rigged with two strong, sharp treble hooks – one on the belly and one on the tail. It’s available in a range of 10 colours designed to suit a range of species and conditions. These lures are well priced and are available now from Black Magic stockists. www.blackmagictackle.com

OKUMA HELIOS SX SPIN 12

The new Okuma Helios SX is all about high end performance and cutting edge features at an affordable price, and it’s now available to Aussie anglers in a 20, 30 and 40 size. Okuma’s new C-40X long strand carbon fibre technology is substantially stronger than standard graphite material, and is also 25% lighter and 100% anti-corrosive. Combine this with Okuma’s TCA: Torsion Control Armor, a double-arm design in the reel stem that reduces twist and torque, while keeping internal parts perfectly aligned, and you have a lightweight, rigid reel that sees power transferred effectively. Other features include 8HPB + 1RB corrosion-resistant SS bearings for silky smooth performance, ALG: Precision Alumilite alloy main gear and oscillating gears, heavy-duty, solid aluminium bail wire, RESII: Computer Balanced Rotor Equalizing System, CBD: Centrifugal Disc Bail for smoother and easier bail operation, and Progressive Drag, a 1-K woven carbon fibre drag knob that reduces weight and creates a more progressive drag setting. Price: SRP $189.90-$219.90 www.okuma.com.au

WILSON NEOPRENE 10 WADERS Winter isn’t far off, and Wilson Fishing has released new neoprene chest and hip waders for the colder months. Featuring a 4mm neoprene construction that is welded and glued to a sturdy boot, these waders will go the distance. The Hip Waders feature adjustable Velcro straps that hold these waders in place with the aid of a belt. Internally, all seams are covered for comfort, and the boot is lined to provide the ultimate in comfort for your feet. The Chest Waders feature an oversized chest pocket for storage of tackle and the same internal construction for maximum comfort. The Chest Waders are also attached via Velcro straps that allow ultimate adjustability. The Wilson Neoprene Wader range is available in boot sizes from 8 through to 15, and you can find more information on the Wilson Fishing website. You can also see the latest news and tips on Facebook (www. facebook.com/LWilsonAndCo), and great catch photos on Instagram (@wilson_fishing). www.wilsonfishing.com.au

BERKLEY GULP 6” SWIMMING MULLET 11 The Berkley Gulp 6” is the big daddy Swimming Mullet. The Berkley Gulp Swimming Mullet’s ‘fat’ profile and flickering curl-tail is a deadly fish magnet, and is now available in 6” size for those big occasions. The swimming action of the large curltail, combined with an enticing ‘body roll’ at a slow retrieve, makes the 6” Swimming Mullet a slow roll specialist. Add in fish attracting Gulp Scent, with its powerful scent release properties, for a perfect cod and barra hook up. 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 6” Swimming Mullet comes in chartreuse, glow and pearl white. Price: SRP $13.99 Berkley-fishing.com.au

NEW FROM STRIKE PRO

Strike Pro has released two new colours (A68 and A93-CP) in the popular Bob N Spoon range. The Bob N Spoon is a new take on an old classic spoon; it is plastic with chambers that allow for features like inbuilt rattles to be included, and have transparent finishes. The Bob N Spoon has an erratic swaying action and it can be reversed to change its action. It is 5.5cm long, weighs 7.3g and comes with quality trebles. It’s proven to be very effective on trout, bass and redfin. Strike Pro has also released eight new fish-catching colours in its 1/4oz and 3/4oz Spinnerbaits. Many hours of testing have gone into producing these colours for the Australian market. These spinnerbaits feature the highest quality USA skirts that are rounded silicone silk cut to produce the ultimate pulsating action. They also feature holographic colour matched blades, quality ball bearing swivels and R-bend arms. Strike Pro Spinnerbaits are super effective on Murray cod, yellowbelly, bass and redfin. www.jurofishing.com

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au MAY 2018

WHAT’S NEW FISHING RHINO-RACK BATWING AWNING

TSUNAMI SOFT 13 VIBE SHADS

Rhino-Rack’s new Batwing Awning provides 270° of refuge, and comes with top quality brackets that have a high and low fitting position. Its integrated legs simply unclip from the storage position and drop into place, making it a oneperson job. The rare earth magnets, which click to hold the arms in place, allow for quick and easy storage, and there are thicker Velcro straps to keep the awning secure when packed in place. The lightweight, durable powder-coated aluminium poles have an easy grip handle to loosen and extend, up to 2.3m. If it’s windy, the moulded fittings on the end of each pole can accommodate two pegs through the base of the leg. And for extreme conditions, included with the Batwing are eight guy ropes with inbuilt hooks and 10 pegs that are easily stored in the new pocket. Made from heavy-duty rip-stop fabric, the awning is water and mould resistant, and rated to UPF 50+. It comes in a UV resistant PVC bag, and it’s compatible with existing additions like sidewalls, extensions, and tents. Price: SRP: $849 www.rhinorack.com.au

REDINGTON MINNOW COMBO

The 580 Minnow from Redington was designed and tuned to meet the needs of younger anglers. This 5wt rod is built with enough power to throw a wide variety of flies, but the shorter 8’ length offers less swing weight to make it easier for casters of smaller stature to make effective stops at the end of their casting stroke. Features of this four-piece rod include: easy casting medium action; supplied cotton rod sock, and alignment dots for easy rod setup. The combo includes a Minnow rod and Crosswater 4/5/6 reel pre-spooled with RIO Mainstream WF fly line, and a Cordura rod tube. This great looking rod is also backed by a 1-year warranty. For more information on the 580 Minnow, or any of the other rods and reels in the Redington range, visit the JM Gillies website. www.jmgillies.com.au

PLANO WEEKEND SERIES

For 2018, Plano’s successful Weekend Series includes three distinct, reimagined models that work as hard as you do. These models are called the Weekend Series Tackle Cases, Weekend Series Softsider Tackle Bags and Weekend Series Speed Bags. Each one is available in Plano’s popular 3600 and 3700 sizes to build – or integrate seamlessly into – any tackle management system. And they look better than ever in brand new, classy and clean tan or grey colour schemes. In addition to standout new aesthetics, these bags feature upgraded, no-fail zipper pulls and tactical-inspired MOLLE exterior webbing for easy attachment of fishing tools or accessories. Best of all, these handsome and durable standout performers are available at very reasonable prices that any working angler can afford. For more information on this and other Plano tackle storage solutions, visit the JM Gillies website. You can also get all the latest news and catch photos on the JM Gillies Facebook page at www.facebook. com/jm.gillies. www.jmgillies.com.au 80

MAY 2018

PRODUCT GUIDE

Tsunami Soft Vibe Shads are moulded from supple, yet tough plastic that maximises action and enhances durability. The wirethrough design and sharp Mustad hooks add further strength to the lure, tipping the odds of landing big fish in the angler’s favour. The precisely balanced internal weights produce an enticing shimmy action that drives predatory fish into a frenzy. The translucent bodies, foil flash, natural colour tones and 3D eyes will even fool timid fish. Soft Vibe Shads are available in two sizes (60mm, 14g and 90mm, 20g) and five colour combinations (chartreuse/pearl/orange, sand eel, clear/gold/pearl, red head and golden bunker). The 60mm shad is ideal for freshwater native fish such as Australian bass, golden perch and sooty grunter, while the 90mm model will entice bites from barramundi, mangrove jack, mulloway, threadfin salmon and more. You can skip these lures along the bottom, drop them down weed edges, or roll them across the shallows to get the predators’ attention. www.jarviswalker.com.au

DAIWA TD HYPER

Rocketing onto the scene is Daiwa’s latest weapon – TD Hyper. Combining Daiwa cutting-edge blank design with striking looks and excellent value, the TD Hyper series is built to perform and destined to turn heads. The foundation of the TD Hyper series is Daiwa’s HVF Nanoplus graphite technology, with HVF combining precise resin control with unidirectional graphite fibre to produce a blank that is outstandingly light, crisp and responsive, while X45 blank technology further enhances rod performance eliminating blank twist and distortion to further increase rod strength, function, and sensitivity. TD Hyper’s hardware is equally top shelf, with Fuji Alconite O Ring guides, Daiwa’s famous RR (reduced resistance) guide design system and Surround Hold reel seats, and custom alloy componentry enhancing rod performance and style. Additionally, its matt green colour offers a unique look and swagger rarely seen down under. If you’re looking for performance, style and value for money, check out the TD Hyper at your favourite tackle store. Price: SRP $129 www.daiwafishing.com.au

GALAXIA MINNOW NEW COLOURS

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The Strike Pro Galaxia Minnow was the first Strike Pro lure released in Australia, and over many years it has been extremely effective in both fresh and estuarine waters. The Galaxia Minnow has now been released in six hot new colours that are certainly going to be very effective on many species. This deep diving baitfish profile lure is 6cm long, weighs 7g and dives to approximately 9ft on the cast and retrieve and dives to 16ft on the troll. The latter technique in particular has been deadly on estuaries and has accounted for many species. It features a tight shimmy action and has a superb sonic rattle. The Galaxia Minnow is very effective on bream, bass, estuary perch, flathead, snapper, mangrove jack, trout and redfin, and these new colour are bound to rack up even more fish. www.jurofishing.com

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PRODUCT GUIDE

WHAT’S NEW FISHING

Phenix Rods – I saw, I purchased, a big thumbs up Phenix Rods are a US-based rod manufacturer which has had a couple of incarnations here in Australia. My interest in them was sparked by a conversation with Julian Frank, who is the new Australian importer of the brand through his Southbound Custom Tackle business. After a phone call with Julian, I had a good look through the US website for the rods, and I was immediately intrigued. One of the main headings on the page was ‘Trout’, with a dropdown box of a number of trout-specific rods. The Elixir series drew my attention – high modulus graphite rods based on traditional fast taper fly rods. I prefer fast taper rods for the majority of my fishing, but with my trout fishing in recent times I have had no choice but to use slower taper rods. This is mainly due to the lack of stretch in braided line, and a trout’s inclination to jump and spit lures. To avoid this you need to have a rod that absorbs the shock of these acrobatics, and to keep your leader intact. This focus on fast taper rods also had me looking at other options for the fishing I do here in Queensland. A big part of that is targeting flathead in the salt, and bass in our impoundments. The freshwater M1

The author’s first fish on the Elixir Trout rod was this quality brown trout caught in Lake Eildon.

Another feisty trout from the Eildon area. The Elixir FX701 has become the author’s favorite trout rod. series tickled my fancy, with its carbon fibre nanotube technology based blanks. Nano technology has become a big part of rod ranges for many manufacturers in the last five years, mainly due to the additional strength it offers under load (to avoid rod breakage) and power when fighting a fish. However, I would not put any of the nano rods I have seen in the fast taper category; they’re medium fast at best. I was so interested in the Phenixes that I got my credit card out and ordered two rods, the Elixir FX701 and the M1 MX72ML. I have now had eight months to thoroughly test them, and share my findings. ELIXIR SERIES RODS I don’t get to trout fish as often as I would like, and when I do get to go I want a rod specific for the task, rather than compromising with other rods.

Unpacking my Elixir FX701 was exciting, and I was amazed at how incredibly light it was. It is definitely a fast taper, but I wondered whether it would cast my favourite trout lures. Interestingly enough, my first chance to test this wasn’t with my own purchase. A trip to Lake Eildon working for the magazines provided the opportunity to trout fish, but I hadn’t brought my new rod with me. Fortunately, Gary Constantine from Eildon Bait and Tackle stocks the rods, and he kindly lent me his own Elixir that just happened to be the FX701. I needn’t have worried whether it would cast my favourite lures; it cast them easily and a very long way. I knew the ultimate test though would be how it would deal with the area’s feisty trout. Luckily for me it didn’t take very long to find out. Several decent browns came on the first morning from the lake, and a few rainbows followed from the Goulburn

TESTED River. The rod did exactly what I had hoped it would. There was plenty of power to fight larger fish, with the finesse and shock absorption to not pull hooks when using braid. It’s the perfect trout rod for me. M1 SERIES RODS The MX72ML was always going to be the rod of the two that got the most use. I went for the 7’2” version because I wanted to be able to cast lighter weights further, but still have the ability to comfortably throw the 3/8oz and 1/2oz jigheads I regularly use. As soon as I had unpacked the rod, I matched it with a 2000 size reel and 6lb braid, and was on the water the next day. Like the Elixir series rods, the M1s feel as light as a feather. My M1 MX72ML has some serious kahunas for a medium light rated rod, with plenty of hook setting power and plenty of grunt to stop larger fish on what is a light rod. The flathead may not have played the game that first trip, but some decent snapper did and I was a very happy camper with my new purchase. Eight months down the track and I still enjoy using the M1. It has done battle with a couple of nice mulloway in that time, as well as quite a few flathead. The mulloway certainly tested it, and the M1 won. Is it the perfect rod for what I wanted, like the Elixir? Probably not. In hindsight I think I should have purchased the 7’

Although purchased to target flathead, the M1 MX72ML has proven it is a quality rod on plenty of other species like this snapper.

This solid mulloway was no match for the Phenix MX72ML. Although only a light rod,it has plenty of power to deal with quality fish.

version of the rod, because 3/8oz and 1/2oz jigheads test the limits of what can be cast comfortably. Not so much with your standard casts, but when you want that bit of extra distance, the extra length and taper feels like the rod is being overextended. Vigorous hopping these same heads and larger plastics also works the rod tip a bit too much. Would it break? Absolutely not, but the slightly shorter version is most probably the way to go for my needs. CONCLUSION If you are a fan of fast taper, well presented and made fishing rods with quality components, then Phenix rods are well worth looking at. I am glad I have dabbled, and given the opportunity I will look at other options in the future. To find out more about stockists in Australia, check them out on Facebook on either the Southbound Custom Tackle or Phenix Rods Australia pages. - Peter Jung

MAY 2018

News

Suntag Monitoring Summary: Cairns fishery SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

Cairns is an area that needs more public tagging and data collection, especially as the data we have on sports species in Cairns is limited and we know there is some decent inshore sportfishing to be had. With the NFZ in place, this is an excellent opportunity to show how positive its impact has been to the community. Nonetheless, Suntag does have fishers who are contributing valuable data in the north, and we are very grateful for their contribution. The other two groups that are missing in the assessment at this point are game fishing and spearfishing, which so far we don’t have datasets for. Game fishers have been active in tag and release for years, and many good stories are coming out of that work. Fishers report that 74% of fish are released, which is the 6th highest rate overall in the state, Townsville being the best (83%), and Brisbane is the worst (58%). Cairns is an unusual fishery. Sportfishers have

to contend with shorter estuaries, making for smaller natural populations of estuary predators, but the inshore and offshore reefs offer alternatives such as GTs and queenfish. Grunter and golden snapper (fingermark) displace the mainstays of the southern bread and butter fishery, whiting and flathead. Offshore there are a lot of productive reefs, and locals and visitors alike take advantage of them. Rain is a key influencer, with most of the rain falling on the coast means that Tinaroo, in particular, can run right down. In January they were issuing hazard warnings for timber as the dam was down to a 10 year low of 36%. Cue a cyclone and the current level is around 93%. In many respects, the range shapes the fishery more than any other factor, affecting weather and water retention. In fishery development terms, Tinaroo Dam, the new emerging fishery developing in Copperlode, and the Net Free Zone, not to mention the hard work Carefish is doing to ensure infrastructure development, there is a lot of work going on in Cairns.

TOURISM TRAFFIC Visitor traffic to the region makes up around 35% of the general fishing traffic, but only 2.5% of that traffic is from southern destinations like SEQ, NSW and Victoria. As a comparison, the nearest alternative, Hinchinbrook, has 71% of its traffic being visitors, with around 23% of that traffic being from southern destinations. It seems the southern traffic diverts west. Weipa

Data: Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys Pikey Bream

Data: Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys Mangrove Jack

has around 27% traffic from visitors, of which 15% is southern, indicating that Weipa might be the final destination for the southern traffic. Karumba gets even more traffic, with 88% of fishing being conducted by visitors, with 56% of that traffic being southern traffic. When fishers come to Cairns, it’s offshore reef species that they tend to target.

HOW GOOD IS THE FISHERY? Infofish Australia has assessed four key fisheries: sportfishing, bread and butter, crabs and offshore. It would be interesting to see local satisfaction with the fishery, as geography does offer some challenges in fishery development. That said, the variety on offer is better than many destinations; the locals are not short up for opportunities, including some premium experiences. Cairns has an acceptable if not spectacular bread

and butter fishery, a good to great sportfishing fishery, including impoundments, and some excellent offshore fishing. The local word is that there is also a great game fishing experience to be had, which I suspect is where international visitors head, but at this stage with no data to compare, it makes assessment difficult. To view a detailed analysis of the 13 species reviewed, go to http:// crystal-bowl.com.au/cairnsfishery-summary/.

Sportfish Cairns was one of the recipients of a Net Free Zone, although at this point the data available is a little thin to state conclusively that the

BARRY OXFORD’S BASS TAGGING

Australian bass

1990s

2000s

2010s

Tagged Only

146

4838

6467

All fish (including recaptures)

155

4074

7151

MAY 2018

impact has been positive. Locals report that they are seeing barra in places they haven’t for some time, which is exciting news. Given the recent cyclone, conditions may change somewhat this year, making history a little less useful. Regardless, a lot of development work has been going on in the impoundment and Net Free Zone that will help Cairns improve as a local fishery in

the coming years. Local development has disrupted much of the recruitment habitat for barramundi over the years, so the system’s ability to add fish is limited. Stocking in impoundments plays a crucial role in providing access to sizable barra. The fishing at Tinaroo has been upended by the recent cyclone. This year’s Tinaroo Barra Bash will give a good indicator of where

the fishery is up to, with fish able to access parts of the impoundment they haven’t for years. Copperlode Dam is a developing fishery and an exciting one, offering the kayak barra experience in tropical surrounds. Most of the fish in Copperlode are in the 600-800mm range, so expect some epic battles in the coming years. Mangrove jack, on

News the other hand, is a target species in the estuary and the results are better for those targeting them. Sportfishers report a catch rate of 1.1 fish/fisher/ day, which is around half that experienced in Gladstone, with 2.7% of fish being trophy fish. Catch rates for mangrove jack are higher at 1.9 fish/ fisher/day, with 60% being legal size. In fish reported to Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys, mangrove jack is the more dominant, with a catch rate of 0.5 fish/ fisher/day, which is 2nd in the state, and the average size of 430mm being 9th. See Figure 1 for the breakdown. While there is less data on GTs and queenfish, the historical catch rates show better than one fish/fisher/ day for those targeting them, with fish in the range of 500mm-1m being common. Bread and butter fishing Cairns has a productive bread and butter fishery, with both yellowfin and pikey bream, as well as barred javelin and golden snapper. Flathead and whiting make up a much smaller proportion of the catch than southern regions, which is probably a mix of lower abundance and less targeting. The bream in Cairns tend to be amongst the largest in the state, with Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys reporting pikey bream averaging 280mm (3rd best average) with fish up to 400mm reported. See Figure 2 for the breakdown on the pikey bream. Yellowfin is also a very respectable 286mm (2nd best average) with fish up to 360mm. ABT might want to consider Cairns as a destination for one of their tournaments! Golden snapper is the other local highlight, with the 4th best catch rate in the state at an average size of 470mm.

Crabs There is good news and bad news in the mud crab fishery in Cairns, as the data says that the fishery is operating on optimism. The good news is that one pot in two nets a crab, the bad news is one pot in 14 nets a keeper. The commercial crab fishery in Cairns is not significant in size (2017 data shows 0.3% of the state catch at 3.1T), suggesting that local conditions are not suitable for a large crab fishery. Nonetheless, crabs are the second most targeted species after coral trout. See Figure 3 for the breakdown of crab data. Offshore Offshore coral trout is the big highlight in Cairns, having an excellent catch rate of 2.1 fish/fisher/day, the second best in the state in 2017. The average size of fish clocks in at 458mm, with fish up to 780mm. It’s little wonder that coral trout is the one species visitors target, with 42% going to visitors. Catch rates have gone up between 2015 and 2017, that may be a function of the survey process. Interestingly, catch rates have also improved for commercial fishers from 38.4kg/day in 2015 to 69.9kg/day in 2017, which means quotas have been filled quickly. See Figure 4 for the breakdown on trout. Crimson snapper (small mouth nannygai) is another of the offshore targets, with a catch rate of 1.45 fish/fisher/ day (second best in the state) with a 486mm average (third best) and fish up to 770mm. Nannygai of both varieties is also a visitor target with 43-48% share of the catch. Another local offshore favourite is grass sweetlip, with a 0.9 fish/fisher day catch rate and an average size of 372mm. Once again, offshore and crab results are courtesy of Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys.

Data: Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys Mud Crab

Data: Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys Common Coral Trout

WHAT IT TAKES TO CATCH 10,000 BASS Moving away from Cairns, recently we had the chance to honour a Jedi Master fisher: Barry Oxford. Barry is the first person on the planet so far as we can tell to reach 10,000 fish tagged on his own steam. There have been researchers that have tagged more, but that is part of a team. Not satisfied with one-lifetime achievement, Barry is about to complete the 100,000 hectares of mapping under C-Map

genesis (formally Insight Genesis). That combination would make Barry the number one contributor of freshwater data under his own steam anywhere in the world by some measure. Barry by any measure is a once in a generation asset, one that has genuinely paved the way for the next generation of fishers. The striking fact I took away from the night (beyond the eternal patience of his wife) was

that Barry only decided to get serious about bass tagging around the 2,500 mark. To put that into perspective, only a dozen people in 12,000 had made it that far, that is a bit like Bradman saying he became motivated when his average neared 100.

To put some more numbers to Barry’s achievements, he has tagged bass in 411 locations, over 1009 days, which puts his daily catch rate at a touch over ten fish per day. Barry was right in saying he picked up steam over time, and the fact box

hereby will show you. When you include recaptures, Barry passed the 1000 fish reported per year twice. There are no words that can describe that kind of effort. If you happen to run into Barry on the water, shake his hand and

say thanks. He was advised to hold onto his 10,000th tag, as he wanted to make the mark before he died on the theory that keeping that tag would grant him immortality. I am pretty sure he’s not done yet, nonetheless, immortality he has already achieved!

MAY 2018

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GOLD COAST ONSHORE MARINE

Horizon Shores Marina, Woongoolba 4207 Phone: (07) 5546 2480 | Fax: (07) 5546 1362 Email: onshoremarine@ozemail.com.au Website: www.onshoremarine.com.au

TOOWOOMBA WATERSKIERS WAREHOUSE

91-93 Neil Street Toowoomba 4350 Phone: (07) 4637 9511 | Fax: (07) 4637 9513 Email: rod@waterskierswarehouse.com.au Website: www.waterskierswarehouse.com.au

IPSWICH IPSWICH MARINE

45 Huxham Street Raceview 4305 Phone: (07) 3294 3944 | Fax: (07) 3294 5320 Email: enquiries@ipswichmarine.com.au Website: www.ipswichmarine.com.au

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570 Royal Esplanade Manly 4179 Phone: (07) 3893 2199 | Fax: (07) 3893 2188 Email: info@manlyharbourmarine.com.au Website: www.manlyharbourmarine.com.au

25 Queens Road Everton Hills 4053 Phone: (07) 3353 1928 | Fax: (07) 3353 4548 Email: info@holtmarine.com.au Website: www.holtmarine.com.au

9 Smith Street Capalaba 4157 Phone: (07) 3390 3418 | Fax: (07) 3823 5856 Email: sales@mikesmarine.com.au Website: www.mikesmarine.com.au

9/11 Spinnaker drive Sandstone Point 4511 Phone: (07) 5497 6733 Email: info@southernfishmarine.com.au Website: www.southernfishmarine.com.au

306 Duffield Road Clontarf 4019 Phone: (07) 3889 3033 | Fax: (07) 3889 5390 Email: info@brismarine.com.au Website: www.brismarine.com.au

23-25 Snook Street Clontarf 4019 Phone: (07) 3284 8805 | Fax: (07) 3284 8813 Email: sales@cunninghammarinecentre.com.au Website: www.cunninghammarinecentre.com.au

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28 Ritchie Street Norville Phone: (07) 4153 1819 | Fax: (07) 4154 4808 Email: adriansmarinecentre@bigpond.com Website: www.adriansmarinecentre.com.au

6 Dooley Street North Rockhampton 4701 Phone: (07) 4927 9150 | Fax: (07) 4921 3502 Email: rifen.boats@bigpond.com Website: www.rifenboats.com.au

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Pirtek remains world’s biggest fishing comp The tenth annual PIRTEK Fishing Challenge, which attracted almost 9000 participants, has been recognised as the world’s biggest competition for anglers. With entrants from every Australian state and territory, the event also raised funds and awareness for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and the Peter Duncan Neurosciences Research Unit. Australia’s unique landscape was subject to an equally varied range of weather conditions for this year’s challenge, which produced an endless list of tales and interesting images loaded to the event’s official website.

There were some mighty fish caught including a 112cm barramundi in Queensland, Murray Cod over the magic metre mark and some big top-end trevally. The southern states produced great results with flathead over 90cm, cracking snapper and a 77cm brown trout from Tasmania. There were 157 individual prize winners across Australia all sharing in the $210,000 prize pool. PIRTEK provides $90,000 divided between 25 mystery length target fish, providing all entrants the opportunity to win big without necessarily catching the biggest fish. One of the highlights

John Didge with a winning bream.

“I know conditions were tough in some parts of the country, especially in Darwin while battling cyclone Marcus and the fire-ravaged area of Tathra in southern NSW, but it didn’t slow too many fishers down with thousands of photos uploaded to the website across the country.” PIRTEK Australia’s Chief Executive Officer,

Stephen Dutton, said that the success of the PIRTEK Fishing Challenge was something that all his company’s staff, suppliers and franchisees could be enormously proud of. For further information about the PIRTEK Fishing Challenge and more results, visit www. pirtekfishingchallenge. com.au and check out their Facebook page. – PIRTEK

QUEENSLAND RESULTS QUEENSLAND RESULTS Place/Category Angler Length (cm) Parker Strickland won the 2nd place Junior category-winning flathead in Victoria. of the challenge is the On The Water prize draw and this year’s major winner was Chris Rossetti from Charlestown (NSW) who won the $29,000 boat/motor/ trailer package thanks to Stacer and Evinrude. Other major prize winners included Dale Cooper and Patricia Johnson, who won Snap-On Tools tool kits valued at $5000, Wayne Gibbs who won a Lowrance Hook2 12” FishFinder valued at $2149, Ken Osborne who picked up a $2000 tackle pack thanks to ABU Garcia and Berkley, Todd

Pickering who will be adding to his tackle box thanks to a $1700 BCF gift card and Nicole Wicks who took home a $500 Valvoline care pack. Tournament Director Michael Guest was delighted with another record-breaking year. “I was very proud to see so many keen anglers supporting the challenge and our charity partners in this year’s challenge,” said Guest. “It goes to show what a bunch of dedicated anglers can achieve when we all get together for a good cause.

TOURNAMENT CALENDAR

Barramundi 1st 2nd 3rd Junior 1st Junior 2nd Mystery Length 78.5cm

Jason Henrich James Mabin Kevin Creagh Dannii Creagh Drayer Smith Brandon Bock

112.5 106.8 101.6 102.3 96.9 77.0

Flathead 1st 2nd 3rd Junior 1st Junior 2nd Mystery Length 63.4cm

Chris Metcalfe Jamie Burnett Wayne Nolen Hayden Dockray Anton Piccardi Jake Radford

79.4 75.6 72.4 76.8 65.8 64.0

Whiting 1st 2nd 3rd Junior 1st Junior 2nd Mystery Length 37.0cm

Paul Kenderick 43.0 Jason Russell 43.0 Jason Martin 42.3 Rebecca Clarke 44.1 Zach Russell 42.8 Andrew Kleinschmidt 37.2

Brought to you by

2018

MAY

JUNE

JULY

5-6 May

ABT BREAM Series Round 6 Swan River, WA

abt.org.au

19-20 May

ABT BASS Pro Round 2 Glenbawn Dam

abt.org.au

22-23 May

ABT BASS Pro Round 3 Lake St Clair

abt.org.au

2-3 Jun

Round 6 Hobie Kayak Bream Series Gold Coast

hobiefishing.com.au

2-3 Jun

ABT BREAM Series Round 7 Hawkesbury River

abt.org.au

7-9 Jun

Frenchville Sports Club Barra Bash Frenchville

frenchybarrabash@gmail.com

8-10 Jun

Weipa Fishing Classic Cape York

www.weipafishingclassic.com

9-10 Jun

Tweed Coast Marine Greenback Fishing Comp. Tweed Coast

Stephen Duffield 0421 052 135

10 Jun

ABT BASS Electric Series Round 3 Wyralong Dam

abt.org.au

7-8 Jul

ABT BASS Pro Round 4 Lake Boondooma

abt.org.au

11-12 Jul

ABT BASS Pro Round 5 Cania Dam

abt.org.au

Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au or calling 07 3387 0800 in office hours. Just supply a date, venue, tournament name and a telephone number and contact name. 86

MAY 2018

VMR Hervey Bay Competition There were 399 entries (264 seniors, 135 juniors) in the 26th Annual VMR Hervey Bay Family Fishing Competition organised by the Hervey Bay Boat Club Fishing and Social Club and run from 8-11 March.

Park with a chance to win some of the hundreds of prizes on offer. There was plenty of food and soft drinks supplied by members of the Rotary Club of Hervey Bay Sunrise and a well-stocked bar thanks to the hard

raffles and for weighing in fish thanks to the tremendous support of the many great sponsors of the competition. The senior super draw prize, a boat package from Bay City Marine, was won by Theo Peters of Pialba. The

on Sunday a $500 voucher. Early entry draw winners were Ryan Parker for Seniors ($500 of tackle) and Leah Tomkinson for Juniors ($250 of tackle). Five species of fish and the Any Other Species

DEAD WEIGH-IN RESULTS Category Any Other Species (mulloway) Blackall Bream Coral Bream Golden Trevally Whiting

Wayne Nolen with a decent flathead. Strong winds and showers throughout the weekend made fishing very uncomfortable and most of the entrants chose to fish in the rivers and creeks and areas sheltered from the southeasterly winds. Entrants enjoyed the fun and socialising at Dayman

working members of the fishing club. The live weigh-in was totally sponsored by Fisho’s Tackle World Hervey Bay and a total of 79 fish were returned to the water. There were hundreds of prizes to win in the lucky draws, the spinning wheel

LIVE WEIGH-IN Category Bream Flathead Whiting

Angler

Weight (g)

Rick Walters Matthew Cawley Joshua Ozanne Timothy McLaughlin Wolfgang Kager Peter Streete

5550 4164 644 910 7320 250

RESULTS Angler Magdalena Joos Wolfgang Kager Luke Nolen

*The Water Snake electric outboard winner was Monica Ozanne.

junior super draw prize, an iPad from Wide Bay Motor Group, was won by Rebecca Charteris from Bundaberg. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday there were lucky draws for $250 Fisho’s Tackle World vouchers and

Weight (g) 970 2014 354

category were eligible for the dead weigh-in and three species were eligible for the live weigh-in. Seniors weighing in the overall heaviest fish of each section in the dead weigh-in received a Fraser Island ice box from

Wolfgang Kager with his categorywinning golden trevally. Bobs Tyres and in the live weigh-in an ice box from Fisho’s Tackle World The Any Other Species best fish prize, a $1000 Fisho’s Tackle World voucher, went to Rick Walters for his 5550g mulloway and the daily prizes $100 vouchers from Bay Auto Marine Electrical went to Clint Russell with his 3972g barramundi, Daniel Bates with his 3730g mangrove jack and Glen

Penrose with a 980g snapper. The live weigh-in was solely sponsored by Fisho’s Tackle World Hervey Bay. The Hervey Bay Boat Club Fishing and Social Club and VMR Hervey Bay are very thankful to all the sponsors, the volunteers who helped set up the park and run the event, and the 399 entrants for their great support. – Hervey Bay Boat Club Fishing and Social Club

MEMORIAL TROPHY WINNERS Trophy John Hogan Trophy Lawrie Brown Trophy Neil Davey Trophy Ian Bates Trophy Rex Ford Trophy

Angler Brenton Kleeman Werner Muller Rachel Mirtschkin Ryan Parker Tony Bates

Pick up a lazy thousand bucks Mention the word ‘tag’ and most people think of a game played as a kid, or something you do to friends on Facebook. For the Queensland branch of the Australian National Sportfishing Association (ANSA Qld), and a number of their dedicated sportfishing members, it’s a tool used to help ensure wild fish stocks are healthy and managed for future generations of recreational anglers. Eighteen months ago the crew at ANSA Qld set themselves the challenge of revamping the longstanding fish tagging and monitoring program. The goal was to allow local sportfishing clubs have more of a say on which species in what locations need to be monitored. This would encourage local ownership and ensure that these fisheries are better monitored and in turn better managed. ANSA Qld Vice President Adam Royle was one of those tasked with reviewing and revamping the program. “It’s important that local anglers have a say in what species and locations need to be monitored,” he said. “They know their local area better than anyone, and it also gives them ownership over of the management of fish in local waters.” “ANSA Qld see this as

an important part of managing fish stocks for the future, and have been working alongside members and member clubs to ensure that everyone has a say and plays a part in local monitoring.” Since the new-look tagging and monitoring program began, complete with hot pink fish tags that really stand out, there have been 14 regional monitoring

saddletail snapper and a saratoga. “As the number of fish tagged increases, so will the chances of those fish being recaptured,” Adam said. “For our tagging and monitoring program to do its job we need the support of all anglers. Reporting of fish recaptured with the pink ANSA Qld tag provides critical information that, when assessed, allows

ANSA Qld VP Adam Royle with one of over a 1000 fish already sporting an ANSA Qld pink tag; any angler who recaptures and reports one of those fish could win a $1000 tackle voucher. plans developed stretching from Moreton Bay in the southeast to Trinity Inlet in Cairns. Already 1000 fish have been tagged under the revitalised program. Although it’s still early days, 21 recaptures of tagged fish have already been reported – five bream, two barramundi, three bass, five estuary cod, three mangrove jack, one red emperor, one

for better decisions to be made in terms of management of the fish we monitor.” ANSA Qld have recently announced the Lazy Grander Pink Tag initiative to help promote the importance of reporting recaptures, and increase the value of the investment of tags. “Anyone that reports a fish recaptured with a pink fish tag before the 31st of

August 2018 goes into a random draw to win a $1000 fishing gear voucher. People can find out more about this great initiative in our brochure that outlines all of our benefits, opportunities and experiences on offer in 2018,” Adam explained. The brochure is available for download at www. ansaqld.com.au. Just scroll down the home page and click on ‘Benefits + Opportunities + Experiences in 2018’. Adam went on to say, “While ANSA Qld supports catch and release we also support the right for recreational anglers to take home a feed for themselves. It’s about sustainability, so although we’d prefer that every recaptured tagged fish is released, we accept that the choice to keep or release that fish is up to the angler. All we ask is that the capture be reported, no matter what choice the angler makes.” If you recapture a fish sporting an ANSA Qld pink tag, you can play your part in helping to better manage fish stocks by reporting the recapture. Simply go to www. ansaqld.com.au/recaptureform and fill in the blanks. The program has been supported by funding from the Qld Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. More details on the ANSA Qld Tagging and Monitoring program can be found at www. ansaqld.com.au. – ANSA Qld

Anyone who recaptures a fish with a pink ANSA Qld tag could win themselves a $1000 tackle voucher simply by reporting it on the ANSA Qld website.

MAY 2018

Crompton goes wire-to-wire

STORM

The Franklins Australia BREAM Australian Open (5-7 March) delivered in spades with a big field, big weather and big limits, combining to make it an action-packed event with Daiwa and Hobie Fishing sponsored tournament pro Mark Crompton claiming victory in the prestigious event. Australia’s only boateronly bream event, 29 teams hit the start line on the opening day of competition at Drummoyne Sailing Club, with Sydney Harbour and the Hawkesbury River set to challenge their bodies, boats and mental toughness over three gruelling days of competition. For event winner Mark Crompton it was a wire-towire victory with the Southern Highlands breamer grabbing the lead on day one courtesy of a 4kg limit then not letting go as he powered to a comprehensive open win. Fishing with a renewed focus

day of competition, Crompton was the only angler to drop a 4kg limit on the scales. His effort provided him with the reward of leading the field out on day two. Hitting the launch site at Bayview Park at Pittwater on day two Crompton was greeted by near gale force winds – weather that made him reconsider his day two Hawkesbury River tactics. “I had planned on running a long way upriver and throwing Cranka Crabs into the nasty rock sections of the Hawkesbury, but when I saw the wind and the conditions when we got Bayview I thought let’s scrap that and go hit the flats instead.” And that’s exactly what Crompton did heading to the famous ‘car park flats’ at Palm Beach. With his Cranka Crabs replaced for Juro Firebaits Crompton would make long wind assisted casts across the flats then work the lure back to the boat with a

A calm and collected Crompton heads off on the final day of competition.

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888. 88

MAY 2018

and mindset, Crompton went into the event with two goals: chasing numbers of fish rather than more purposely seeking out big fish, and fishing the event expressly to win. “In the past I’ve fished with the goal of catching big fish; this time I tried something different and simply went about catching plenty of fish with the hope that the bigger fish would simply come along as I put fish in the boat,” Crompton said. Fishing Sydney Harbour on day one Crompton adopted a hard bait approach crankbaiting boat hulls, shallow flats and heavy structure. The key to the success was current flow, as Crompton explained. “The fish were very much keyed in on water movement, with the best fish holding where there was tidal flow. If you have flow you often have food and the bream knew that.” Crompton’s cranks of choice were two main choices a Cranka Shad and Zipbaits Khamsin, with a slow rolling retrieve his go-to for enticing the harbour bream to bite. Crompton’s approach was spot on with the Australian Open champion filling out his limit by 8am and catching 20 fish for the session. Weighing in a 4.02kg limit for the opening

slow roll interspersed with sharp twitches. “The fish were really on the chew and they would nail the Juro off the top as it was skipping through the choppy surface. I had only planned to fish here for half an hour, but then I caught a 38 and 36, so that was it. I stayed a fair bit longer and when I felt like I’d caught all I could from here I headed upriver and fished Cranka Crabs,” explained Crompton. The rapid-fire early action saw Crompton catch his limit by 8.30am and land 10 legal fish for the session. Weighing in another 4kg bag for the tournament Crompton not only retained but also extended his lead heading into the third and final day of competition. Crompton’s win was anything

The Franklins Australia BREAM Australian Open winner Mark Crompton with a brace of Open-winning bream. but a fait accompli with the Daiwa tournament pro fully aware of what can transpire in this event, on this waterway and in a field of anglers of this calibre. “The Open is the hardest tournament there is and you need to catch a quality bag each day. You need to be on your A game every day to win. If you’re not, these guys are going to smash you and when you’ve got Ross Canizzarro hot on your tail heading into the final day you know full well that you can’t rest easy and that you’re going to have to catch them, and catch the big ones, to win,” explained Crompton. Back on Sydney Harbour for day three Crompton fished similar locations to day one; the lure the fish wanted however was different. “I thought the fish were primed for a Cranka Crab assault but they didn’t quite want them today. Instead it was the motor

oil colour 2 1/2” ZMan GrubZ that did the damage,” explained Crompton. The standout retrieve to trigger the best response from the bream was a quick roll punctuated with a series of double jerks. The lure and technique saw Crompton catch his limit by 9am and land 30 fish for the session. Crompton was conscious of what his competitors could deliver to the scales to derail his fairy tale win and then he lost a key fish. Crompton explained, “I dropped a really big fish today; it came out, looked at me and started shaking its head, spat the hook at me, then swam off. It was a good 40 fork fish and I thought right there, that’s it – there goes the Aus Open.” Crompton’s suspicions proved unfounded and his 3.58kg final day limit was enough to deliver him a comfortable wire-to-wire Frankins Australian BREAM Australian Open win.

WINNING TACKLE Rod: Daiwa Zero 701LXS and Daiwa Zero 701ULXS Reel: Daiwa Exceler LT 2500 Line: 6lb Daiwa Evo 8, 3.5lb Sunline FC Game (crankbaiting) Leader: 4lb FC Rock Lure: Cranka Shad in blue gill, olive and cockle Cranka Crabs 65mm (Hawksbury) and 55mm, custom colour (Sydney Harbour), OSP Bent Minnow 76 (pink belly and orange back), Juro Firebait Longtail Minnow (colour 05), ZMan GrubZ (motor oil, bloodworm and gudgen colours), TT 1/16 and 1/20oz jigheads, Berkley Nitro 1/32oz jigheads.

RESULTS Place Angler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fish

Weight (kg)

Payout

Mark Crompton 15/15 11.76 $5000 Ross Cannizzaro 15/15 10.71 $3000 Kris Hickson 15/15 10.37 $2500 Peter Cook 15/15 10.15 $2000 Denis Metzdorf 15/15 9.98 $2000 Liam Carruthers 15/15 9.94 Steve Morgan 15/15 9.65 Daniel Bonaccorso 15/15 9.62 Michael Colotouros 15/15 9.55 Christian Wardini 15/15 9.46 For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Cannizzaro comes close again One of the anglers to watch in any event on Sydney Harbour or the Hawkesbury River, Ross Cannizzaro once again brought the big bags to the scales in the Open to claim another podium finish. Cannizzaro fished west of the Harbour Bridge hitting hardcore unforgiving structure like old wharves and poles in the main channel. “I looked for water 10-15ft deep and when fishing water this deep with

current flow it’s very difficult to let your lure sink to the bottom, so in the morning when the tide was strong I targeted the suspended fish in these locations,” explained Cannizzaro. Later in the day as the sunlight increased and the shade took over the hard to reach crevices and holes, Cannizzaro fished lighter, downsizing to a 1/32oz jighead for his camo Gulp Crabbies and presented them tight to the poles and jetties.

“The fish are used to the waterway traffic and commotion on the harbour, so they’ll sit high and tight to the structure waiting for a feed,” explained Cannizzaro. Cannizzaro would spot hop for the first hour to fill his limit before slowing down and fishing deep and tight to the nastiest country he could find, hoping to find the bigger fish he needed to anchor a quality bag. “I’d fish a lighter outfit to begin with each day – a

Ross heads into battle on the opening day of competition.

Cranka Shad

Cranka Crab

Juro Firebait

6’8” ABU Garcia Stage 1 rod and Revo reel spooled with 4.4lb Fireline – before upgrading to a heavier outfit – a 7’3” ABU Garcia Veritas 3.0 rod and Revo MGX reel spooled with Fireline Ultra 8,” explained Cannizzaro. Cannizzaro’s approach paid dividends allowing him to weigh in a 5/5, 3.63kg limit on the harbour on day one and a 5/5, 3.22kg bag on day three on the harbour. Fishing the Hawkesbury River on day two, Cannizzaro followed a similar approach as he did in the harbour. He fished nasty country for the biggest fish he could find, and this time he opted for a crankbait to catch his fish. “I fished upriver between Spencer and Bar Point and targeted natural rocks walls with Berkley 3B cranks. The tide was important though and you needed flow for this approach to work to its best, so early in the session when the tide was low and the flow wasn’t there I fished docks and boats in Berowra to fill my limit,” explained Cannizzaro. Ross’ plan paid off with him catching his limit by 8.30am. With the tide starting to flow at 10am Cannizzaro hit the rockwalls with his crankbaits, with the

Ross Cannizzaro once again shone in the open, finishing second yet again. bite improving as the tide rose and the fish moved into the flooded rock country. “I didn’t get the big bites that I was hoping for but I caught plenty of 32cm fork fish,” explained Ross. Just as he did on the harbour Cannizzaro used a two outfit approach to catch his fish – a light and heavier outfit. His crankbait outfit comprised of an ABU Garcia Villain rod and ABU Garcia Revo MGX 3000 spooled with 6lb Berkley Ultra 8 mainline and 10lb Toray

fluorocarbon leader. Post-victory Cannizzaro was content with his result, but hopes to go one better in 2019. “To win an event, especially a marathon event like the Open you need everything to go right and very little to go wrong. Hopefully next year is the year for me when that finally happens and I can hold the Franklins BREAM Australian Open trophy aloft,” concluded Cannizzaro. – ABT

The 29 boats waiting patiently on Sydney Harbour for the Franklins Australia BREAM Australian Open to kick off.

Crompton delivered 4kg limits for two of the three days of competition to claim a wire-to-wire victory.

Quality fish were brought to the bump tubs and scales in the Open. MAY 2018

Marchant marches to victory

STORM

Simon Marchant punched his ticket for the 2018 Rapala BASS Pro Grand Final and added his name to the growing list of BASS Pro event winners with the NSW tournament basser claiming victory in the opening qualifier event of the season, the Hobie Polarized BASS Pro (10-11 March). For the first of the two river rounds (out of six qualifying rounds) of the 2018 Rapala BASS Pro Series, Marchant like many anglers in the field chose to target estuary perch for the weekend rather than Australian bass. Fishing upriver from the tournament start line at Wisemans Ferry, Marchant fished the Dargle area focusing on bends in the river and pressure points where the current would create undercut banks or eroded shoreline that fish would hold and feed on. “We could see the fish sitting in deeper water and we were confident that the fish would move up onto the nearby drop-off, flat, weed line or structure to feed,” explained Marchant. Marchant’s number one spot featured weed tight to the

Simon Marchant with the rewards of his Hawkesbury BASS Pro victory. fish were located, and with only one fish in the well and time running out to get back for the weigh-in, we decided to stay and try to nut out what the fish were doing and where they were holding. Jason Martin and I chatted and we formulated an idea and plan on where they were and how to catch them. We tried the flat in 15” of water plan and it

Returning to the bend in the river and the location that delivered him three quality fish on day one, Marchant and his day two non-boater Rebbeca Fazio arrived there expecting a quiet reception from the fish. “The current was slow when we arrived and I expected the fish not to be active, but that was far from how it played out. Rebecca caught the first fish, and then three more came in quick succession and we had our limit,” explained Marchant. One more location beckoned for Marchant – the spot that delivered him his biggest fish on day one. On arriving there they found another boat fishing the location. Content with what they had in the well the pair headed back to the weigh-in. Hoping to simply cash a

cheque amongst a talented field, Marchant was ecstatic when his 4/4, 3.35kg limit was enough to elevate him onto the winners podium and secure the victory and 11th place finish for Rebecca. Post-victory Marchant was both humble and elated with his win. “It wasn’t that long ago that I was fishing my first event as a non-boater. To now be fishing as a boater and to win in a talented field like this one is the stuff of dreams,” explained Marchant. For his victory Marchant cashed the $2100 winner’s cheque, grabbed the lead in the BassCat BASS Pro Angler of the Year points race and pencilled his name on the start list for the Rapala BASS Pro Grand Final at Lake Somerset in September.

GARMIN BIG BASS Mark Lennox secured the Garmin Big Bass Prize with the former AOY and Grand Final champion capturing a 1.6kg EP at Singleton’s Hill on a muscadine coloured Slider Grub rigged on a 1/6oz Nitro Dam Deep jighead.

Simon Marchant with one his Hawkesbury-winning EPs.

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888. 90

MAY 2018

bank that then dropped off into 15ft of water onto a small flat, then dropped off again into the main channel of the river. The fish would move up onto and hold on this small flat ambushing food that the eddy and current brought to them. His go-to lure was an ayu coloured 2” Keitech Easy Shiner rigged on a custommade 1/8oz jighead. The presentation of the Keitech involved casting tight to the weed line then letting it sink back down to the flat and the waiting fish with a series a shakes. The EPs would intercept the plastic as it fluttered down; a subtle tick of the line was the tell-tale sign that a fish had taken the lure. While catching fish wasn’t overly difficult, locating and landing legal size fish proved more challenging, particularly during the first session. “In session one we hadn’t pinpointed where the bigger

paid off, so we kept catching fish for the rest of the session,” explained Marchant. Weighing in no fish for session one, Marchant made amends in session two weighing in 4/4, 3.03kg to be sitting in 4th place heading into day two and the 3rd and final session of the tournament.

WINNING TACKLE Rod: 7ft 6-10lb Kistler Magnesium 2 Reel: Daiwa Luvias Line: 8lb Sunline FC Sniper Leader: 8lb Sunline PE8 Lure: 2” Keitech Easy Shiner (ayu) rigged on a 1/8oz Jigpro jighead

TOP 10 BOATERS Place Angler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

Simon Marchant 8/12 6.38 $2100 Ross Cannizzaro 8/12 6.37 $1300 + 1st Evinrude Bonus ($250) Alan McNamara 10/12 6.32 $900 Joey Urquhart 6/12 5.21 $500 + Duffrods Big Bag Steve Morgan 5/12 5.13 Wally Fahey 5/12 5.09 Brian Everingham 6/12 4.10 Tom Slater 5/12 3.49 Christian Wardini 6/12 3.44 Mark King 4/12 3.41 For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Cannizzarro comes 2nd Last year’s Hawkesbury River BASS Pro winner and 2017 Bass Cat BASS Pro Angler of the Year champion Ross Cannizzaro put together another solid performance on the Hawkesbury River with the Abu Garcia tournament pro finishing 2nd in the Hobie Polarized presented event. Fishing the back eddies with his loved Berkley T-Tails, Cannizzaro targeted both bass and EPs for the tournament running spots on the river where he’d caught fish over many years of fishing the river. “It’s a hard time of the year to fish the Hawkesbury River due to the amount of boat traffic from the ski and wake boats that tend to congregate on the best

fishing stretches of the river. When it gets like this I find you need to be methodical with your fishing and focus on peppering the back eddies. This style of fishing is not my strong point – I prefer to target moving or active fish, however over time I have learnt to compete to the conditions,” explained Cannizzaro. Fishing his Berkley T-Tails rigged on a 1/8oz Nitro Dam Deep jighead Cannizzaro’s presentation involved casting the plastic into the eddy then twitching it like a prawn. “The EP’s suck the plastic in like a barramundi does so you have to be quick to respond when you feel that tick of an EP, and for that a sensitive rod is essential,” explained Cannizzaro.

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Bass gun Joey Urquhart secured the Duffrods Big Bag at the Hawkesbury with the Valley Hill Bass Pro securing the prize on day two for his 4/4, 3.79kg limit. Urquhart secured the quality bag within sight of the event start line in a hot ten-minute bite window when he caught a string of fish in a back eddy feeding on prawns.

The rod that fits the bill for Ross is an ABU Garcia Salty Stage Light rod, yet he still finds it powerful enough to pull larger fish out from structure. When targeting bass Cannizzaro tricked out his T-Tails rigging them on a beetle spin and fishing them on the coffee rock on the edges. The two-lure approach paid off for Cannizzaro with the multi-event winner weighing in fish each session. However, the majority he caught were undersize. “It wasn’t easy fishing and all I could do was keep casting and put more lures in the places where I thought the fish would be holding. It was then just a matter of hoping that the fish that bit would be big enough to make it into the livewell. I got the bites I needed each session to win – enough of them just weren’t big bites unfortunately,” concluded Cannizzaro. Cannizzaro’s second place cemented him a berth in September’s Rapala BASS Pro Grand Final and also started his AOY title defence in grand style.

BASS PR O

Ross Cannizzaro (right) secured another podium finish at the Hawkesbury and claimed 2nd to go with his win from last year.

Martin’s nonboater win Jason Martin added his second non-boater winner’s trophy to his trophy cabinet in as many years with the Taree basser adding the Hawkesbury River round win to his victory from the 2017 Cania BASS Pro last July. An angler with considerable experience

where we where and work out where they were and what they wanted to eat,” explained Martin. Early in the second session the pair cracked the pattern finding fish holding on a submerged flat out from the weed edge. With two fish in the well and the clock

2” Keitech Easy Shiner

Champion non-boater Jason Martin was ecstatic with his win.

TOP 10 NON BOATERS Place Angler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

Jason Martin 8/12 6.44 Prize Pack Paul Piper 6/12 5.84 Prize Pack Nicholas Fouche 5/12 4.94 Prize Pack Brett Hyde 6/12 4.66 Prize Pack Lochie Rutherford 5/12 4.55 Prize Pack Orton Marchant 4/12 4.40 Prize Pack Tony Khouri 7/12 4.25 Prize Pack Kevin Yang 6/12 4.04 Prize Pack Thomas Konen 4/12 3.84 Prize Pack Simon Johnson 5/12 3.77 Prize Pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

chasing riverine bass, Martin targeted estuary perch on day one fishing with Simon Marchant. “We started out fishing upriver of the Colo River fishing a rock bar that was in about 10-15ft of water. I caught the EPs hopping 2” Keitech Easy Shiners down the rock bar, and while I caught plenty of undersize fish after about an hour we called it quits and changed location,” explained Martin. A move to Skeleton Rock followed and with nothing to show for an hour there they moved again, this time heading upriver of the Colo Ferry. With only undersize fish and hard work to show for his efforts Martin’s fortune didn’t change until the second session. “We didn’t weigh-in in the first session, with little fish to deliver to the scales we decided to stay

showing 12.30pm, Martin and Marchant moved again, this time heading upriver of Dargle and fishing a similar staging flat to the spot they’d just left. “We used the same technique and at 1.15pm I

picked up a solid 40cm fish. We then fished it until 2pm then headed back downstream to fish the spot where we picked up our first legal,” explained Martin. It was here that the pair picked up the final fish for the bag – a bag that would go 3.03kg on the scales and had Martin sitting in 4th place at the end of day one. Fishing with Mark King on day two the pair headed upriver looking for active fish feeding on weed edges. The approach paid off with the pair catching multiple fish and filling out their limit by 10.30am. Content with the limit they had the pair fished hard until the end of the session then headed back to the weigh-in. Presenting a 4/4, 3.41kg limit to the weighmaster Martin secured a comfortable winning in the end, claiming victory with a 600g margin over 2nd place non-boater Paul Piper. The tackle Martin used to claim victory included a Daiwa TD Sol 702LXS rod, 2500 Daiwa Exceler LT reel, 8lb Daiwa J-Braid mainline, 10lb Sunline FC Sniper leader and an electric shad coloured 2” Keitech Easy Shiner rigged on 1/8oz Nitro Dam Deep jigheads.

Mark Lennox claimed the Garmin Big Bass Prize for his 1.6kg kicker fish. MAY 2018

Crick cracks the Derwent code

STORM

Adam Crick has proven that there are consistent tournament-winning fish in the big fish haunt of Ralphs Bay at the Costa Derwent River BREAM Qualifier with a 10/10 limit for 11.03kg taking his maiden ABT event with over 1kg on his nearest competitor. Coming off a strong showing at St Helens, Adam Crick was full of confidence heading into the Derwent River event and with the confidence in his key location he knew he was in with a shot. “I have spent a lot of time working out the low tide pattern on Ralphs Bay. It is high risk and high reward, but I felt I would fish to my strengths,” said Crick. On day one Crick headed down to hit his milk run of shallow broken reef flats dotted throughout Ralphs Bay. In each area Crick would cast an Ecogear MW 62 in 309 colour across the broken rubble before imparting a short erratic twitch mixed with pauses ranging between 2-10 seconds.

To target these shallow fish Crick would cast the same Ecogear MW 62 tight to the edge and twitch the lure with his rod held up high to work the lure out over the structure. With two key upgrades late in the session Crick ended the day with 5.9kg and headed out on day two with the lead. With a cold front pushing through overnight Crick was concerned Ralphs Bay would fail to fire and decided to stop at a rock point at Howrah to fill an early limit. “It can be hard to fill a limit at Ralphs Bay, so I used a productive smaller fish point at Howrah to fill a limit and calm the nerves,” explained Crick. With a calm mind he then headed to his day one honey hole. There wasn’t the same number of fish but Crick was able to find a couple of key upgrades to keep his bag weight climbing before returning to his milk run of spots in the Lindisfarne area. “It was a slow process of upgrading my bag throughout the session; it wasn’t until my

Adam Crick brought the big fish to the scales to claim victory on the Derwent. an angler to watch when ABT next returns to Tasmania. When asked about his win Crick replied, “It was a great feeling to win the event in the style of fishing

that I enjoy the most and I really have to thank Tony at JML for all his support. His lures have been the key to my success in the past two events.”

WINNING TACKLE Rod: JML Alliance Perfect Series Reel: Daiwa Luvias 2500 Line: 6lb Sunline Siglon PE8 Leader: 6lb Yamatoyo Chinu Harris FC Lure: Ecogear MW 62 (colour 309 and 328)

One of the fish that delivered Adam a 1kg average for his win.

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888. 92

MAY 2018

“The key was to get the lure to move erratically without it moving too far forward; to do this I would hold my rod tip up with slack in the line and only just come into contact with the lure,” said Crick. His tackle of choice for this technique was a ‘crank and twitch’ JML Alliance Perfection Series rod matched with a Daiwa Luvias 2504 spooled with 6lb Suline Siglon PE8 braid and 6lb Yamatoyo Chinu Harris FC. Crick fished the Ralphs Bay area until 11am and then changed tact as the tide began to run in. Returning upriver to the Lindisfarne area he targeted fish moving into the shallow edges. “On the run-in tide the larger fish tend to push right up on to the edge to feed,” Crick explained.

final upgrade five minutes before the end of the session that I felt like I had won the event,” said Crick. Crick took out the event with an over-1kg winning margin and that combined with his second place at St Helens will show him to be

Bernard Kong secured the Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream prize at the Derwent.

TOP 10 BOATERS Place Angler

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

Adam Crick

10/10 11.03

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Josh Williams 10/10 9.88 Warren Carter 10/10 9.83 Charlie Saykao 10/10 9.77 Alan Lister 10/10 9.62 Andrew Krushka 10/10 9.54 Mark Crompton 10/10 9.38 Mario Vukic 10/10 9.37 Steve Steer 10/10 9.27 Cameron Whittam 10/10 9.20 For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

$2,250, 1st Mercury Bonus ($250), Duffrods Big Bag $1600, 2nd Mercury Bonus ($150) $1100, 2nd Mercury Bonus ($150) $800, 3rd Mercury Bonus ($100) $500

Josh fires for second In only his second event as a boater Josh Williams showed his skill when it comes to black bream fishing with an impressive 10/10 fish for 9.88kg. Williams started fishing near the start/finish areas of Bellerive in an attempt to fill his limit early as the tide dropped. The key area for Williams during this section of the tide was the deeper edges of the quickly draining flats. He would cast

a Daiwa Presso Minnow in sushi prawn up onto the shallow flat holding his rod tip up flicking and twitching the lure out over the drop-off before moving his rod tip down and ripping the lure down into the depths. With his limit filled early Williams then moved up to the middle reaches of the river working similar rocky drop-offs waiting for the tide to start moving in. Once the tide had

Josh added $1600 to his bank balance with his 2nd place win.

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Adam Crick took the Duffrods big bag with his day one limit of 5.91kg, which was the perfect start to his Derwent River event. The key to his day one bag was his Ecogear MW62 in 309 colour.

shifted Williams moved up into the shallows behind the entertainment centre in search of fish moving up into the shallows. He then cast a Daiwa Presso Minnow in creeping iwashi tight to the edge before ripping it down into the structure and allowing it to slowly float up out of the structure. “The fish would hit the lure as it came clear,” said Williams. His tackle of choice was a Nordic Stage Sharpshooter 1-3kg rod matched with a Shimano Twinpower 1000 reel spooled with 6lb Platypus P8 brain and 4lb Platypus Stealth FC. Day two proved to be a slower start for Williams who started the day at the golf course stretch of the Derwent, which proved to be successful for his non-boating partner, but it wasn’t until the tide started pushing in that Williams started to fire. With a stronger wind pushing on day two and a distinct dirty water line forming in the back of the entertainment centre bay, his day one location fired. The added wind allowed Williams to make longer wind-assisted casts and cover more water with each cast, “I slowed my presentation down on day two and used a 7m leader to get more bites,” said Williams. This change proved fruitful with his day two bag hitting the scales at 4.78kg.

BREAM SERIES

Josh Williams brought his good form from St Helens to the Derwent to claim second in the boater division. “I really enjoyed stepping up as a boater for both rounds and encourage any other

Tassie anglers to get out and give it a go,” said Williams, “I also need to thank Platypus

Lines for all their support and products that helped me over the weekend.”

Egan mixes it up for win Shaun Egan has taken another ABT Non-Boating victory with 10/10 fish for 8.44kg, showing he has consistency across any bream waters around Australia. Fishing with Tony Robinson on day one Egan fished the middle reaches of the Derwent along a range of rock walls and drop-offs. While his boaters targeted the hard edge Egan opted to target fish sitting wider with a slow rolled OSP Dunk in ghost colour. “I thought there would

Dunk and managed to fill his limit quickly, taking the pressure off and allowing him to mix up his presentation to find bigger fish. While the pair moved around before the tide change Egan was able to pick up key upgrades on the rock walls and gravel patches near Mona before the tide began to turn. Once the tide started pushing in the Egan changed

2000 Daiwa Sol reel spooled with 6lb Daiwa J-Braid and 5lb FC Rock. When asked about his win Egan was quick to point out the key to his result was to think outside the box and not just replicate what his boater was having success doing. “I always try to look past what my boater is doing and try to target fish they are missing,” said Egan. He was

Ecogear MW62F (328 and 309) Twitch and pause retrieve

Shaun Egan was a happy man with his non-boater title win.

Weedy bottom

Rocky bottom

TOP 10 NON BOATERS Place Angler

Fish

10/10 8.44

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Shaun Egan

Weight (kg) Payout

Costa Prize Pack, 1st Hobie Bonus ($200) Jesse Rotin 10/10 8.14 Prize Pack Roan Van-Berberg 10/10 8.04 Prize Pack, 2nd Hobie Bonus ($100) Jordan Armstrong 10/10 7.75 Prize Pack, 3rd Hobie Bonus ($75) Suzanne Siranovic 10/10 7.52 Prize Pack Paul Siemasko 10/10 7.26 Prize Pack Stuart Walker 10/10 7.07 Prize Pack Wally Fahey 10/10 6.95 Prize Pack Neil Chegwidden 10/10 6.82 Prize Pack Brendan Ayers 10/10 6.77 Prize Pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

be fish sitting wider that my boater wouldn’t be targeting, so I decided to cast the lure wide of the drop-off and slow roll the lure back, mixing it up with a slight pause,” said Egan. His go-to tackle for this presentation was a Shimano T-Curve Flight 7’2” 4-6lb rod matched with a 2000 Daiwa Sol reel spooled with 3lb FC Rock. Day two saw Egan paired with Josh Williams. He again started the day fishing wide of his boater with an OSP

his lure to an Ecogear MW62 in 309 colour and cast his lure tight to the edges of the entertainment centre bay. Much like his boater, Egan worked his lure across the shallow flat with his rod tip up in the air imparting short, sharp twitches mixed in with pauses ranging from 2-10 seconds allowing the fish to hunt the lure down. To extract the fish from the shallows Egan used a Shimano T-Curve 7’2” 4-6lb rod matched with a

also quick to thank his travel partners Danielle and Mark Crompton, “It makes it a lot easier traveling when you have a good group to travel with and I can’t thank them enough for their support,” said Egan. With the Tasmanian Leg of the Costa Bream Series run and won, attention now turns to the next event on the Gold Coast, to get involved with this or any other ABT event head to abt.org.au.

DAIWA J-BRAID BIG BREAM Bernard Kong cashed in on the Derwent with the ABT tournament veteran claiming the Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream Prize for his 1.53kg fish caught on day two on a Daiwa Double Clutch. MAY 2018

Shane Ling shines at St Helens Shane Ling has tapped into his years of experience on the always-challenging waterways of St Helens to take out his maiden ABT victory with 10/10 fish for 10.6kg. With challenging wind conditions greeting the anglers over the course of the tournament Ling knew it would take a well-planned approach for the tournament to take the win. “The fish at St Helens can be hard to tempt and very susceptible to pressure, but when you find them the fishing can be some of the best,” explained Ling. Starting at the back of the field on day one Ling knew that many of his first choice locations would already have anglers on them and he would need to rely on his knowledge bank to find some clean water.

Shane Ling dominated at St Helens to claim victory in the Mercury-presented event. session and found a good number of fish holding in Moulting Bay. Ling finished day one with 5.35kg, a small

“I was sight casting to the fish but I still needed to impart an erratic short twitch followed by a 5-10 second

STORM

Shane Ling was all cashed up with his St Helens victory.

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MAY 2018

“During the Tas Classic series I found a few good low-tide spots where I thought there wouldn’t be any anglers targeting, so I headed there to start the tournament,” said Ling. His key starting location was an area known as ‘Horseshoe Flats.’ Within the expansive area Ling targeted the larger fish holding on the drop-off from the main flat. “The key was to find the deeper holes on the edge of the flat and work the lure slowly across the area, giving the fish plenty of time to look at the lure. I would twitch the lure moving it the least distance possible and follow with a five-second pause. My aim was to keep the lure in the strike zone and move it sideways,” said Ling. With his limit filled on the flats, Ling switched into pre-fish mode for day two, spot hopping around the area looking for a productive areas that wouldn’t be affected by the wind change that was due to come in overnight. During his searching Ling continued to upgrade throughout the

lead and confidence heading into day two. Haunted by the memory of failing in previous ABT events on day two Ling stayed with his plan and targeted the flats in Moulting Bay. With the fish holding shallower Ling adjusted his plan slightly and downsized to the shallower running Zip Bait Riggie 56, again in his favoured 650 colour (chrome with orange bottom).

pause to tempt the fish to bite,” Ling said. It didn’t take Ling long and he had filled his limit and the nerves began to settle. “Once I filled my limit the schools of fish became skittish and I decided to move around a few spots and see if I could get a couple of upgrades,” Ling said, “I moved through a range of flats and oyster racks, but really just spot hopped for the rest of the day.” With 5.25kg hitting the scale Shane Ling showed supreme consistency over the two days and won the event by over 1kg. “It feels great to get the first win and even better to see Tassie anglers take out the top three spots in the event. I also need to thank Mad Keen, Mark Wilson at Zip Baits and Benny from BK Custom Rods for all their support.”

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Shane Ling took the Duffrods big bag thanks to his day one bag of 5.35kg, which he caught on the dropoffs in Horseshoe Bay with a Zipbait Rigge 70F.

WINNING TACKLE Rod: BK Custom S Ling custom Reel: Shimano Nasci 1000 Line: 10lb Sunline Siglon PE8 Leader: 6lb Sunline Shooter FC Lure: Zip Baits Rigge 56f and 70f

TOP 10 BOATERS Place Angler

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

Shane Ling

10/10 10.60

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Adam Crick 10/10 9.18 Josh Williams 10/10 8.63 Steve Morgan 10/10 8.59 Mario Vukic 10/10 8.57 Warren Carter 10/10 7.96 Charlie Saykao 10/10 7.83 Leigh McKenzie 10/10 7.83 Michael Alexander 10/10 7.81 Liam Carruthers 10/10 7.63 For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

$2,600, 1st Mercury Bonus ($250), Duffrods Big Bag $1900, 2nd Mercury Bonus ($150) $1250 $950, 3rd Mercury Bonus ($100) $630, Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream ($500)

Crick twitches into second place Launceston-based angler Adam Crick started his ABT Tasmanian Tour with an impressive 2nd place with 10/10 fish for 9.18kg. Playing to his strengths Crick headed to the flat near the mouth of the system in search of clear water and active fish. Starting in the area known as ‘Stockyard Flats,’ Crick targeted fish holding in the deeper holes off the main flat while waiting for the flat to become covered by the tide.

“I knew the start would be tough down near the mouth and I was just waiting for the water to push up on the flat,” Crick said. Once the flat filled Crick was able to cast his Ecogear MW62 in 309 colour across the flats and work it over the edges between the grass and sand with short erratic twitches mixed in with pauses of 2-5 seconds. “I really tried to give the lure the most action while moving it the least distance and also

targeted the edges of the weed and sand,” Crick said. For this presentation Crick opted for a ‘crank and twitch’ JML Alliance Perfection Series rod matched with a Daiwa Luvias 2504 reel spooled with 6lb Suline Siglon PE8 braid and 6lb Yamatoyo Chinu Harris FC. Once Crick had exhausted his first flat he then spot hopped towards the entrance targeting flats that held a combination of broken weed beds, rubble and sand before finishing the day in the oyster racks for one final upgrade. “I only got six fish on day one but they were all the right size fish,” explained Crick. With the wind changing direction Crick decided to change his starting location and targeted the town flat at the start of day two. “The flats

near the entrance tend to shut down under pressure so my plan was to fill my limit on the town flat which is home to better numbers of fish.” While he started with one fish early the flat failed to produce the result Crick wanted and he returned to his day one honey hole. The return to the front proved to be fruitful with Crick repeating his shallow twitch and pause presentation for another quality limit. With a great result at the tour opener Crick was heading into his preferred Derwent River event full of confidence. “It was a great way to kick off the two events. I really have to thank Tony from JML for all his support and the products that helped me get the result over the weekend,” said Crick.

BREAM SERIES

Adam Crick fished shallow jerkbaits to finish second behind Shane Ling.

Hodge holds on for St Helens win Adam Crick with his second place winnings.

DAIWA J-BRAID BIG BREAM Mario Vukic claimed the Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream at St Helens with the 2018 Mallacoota BREAM Qualifier winner securing the $500 prize for his 1.41kg kicker fish caught on a ZMan GrubZ rigged on a 1/12oz jighead.

Victorian black bream specialist Mike Hodge has converted his first 5kg single day bag into another tournament win with 9/10 for 8.39kg. Fishing with Mark Alexander on day one, Hodge started the morning fishing the town flats putting one fish in the well early while his boater went to work filling his limit. “Mark had a well thought-out plan for the day, so I started the day full

Zipbaits Rigge 70F (650)

Twitch and roll retrieve

Weedy bottom

Rocky bottom

of confidence and knew we would be on for a good day’s fishing,” said Hodge. The pair then moved to Alexander’s second location, which held a good amount of broken weed beds with a distinct line of thick weed 2m from the edge, which proved to be the key hunting ground for Hodge. Once in location Hodge would cast a Cranka shallow minnow in jolly tail over the thick weed line and work the lure with a

Zipbaits Rigge 56F (824)

slow draw and pause routine. “I would draw the lure down slowly and pause it for up to five seconds. For most of the fish you would feel them rattle the lure and it was just a process of leaning back on the fish and letting it load up,” explained Hodge. His go-to outfit for this presentation was a Penn pinpoint 6’10” 2-4kg rod matched with a Fin-Nor Affinity reel spooled with 6lb Berkley Nanofil and 4lb Sunline FC Rock leader. While Hodge had filled his limit there was still one small fish sitting in his limit, which he was keen to upgrade. “I had a productive time on the second area we hit but it wasn’t until we hit the town reaches of the system late in the day that I was able to upgrade my 26cm for a 34cm fish,” said Hodge. That final fish proved to be all the difference at the end of the day with Hodge cracking his first 5kg+ bag with 5.2kg. Day two saw Hodge paired with Daniel Homes. The pair headed down to the flats near the mouth of the system to target the dropoffs from the main weed flats. It was a fast start for

Hodge who managed to put four fish in the well early in the session. He again used his favoured Cranka Shallow Minnow in jolly tail, casting it on top of the weed bed before drawing it off and allowing the fish to cruise up and take the lure. “I had four fish in the well early but the bite really shut down and it was a long end to the session, but I really have to commend Daniel who tried his best to get me my five fish. He really went above and beyond trying to guide me onto that last fish,” said Hodge. When asked about the event Hodge went on to say, “I really enjoyed coming over to Tasmania. The fishing and the people really make the trip worth all the effort. To have both my boaters go above and beyond to help me catch fish shows how great the people are down here.” With the first of two Tasmania events run and won, attention now turns to Hobart’s Derwent River system. For the results and story of that tournament and any other event near you head to abt.org.au.

TOP 10 NON BOATERS Place Angler

Fish

10/10 8.39

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Mike Hodges

Weight (kg) Payout

Costa Prize Pack, 1st Hobie Bonus ($200) Roan Van-Berberg 10/10 8.29 Prize Pack, 2nd Hobie Bonus ($100) Brendan McNamara 9/10 7.03 Prize Pack, 3rd Hobie Bonus ($75) Stuart Walker 8/10 6.30 Prize Pack, Jesse Rotin 8/10 5.90 Prize Pack Jordan Armstrong 9/10 5.56 Prize Pack Shaun Egan 6/10 5.28 Prize Pack Bernard Kong 6/10 5.22 Prize Pack Peter Mazey 9/10 4.41 Prize Pack Neil Chegwidden 5/10 3.95 Prize Pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Mike Hodges claimed top honours in the non-boater division. MAY 2018

The home tournament ground advantage SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

One of the fun parts of being involved with the ABT is in watching the coverage. As I wrote this it was Tasmania’s turn with tournaments in St Helens and Hobart, and truth be told I was enjoying the warmer climate in Queensland while Steve

time on the Fitzroy. Having said that, anecdotal doesn’t always translate to reality, so data in hand I set about establishing if there is an advantage and if so, just how big is that advantage. HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE With that in mind, I thought I would dive into the ABT data and see if there is anything to the home field advantage. Most sports have a definite bias to the home field, so why not

a dataset as you will find. Still, I didn’t want to waste time if there was no smoking gun. Running a couple of summary queries, I noticed a pattern: in each year some fishers compete in one or two events only. A reasonable explanation for this would be that some anglers choose to fish in events nearby to home but skip the rest of the circuit. With that in mind, I extracted the number of boaters and non-boaters that have won and fished three or less events (<=3) vs. the

Figure 3

Figure 1

events per year rack up more victories than anglers that fish more often. Wins from fewer tournaments fished is evidence that there is a home-field advantage, as I would expect fishers that fish more tournaments would win more often, after all, they should be most used

a significant difference in performance across all the events that they competed in between these two groups. If the local advantage is real, fishers fishing fewer tournaments should end up with a lower average placing overall. Based on Figure 2, that

they compete in the regions they know. The results were again consistent for boaters and non-boaters, with the gap wider for non-boaters. LOOKING INTO THE HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE With that established, I spent the day coding up Figure 4

Morgan was in his rain gear live streaming to the world. This year I had my first insider’s view of the live weigh-in, despite the

fishing? Before I decided to dive too far into data, I wanted some evidence of a home river edge. First, I needed to decide on how to

number that has fished more than three events (3+). The result is in Figure 1. There is a definite pattern there. Fishers that fish fewer Figure 2

to the ABT system and rules. The surprising thing is that the non-boaters had a much more material difference. That was enough to convince me to clean up the data, but first I wanted one final confirmation, in this case, if there was remote location, which was an exciting experience. I didn’t realise how the adrenalin starts to flow the closer you get to the final result! In Hobart, a local took out the first day by a healthy margin, and with only three odd kilos to take the event out, I was pretty confident he had the win even before his final day 5.12kg bag came in. That got me thinking, as you do, about how much of an advantage it is to be a local in fishing? Anecdotally from events like the Rocky Barra Bounty, I knew local knowledge did play a role – nobody has won the bounty without spending a lot of 96

MAY 2018

assess what defined a home field advantage and for simplicity sake, victory is the best measure. Wins are simple enough to calculate, but the ABT database doesn’t have a neat dataset that links victors as locals. Before I went through the exercise of mapping out the winners to their origin, I wanted to see if I could use wins alone. First up, how many events were available? Excluding grand finals and kayak events, I ended up with 111 tournaments since 2005 covering all states. Given that the rules have been consistent across that time, this is about as good

indeed looks to be the case as fishers who fish fewer events and win end up with a better average than fishers that fish more often. In other words, they aren’t getting blown away in the other tournaments they are fishing, which suggests

In the 2017 BASS Pro Grand Final, the top three boaters were all familar with the area.

which winners were local for boaters and non-boaters. Establishing exactly who was local took some detective work and some of the results swapped around from the previous result because fishers who fish the whole tour do still win on their home patch. Figure 3 is the resulting chart. The result is pretty clear, there is a homefield advantage in fishing, so much so that over time, local boaters have a 33% advantage and local non-boaters end up with more than a 300% advantage. It doesn’t pay to be a visiting non-boater it seems! HAS IT CHANGED? With a clear answer that locals do have an advantage, I was curious if that has remained true over time. In other words, is there still an advantage? First, I ran the time series for boaters, which provided something of a surprise. It seems that the visitors are at parity with

the locals now in a trend that has been heading in favour of the visitors since 2010. Check out Figure 4 for the long-term trend. Note, 2014 only had three valid events, and locals won all of the tournaments against the longer trend. I think that is an outlier due to the specific circumstances that year and with a small set of events, I

develop skills, you know that pretty much each time you turn up you will be facing the best locals. That presents a serious hurdle to jump over. Based on all known athlete development, if you are the kind of person who is up for a challenge, solving the problem of taking them on will make you a weapon.

at competition time, so the development of knowledge of local conditions would be limited. In any case, for both boaters and non-boaters, WA is an absolute fortress. Checking out boaters first, the most surprising one is Tasmania, which I picked as being the next most likely fortress – wrong! If you are a visitor, Tasmania

Figure 7

Figure 5

blunted the local advantage. Victorians have also had success at home in keeping out the invaders. I wonder if, in a year where there were a lot of events in Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria, would Victorians to dominate nationally?

pulls its socks up with the non-boaters restoring some state pride and keeping out the invaders. Victoria, interestingly enough, is even more of a fortress for non-boaters, and WA once again is the hardest place of all. Just like every non-WA

of Origin? Granted, there are more events in NSW (cue the excuse-making), and so NSW has less to do to maintain the invader advantage. I am sad to say as of 2017 that they have the bragging rights by a whisker. Queenslanders Figure 8

believe it’s better left aside. I am open to suggestions as to why the visitors have been improving since 2010. One obvious answer is that the visitors have competed enough times at each venue that their local advantage has been nullified to a degree. However, there may be a technical fishing reason that one of my readers may observe – feel free to let me know! If the boaters spending more time in other regions is

In fact, as crazy as it might sound, if you are lower down on the boater section, you may well be better off going non-boater and progressing through those ranks first. HARDEST STATES TO CRACK? With that out of the way, even if I feel a little unsatisfied that I understand what is going on with the boaters, I thought I would look at one last question: which states are the

is the one place you might chance your luck. I did some digging into the data as to why that might be, and it appears that Victorians are the biggest reason for the difference. I take this to mean that Victorians don’t mind visiting the Apple Isle, which the tourism people should take note of. The other conquered state is South Australia. Again like WA, SA has hosted less events, but like Tasmania, it’s the Victorians that have

The ABT BARRA Tour is a tournament circuit where locals almost always take the win. the cause, I would expect the trend within the non-boaters to be steady because looking at the individual records it seems there are a lot fewer non-boaters that compete on the entire tour than boaters. Looking at Figure 5, this turns out to be the case, over the last 12 years the locals have held an unassailable advantage. The bottom line is, if you aren’t a local, your chances of winning the non-boater section fall off a cliff. From a developmental point of view, this represents an opportunity. If you are a non-boater wanting to

hardest to crack. Figure 6 has the breakout by state of the % of local winners across time – not quite the result I expected. I predicted that less visited states would have a higher percentage of local winners, which is at least partly right, but just as in life, things are a bit more complicated than that. WA is the one state you don’t want to visit, because the locals dominate, partly because of the limited number of events run in that state, and also partly because non-locals would visit only

The other surprise among boaters is that Queensland is the second biggest fortress state. I am not too sure why that would be, as I expected that fishers from Northern NSW would regularly compete in Queensland. New South Wales, on the other hand, suffers from the twin invaders from the North and South. Figure 7 shows the picture for the non-boaters, and again some exciting results. The NSW-Queensland axis reverses somewhat with NSW being a better fortress for local fishers than Queensland. Tasmania

AFL team to visit the sandgropers, there is little joy to be had on the field, so best be taking advantage of the local tourism options while you are there. Either that or spend the trip in the pub… STATE OF ORIGIN – WHAT’S THE SCORE? Us Queenslanders like the State of Origin, mostly because we have dominated for a long time. Despite all the collective hand-wringing over sandpaper and balls in the last month, we Aussies do love a winner. So as the last exercise, how do we stack up in the ABT State Figure 6

have won 20% of NSW events, while NSW has taken out 23%. All I can say is, our fishers need to get onto Youtube and reacquaint themselves with the immortal words of Billy Moore: “QUEENSLANDER!” THE WRAP UP I have to say that despite the 1 am session analysing data this particular exercise was one of the most fun I have had in a long time. All things being equal I have more questions than answers particularly when I look at the dynamics of individual states. I chose the ABT Bream series because there aren’t too many National competition series to look at, but I would love to have a different style of fishing to compare. If you have any ideas let me know. What I can say is that the home field advantage is real. Even if you allow for the evening up of the results for the boaters you are still on pretty safe odds with one event in two going to a local. So over to you - any ideas on how you overcome the local advantage or is it just a case of sucking it up and make them pay when they come onto your patch? MAY 2018

Trades, Services, Charter

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Marine and Auto Electricial n All types of Welding n Stainless Steel n Aluminium n Mild Steel n Boats Repaired n Fuel & Water Tanks n Canopies n Bow and Stern Rails n Custom Vehicle Tool Boxes

MARINE ELECTRONICS

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www.custommarinewelding.com.au Bluewater Windscreens Brisbane (07) 3382 7883 ASM Mobile Welding Brisbane 0409 624 402 Marine Windows and Doors Brisbane (07) 3284 5088

TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND North Queensland Outboard Wreckers Townsville 1800 812 748

SAMPLE AD - BUSINESS NAME This is where your copy will appear. You will have approximately 50 words within a 5x2 ad size. $320 + GST for 6 months Email nkelly@fishingmonthly.com.au

Small Craft Electrics (mobile) 0408 063 064

+ 07 5502 6200 + www.coomerahouseboats.com.au

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BOAT PAINTING BRISBANE Brisbane Boat Painting 0433 356 620

BOAT MODIFICATIONS & REPAIRS

CUSTOM ALLOY FABRICATION • Boat repairs & fitouts • Bait tanks • Transom rebuilds • Fuel tanks • Consoles OVER 20 YEARS FABRICATING AND WELDING ALUMINIUM

Boat Collar (07) 5441 3636 CMC Marine Sales 0409 910 808 Iconic Boats Brisbane 0475 311 447

MARINE MECHANICS Fish Taxidermist www.fishtaxidermy.net.au or 0428 544 841

GOLD COAST Whitewater Marine (07) 5532 4402 T&S Marine (07) 5546 2599

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND Stones Corner Marine (07) 3397 9766 Brisbane Yamaha (07) 3888 1727

Coorparoo Marine (07) 3397 4141 Capalaba Boat Centre 04011 728 379

Cunningham Marine Centre (07) 3284 8805 Caloundra Marine (07) 5491 1944

NORTH QUEENSLAND Reef Marine Mackay (07) 4957 3521

Wondall Rd Marine (07) 3396 5633

Email: peter@profishboats.com www.profishboats.com

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND Suncoast Barra Fishing Park www.suncoastbarrafishing.com

CENTRAL QUEENSLAND Lake Monduran Barra Charters 0407 434 446

TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND

Holt Marine (07) 3353 1928

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Northside Marine (07) 3265 8029

MARINE MECHANICS // MOBILE

CUSTOM TRANSOMS 20-75hp $750 75-150hp $890 150-225hp $980 Freight can be arranged Australia wide

FISH TAXIDERMY

MARINE TRAILERS Oceanic Boat Trailers (07) 5597 0577 Spitfire Trailers (07) 0400 866 323 Tinnie Tosser (07) 5498 7339 Sea-Link Special Trailers (07) 3881 3568

Hooked On Hinchinbrook www.hookedonhinchinbrook.com

MARINE TRIMMERS SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND Rowland Street Boat Trimmers Springwood (07) 3208 9511 Brisbane Yamaha (07) 3888 1727 Rays Canvas & Marine Caboolture (07) 5499 4911 Affordable Boat Covers Gold Coast 0419 424 587

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND The Islander Retreat, South Stradbroke Island 0420 967 557

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. 98

MAY 2018

Boats & Guided Fishing Tours Directory HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION FRASER ISLAND Apurla Island Retreat 0437 739 121 Waddy Lodge on Fraser 0414 516 364

Dave Gaden’s Yamba • Deep Sea

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• 6am to 2pm $150pp • 3 boats – holds up to 30+ people • All fishing gear and bait is supplied • No fishing licence req. • Pickup from Yamba Marina or Iluka ferry wharf

Phone Dave today: www.fishingyamba.com.au 0428 231 962 OPEN 7 DAYS

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22 85

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Phone Cases

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BRISBANE Frenzy Charters Brisbane (07) 3209 4576 Big Cat Charters and Tom Cat Charters 0433 430 248

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CENTRAL QUEENSLAND

Moreton Island Fishing Charters 0413 128 056

Ultimate Sportfishing Charters 0450 753 726

Brisbane Fishing Charters 0427 026 510

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Bucket List Fishing Charters 0428 368 316

Mikat Cruises Fishing Charters 0427 125 727

John Gooding Outlaw Charters 0418 738 750

SUNSHINE COAST Keely Rose Deep Sea Fishing Charters 0407 146 151 Odyssey Charters Deep Sea Fishing (07) 5478 1109 Rainbow Beach Fishing Charters 0439 775 070 Smithy’s Fishing Charters Sunshine Coast 0407 574 868 Top Catch Charters Sunshine Coast 0429 013 012 Fish n Crab Charters Mooloolaba 0412 155 814 Offshore Reef and Game Fishing 0413 485 402 Sunshine Coast Fishing Charters (07) 5500 0671

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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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Fishing Offshore Noosa 0418 889 956

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Noosa Fishing Charters (07) 5665 8170

Action Charters Mackay 0417 452 346

Hervey Bay Fishing Charters (07) 4125 3958

Fishing Charters Townsville 0403 386 722

Incredible Charters 1300 655 818

JC’s Fishing Charters 0438 753 382

NORTHERN NSW

0407 627 852

Fairdinkum Fishing Charters Townsville (07) 4751 5324

Wooli Fishing Charter (02) 6649 7100

Cairns Reef Charter Services 1800 119 044

Evans Head Deep Sea Fishing Charters 0428 828 835

Cairns Charter Boat 0427 533 081

Reel Time Fishing Charters Yamba 0428 231 962

Cairns Fishing Charters 0427 400 027

fishingmonthly.redbubble.com

Advertisers wanting to be involved in this directory can call (07) 3387 0834 or email nkelly@fishingmonthly.com.au MAY 2018

FUN PAGE AND COMPETITIONS FISH SPECIES ABCS

ABBOTTS MORAY AMBERJACK ANGLERFISH BARRAMUNDI BEARDIE BICOLOR BLENNY BIRD WRASSE BLACK MARLIN BLIND SHARK BLUE MORWONG

BLUE TREVALLY BROWN TROUT BUTTERFLY PERCH CARP CLOWN TOBY COBIA COMET CORAL COD CORAL TROUT CROCODILEFISH

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 MAY 2018

Phone (day):

BARRA COUNTRY by Brett Currie

The Rocketeer Slicer from Japanese tackle giant Valley Hill is a real feat of Japanese design and engineering. The Rocketeer Slicer has a unique metal plate at the nose of the jig, which lets you secure line in two places, and ensures a superior swimming action even through debris. In addition, its tail system lets you cast more effectively into the wind. The Rocketeer Slicer is available in two sizes (3.0 and 3.5) and 13 different colour combinations. It has proven to be highly effective on Australian squid. www.dogtoothdistribution.com.au

SPOT THE

10 DIFFERENCES

GEORGE & NEV by Michael Hardy

ORIGINAL

FIND-A-WORD

Congratulations to Peter Frils from Townsville, who was last month’s winner of the Find-a-Word Competition! Monthly winners receive a sponsor prize. Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – QFM

SUBSCRIBER PRIZE

The subscriber prize winner for March is S Palmer of Cluden, who won a Tonic sunglasses and watch. All subscribers are entered in the monthly subscriber prize draws. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – QFM

J Dawson of Cordalba, J Wogandt of Urangan, J Bowyer of Blackall, A Mulville of Currumbin, P Cox of Edmonton, R Treacy of Frenchville, M Matthews of Mt Martha, A Cochrane of Roma, A Svaikauskas of Alligator Creek, T Perry of Edge Hill, C Dowling of Woodgate, K Edwards of East Innisfail, S Theofanes of Home Hill, R Davis of Sarina, M Gibson of Bongaree, T Davidson of Guyra, G

Roberts of White Rock, K O’Brien of Burrum Heads, S Phillipa of Karumba, S Davies of Emerald, T Grice of Caboolture, J Boneham of Eight Mile Plains, M Roots of Cowley Beach, J Goody of Mt Berryman, G Essex of Toowoomba, J Routledge of Kepnock, B Tieman of Buxton. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – QFM

LAST MONTH’S ANSWERS

FIND THE GAMAKATSU LOGO

The answers to Find the Gamakatsu Logo for March were: 12, 18, 26, 30, 34, 42, 44, 47, 51, 58, 64, 68, 78, 88, 94. – QFM

100

MAY 2018

This month’s Guess the Fish Answer: Rainbow Trout

The Find the Gamakatsu prize winners for March were: M Gillett of Boonah, D Hope of Kingaroy, R Schefe of Point Vernon, L Dewar of Roma, M Couchman of Roma, R Elworthy of North Bundaberg, A Pease of Tweed Heads West, F Brook of Leeton, M Schoumburg of Goondiwindi, G Herring of Gympie, D Allen of Moggill, M Bunn of Frenchville, W Gore of New Beith,

GUESS THE FISH?

Answer:

boats & kayaks

In the skipper’s seat

Inside story... InsideAluminium story... Boats are an Australian Horizon Sportsman Boats builds theboat-building fastest family-owned and operated growing line of family-friendly centre empire. Founded in 1992 by Bob and console James, boats in-class. are built Christine who’ve They built their with the from latestadesigns, procedures and business small shed in Burleigh materials give you your family making twotomodels, toand a factory on the unparalleled performance with a of dry, Gold Coast producing 84 models boats safecontinue and comfortable that to chargeride. at the forefront of boat design in Australia.

Made for... Designed to be budget-friendly, the Made for...

Island Series offers the essentials forand Horizon have endeavoured to design any boating boats familythat thatnot likes to fish. manufacture only fulfill Thesefantasies, are perfect boats your fishing but catertotoearn a family captain’s hat! experience. Their motto oriented boating is ‘Building family dreams today,’ and they Thisconsistently month...fulfilled this promise. have Steve Morgan will be checking out the classy 19 Island Reef, powered by a This month... Yamaha 115hp.out Check it out on We’re checking the fishing and familypage 108! friendly Horizon 525 Scorpion.

104 KISS kayak fishing

Justin Willmer highlights the importance of ‘keeping it simple stupid’ and how this can sometimes apply to kayak fishing.

106 Brand new from Stacer

Wayne Kampe went along to witness the unveiling of some new stuff from the Stacer stable!

110 Sea Jay 460 Velocity Sports Steve Morgan climbs aboard this impressive fishing-ready rig with Garry Fitzgerald from Sea Jay!

MAY 2018

101

FIND THE

LOGO COMPETITION

There are 15 Logos hidden throughout the pages of Fishing Monthly.

The first 40 correct entries drawn at the end of each month will win a Neck Scarf

Fill in the entry form below with the page number of each logo location and go in the draw to win!

All entries will then go into the Major Prize draw to win 1 of 3 prize packs to be drawn on [DATE]. 30th November, 2018.

MAJOR $ $ $ PRIZES 1000 500 200 1st PLACE

2nd PLACE

3rd PLACE

RRP worth of DAIWA Products

RRP worth of DAIWA products

PAGE NO: 1

NAME

MAILENTRIES ENTRIESTO: TO: MAIL QFM Find NSWFM Find the the DAIWA DAIWA Logo LogoCompetition, Competition, PO 3172, Loganholme 4129 PO BOX 3172, LoganholmeQLD QLD 4129 Entries must be received by 31st MAY 2018 Entries must be received by 30TH DATE 2018 Original entries only. No photocopies.

SUBURB

P/CODE

PHONE EMAIL I want to receive updates from Daiwa Australia on news & special offers (please tick)

QFM MAY2018

ADDRESS

WHAT’S NEW BOATING TOHATSU CELEBRATES

LOWRANCE OS UPGRADE

On the 11 January 2018, Tohatsu Corporation President, Mr Isami Hyuga released a statement that “the manufacturing plant in Japan – reached the cumulative production of 4 million units of outboard motors. It is a great honour to be able to celebrate this moment of such achievement”. This sort of achievement can only happen with support of distributors, dealers and customer’s throughout the world, to whom Mr Isami Hyuga passed on his appreciation. Manufacturing outboard motors since 1956, Tohatsu is known as a pioneer in the Japanese Outboard industry and today they continue to expand their product range and distribute to over 100 countries worldwide. With some of the most advanced new technology, class-leading products being developed and offered to the market, Tohatsu felt that a new era had begun. For more information on the new products including the class leading MFS15/20E fuel-injected four stroke, visit Tohatsu’website. www.tohatsu.com.au

Lowrance, a world-leader in fishing electronics since 1957 — announced recently the release of a new software update for HDS Carbon™, HDS Gen3 and Elite-Ti displays that includes sonar enhancements and improvements for C-MAP charting. At the heart of the release is FishReveal™, an exciting new sonar feature that makes fish easier to see on DownScan Imaging™. FishReveal is a massive leap forward in fish finding technology that allows anglers to quickly and easily discover how fish orient themselves in and around cover and structure, with clearly defined fish arches. Unlike traditional CHIRP, FishReveal™ smart target viewing blends the best data from both technologies, eliminating the need for splitscreen viewing and interpretation. The upgrade also includes significant enhancements to StructureScan® 3D and StructureScan HD; plus, a new, easy-tointerpret C-MAP navigation palette. For more information about the Lowrance software update, HDS Carbon, Elite-Ti or other Lowrance marine electronics, or to locate an authorised Lowrance dealer, please visit Lowrance’s website. www.lowrance.com

YAMAHA BLUE CARD

NEW SCOTTY RELEASES

Yamaha Motor Finance (YMF) is pleased to announce one of the most exciting products to be launched in the 15-year history of YMF – the Yamaha Blue Card. The new Yamaha Blue Card is a line of credit with similar features to a normal credit card – but with significant advantages and only for use in Yamaha dealerships. Customers can finance everything available from a Yamaha dealer – including servicing and insurance premiums – up to a maximum of $5000. One major advantage of the Blue Card is that once you are approved for finance, there is no need to re-apply. So Yamaha Blue Card offers the ultimate in quick, easy and convenient finance. Plus the card comes with a 90-day interest free period on all purchases made before 31 May 2018. Visit your local Yamaha dealer to apply for a Yamaha Blue Card, or call Direct Sales on 1800 123 100.

MINN KOTA ULTREX

Now available in Australia, Minn Kota’s Ultrex™ gives anglers the control and responsiveness of a Fortrex, plus effortless Power Steering and i-Pilot features, like Spot-Lock. Paired with Steering Lock, which allows you to take your foot off the pedal without losing motor heading, Ultrex will change the way you fish. “We continue to set the bar high for breakthrough innovations to help anglers catch fish, and Ultrex is no exception,” says Shaun Clancy, Minn Kota Product Manager. “We’ve combined the reliability and responsive ‘wired-to-the-water’ feel of our tournament-proven Fortrex with the GPS technologies of i-Pilot, i-Pilot Link, and SpotLock electronic anchoring. It’s the best of both worlds.” The Minn Kota Ultrex product line-up will consist of numerous i-Pilot- or i-Pilot Link and US2-enabled combos, including 24-volt 80 lbs. thrust and 36-volt 112 lbs. thrust versions in 45”, 52” and 60” shaft lengths. Price: RRP from $4,599 www.bla.com.au

1 2

The new #282 spinning and baitcasting rod holder from Scotty is a versatile rod holder for any angler. This combo comes with the 438 Gear Head track adapter which quickly slides into place and locks down to any Scotty rod holder and accessories. This allows the user to quickly change the rod holder position with a simple twist. Also included in the combo is the new Scotty 440-4 low-profile track, which is quick and easy to install on any watercraft, including kayaks. In addition, Scotty’s most popular 12V electric downrigger model is now available in a compact version. The new #1099 Compact Depthpower features a 24” boom arm, supplied with a #1023 tilt up mounting bracket, a #358 rod holder and a Power Grip Plus line release. For more information on the Scotty range of rod holders, downriggers and accessories visit the JM Gillies website or look them up on Facebook. www.jmgillies.com.au

RAYMARINE LIGHTHOUSE 3.3

PRODUCT GUIDE

Raymarine’s new Lighthouse 3.3 software update offers increased functionality for Axiom and Axiom Pro users, as well as Raymarine eS and gS series users. This update provides numerous enhancements and an even more intuitive user experience. Owners of Raymarine eS and gS systems who upgrade to the latest LightHouse 3 operating system will experience faster performance and streamlined operation. They can also network eS and gS-Series MFDs with Axiom and Axiom Pro. The feature set and operation is identical regardless of whether you have an Axiom, Axiom Pro, eS-Series or gSSeries. eS and gS Series users will now be able to view RealVision 3D display data if there is an Axiom or Axiom Pro on the network. Axiom owners can get the update by connecting their MFD to Wi-Fi or a mobile phone hotspot. You can also download Lighthouse 3.3 via Raymarine’s website. Owners of eS and gS systems will need to download it from raymarine.com and install it with a microSD card. www.raymarine.com.au

6 Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

SCAN THE QR CODE!

KISS kayak fishing BRISBANE

Justin Willmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

The ‘KISS’ principle, or ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’, is referred to often and in relation to many aspects of our lives, with fishing being just one of them. When the rudder cable on my pedal kayak snapped in the lead up to the Easter long weekend, I decided to

happening until I heard a noise and then the kayak turned aggressively to one side. Once I felt that the hand lever that controls the rudder had gone completely slack, I realised what had happened. Being only half a kilometre from the ramp and just 50m from shore I wasn’t in any danger, however with a gusty breeze and reasonable chop, it was the perfect opportunity to learn to handle the kayak with a broken rudder cable.

The simple solution would have been to limp to shore, turn the rudder straight and then continue on my journey home. What if I was offshore? Or the water was cold and there was risk of exposure, making it difficult to access the rudder? I have always carried a quality paddle with me in my pedal kayak and would recommend other pedal kayak users do the same, just in case they may need to paddle home.

A solid little golden trevally on light gear to wrap up the long weekend.

Simple setups ready to launch for a Good Friday adventure. do some KISS kayak fishing, keeping it super simple. I only had a couple of short windows of time available over the break, so my smaller paddle kayak came down off the wall rack in the shed and I assembled a basic kit of gear for my adventures. Before we launch the little yak in search of a few fish, it’s probably worth mentioning the rudder cable breakage and the paddle home that followed. It’s important to have a backup plan when things go wrong and I always make the most of these opportunities to learn more about myself, my vessel and how to better manage similar scenarios in the future. The rudder cable breakage took me by surprise, and I had never even thought about this

The author hooked up to a golden trevally and enjoying the ride!

One of many flats bream that couldn’t resist a ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ.

It was very windy out on the chosen flat for the author’s Good Friday session. 104

MAY 2018

It was impossible to paddle the kayak home, with the rudder at full lock, however I was able to pedal slowly and dig the paddle into the water on one side of the kayak to counteract the kayak’s desire to turn with the rudder. As I gained better control with the positioning of the paddle, I was able to increase speed using the pedals and was soon making good progress. I didn’t break any speed records, but it was pretty satisfying to overcome the breakage, come up with

a game plan and effectively execute. Next time something goes wrong that isn’t life threatening, take the opportunity to assess the situation and maybe explore a few different solutions. The knowledge you gain may come in handy if you find yourself in a sticky situation. Back to gearing up for some KISS kayak fishing, it’s refreshing to just grab the basics and hit the water. The setup and clean up is quick and easy, it’s an inexpensive way to fish, you can be on the water quickly

and in turn better make the use of short windows of time, launch pretty much anywhere, access harder to get at locations and enjoy the sense of freedom. BASIC SETUP My basic kit consists of a small, easy to handle kayak, a quality and durable paddle leashed to the kayak, C-Tug trolley that allows you to wheel the kayak long distances across varied terrain and an icebox strapped on the back with a couple of ice bricks, stored in a zip lock bag to make clean up easy. If the wind is blowing or the tide is running hard, an anchor is handy for holding position, with a Cooper 1kg poly anchor a reliable option. I didn’t have time to set up an anchor running rig, so I simply tied my anchor rope to the front kayak handle at the required length for anchoring and then

tied another short length of rope around the anchor rope, with a loop that slid along the anchor rope. I could then simply drop the anchor and when I wanted to retrieve it, pull this second rope, the loop would then slide along the anchor rope, pulling it back into the kayak so that I could grab the anchor rope and retrieve the anchor. Other basics worth attaching to your kayak and keeping within arms reach include a landing net, and mine is slid into the flush mounted rod holder behind the seat, a set of lip grips attached via a retractable gear tether, a ruler and a Boomerang Tool retractable line snip for rigging. I prefer to take several smaller bottles of drinking water, rather than one large bottle, just in case it is punctured or lost overboard. A dry bag, that can be

stowed or leashed wherever convenient, contains one tackle tray of jigheads, blades and a few other lures, along with some packets of soft plastics, leader, scent and sunscreen is also helpful. This keeps everything dry, can be rolled to lock in some air so that it floats and keeps all of the smaller items safe and out of the way. Once I am out on the water, the scent comes out of the dry bag and is generally stowed in the kayak drink holder. When it comes to rods and reels, I always carry two combos, even when KISS kayak fishing, as it is much

commenced a drift. Drifting down the centre of a large flat, we were casting 1/4oz 1/0 jigheads and 2.5” paddletail plastics, allowing them to sink to just above the bottom, giving them a couple of hops and then rolling them back with a steady retrieve. As the wind pushed us across the flat, we used it to make long casts across the flat and slightly ahead of the drift. By casting across the flat, rather than directly with our drift, I believe our lures are swimming across more varied bottom structure and water depths, while also hopefully being put in the

The C-Tug trolley makes transporting kayaks to and from the water easy. You can strap it on the back or stow it in your hatch. lightweight craft onto the C-Tug trolleys and rolled them the kilometre or so home on the bike path beside

sure I had an anchor in the kit, however the predicted wind direction would be directly against the tide when it turned to run-out, effectively holding the kayak back on a slow drift. Halfway along the flat and I was on! This was followed by another, and then a third in three casts. They weren’t big fish, but still plenty of fun on light gear. It was 2.5” paddle-tails again doing the job, rigged on a 1/4oz jighead and retrieved steadily across the flat. When I hook a fish, I try to make note of landmarks around me, be it beacons, crab pot floats, mangroves or bridges, water towers, unique trees and other structures that can assist me to return to where I landed the fish. A

school produced 14 bream before the tide dropped and the lack of water on the flat saw the school move on. Moving to the edge of the flat produced something different, a fringefin trevally, that was released after a quick photo. It had been a fun session and the basic setup hadn’t stopped me from getting into a few fish. I decided to call it a day, and as if on cue, an aggressive strike loaded the rod and I kicked back and enjoyed the sleigh ride. There was no doubting this was a trevally, it was just a matter of if it was a golden or GT. The fish turned and screamed across the flat with me in tow, a smile spreading across my face, while the 6lb braid cut through the

A less common capture in the author’s local waters, a fringefin trevally. easier to rig up at home than when on the water. It saves time if you are busted off during a hot bite, and it also allows you to have two different presentations rigged, such as a surface and subsurface, light and heavier weighted plastic, small and larger plastic, or two different colours such as a dark silhouette colour and lighter, natural colour. My wife Sheri and I hit the water Good Friday as we traditionally do, our basic rigs wheeled to the water in search of a fish for dinner. We battled the wind, paddled to our chosen location and

face of more schools of fish that were travelling with the current. Sheri had a couple of solid bites without hooking up before something started tapping on my plastic. When rolling plastics, I find it most effective to continue with the same retrieve speed even while a fish is biting and the bites generally continue until the fish find the hook. Sure enough, I eventually felt weight and the hook found its mark, the drag screamed and a solid bream took off across the flat. It was soon slid into the net and then dispatched into the icebox.

We generally don’t keep bream, preferring to keep a flatty or two for a feed, however strong winds and

Everything is within reach in the cockpit of the kayak, with two-rod combos rigged and ready.

What a way to finish the long weekend – a nice golden in the net!

The unlucky bream that scored an invitation to dinner on Good Friday.

rough conditions gave us the feeling that this may be our only keeper for the session. Strong winds forced us off the flat and into the shelter of the mangroves, where we landed one flathead that was just undersize and had a few more bites. Not keen to paddle home into the gusty breeze, we simply paddled into the bank, loaded our

the water. Simple kayak setups, a simple adventure, and a fish for dinner. I was keen for another quick and simple adventure on Easter Monday, so I planned to fish the last of the run-in and first hour or two of the run-out, targeting bream on the same flat we had fished a few days earlier. It was again windy, so I made

GPS or sounder with GPS is handy, however I was KISS kayak fishing and enjoying the simplicity, so I lined up a beacon with a crab pot to give me a basic idea of where the fish were schooled. Returning to the school, that was probably holding around weedy structure or in a depression on the flat, and it was fish on again! The

water and the little 6’6” spin stick doubled over. It was a great way to end the session, with a lovely golden trevally sliding into the net. It’s hard to beat the feeling of watching fish like jacks and trevally swim away, with the hope that they will eat a young anglers lure one day and spark the same passion that we have for the sport. Over the weekend I also had turtles, dugong and a couple of big dolphins swim within metres of the kayak, I saw a big bust up of fish and met a few other keen kayak anglers in my travels. One angler I met was a guy called Scott, who I met at the ramp and chatted about his new Bixpy jet motor setup on his kayak, allowing him to travel and troll for a couple of hours or more on a single charge. I love gadgets and think I need to investigate this cool little jet motor further. So that was our Easter on the water, KISS kayak fishing. I hope you managed to get out on the water and find a few fish yourself. Don’t forget that you don’t need to plan an epic adventure or have the most elaborate setup in the world to get out on the water. Enjoy this magic country and maybe even score a few fish. MAY 2018

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It’s a widespread revolution at Stacer Boats BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Stacer Boats have recently seen a revolution at their huge factory, with the alloy manufacturer pulling the covers off a brand new hull design for the 2018 model year.

Coinciding with the release of their Revolution hull design, this progressive Gold Coast company has also reduced the number of models in their 2018 range of boats, which is in many respects a revolution in itself! Whereas some manufacturers strive to increase their presence, Stacer have consolidated

2018 has also seen construction now centring around plate, like smoothed side sheets, with increased bottom and side sheet thickness and fully welded side decks being standard fare within the range. Smoothed (pressings free) side sheets are the modern way of catching the buyer’s eye, and let’s face it – those smooth side sections

The Assault Pro irons out a bit of wind chop. Hold onto your hat! based rigs (along with other newly-upgraded Stacer craft). As luck would have it, the day was a shocker. There were strong winds and frequent rain squalls –

One thing that did brighten up an otherwise soggy time on the sea was the sheer capability of the craft we had at our disposal. From the little Territory 389 right

blew the rain in under the canopies anyway. That aside, the sheer enjoyment of driving different boats, assessing handling and performance –

A rainy and bleak day failed to dampen the enjoyment of the Stacer small craft line-up, seen here on the beach at Southport. In a nutshell, Stacer’s Revolution hull has combined the best features from the maker’s acclaimed Barra and Assault Pro craft, and the company is claiming enhanced performance, increased stability plus other desirable features. The new hull features a more concave

their models to simplify customer choice as well as make life easier for dealers to maintain readily identified yet quite distinct craft in their yards. Some examples of range consolidation include Stacer’s Crossfire and Nomad, which are now

simply beg for colourful wraps to bring on the bling. The enhanced 3mm minimum bottom and sides ensure extra rigidity and overall strength, while fully welded side decks conveniently eliminate any gaps along gunwales and top side decks.

The Crossfire range featured the new Revolution hull, and there were plenty of smiles from those aboard the 469, despite the rain. the kind of weather that has you scrambling for your rain jacket. Those attendees who hadn’t brought one just had to grin and bear it. With people coming from as far away as South Australia, the show had to go on, so it was all aboard.

up to the feisty 529 Assault Pro Tournament, with its all grunt 150 Evinrude G2 150, there was fun for all. A couple of the Stacers with biminis were understandably popular, although it didn’t really matter as the wind

often with near maximum loads aboard – cut through the gloom with ease. THE 2018 RANGE Territory Stacer’s Territory, which comes in 349, 369 and 389 sizes, remains the maker’s

The 389 Territory with its Striker hull retains the title of Stacer’s ideal car topper. It drives and rides beyond expectations. bottom section, and pressing techniques carried over from the well established Evo hull range which ensure inherent strength. There’s also the addition of a raised chine line. 106

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offered simply as a newly designed Crossfire; the Seaway and Bay Master, now called the Sea Master; and the Nomad Ranger and Sea Ranger, which have become the Sea Ranger.

ON THE WATER WITH THE 2018 STACER RANGE Stacer arranged a date for boating press reps like myself to inspect and drive some of the new Revolution-

A glance at the well-proportioned Stacer Sea Master 499 reveals the depth of sides, rubber gunwale tops and nice lines.

cartopper of choice. This year’s models are 160mm deeper, 90mm wider and have welded seats and a steeper deadrise. The timeproven Striker hull remains the build format for the Territory. The bigger 389 model is rated for engines up to 30hp so there’s some performance there as well.

Crossfire In sizes 469, 499, 519, 539 and 569, the new hull shape is a great upgrade for this family fishing favourite. Standard across the board are increased freeboard, alloy live well with glass window, welded side decks, scupper drainage system, underfloor storage, and

through dash and a flat panel dash section with lip on some models. A factory-fitted drum winch is a popular option for the new Sea Master range. Wild Rider An entirely new model, the Wild Rider has replaced the Easy Rider range with 499, 519, 539, 589 and 619 sizes now standard. As these

Many of the features in Stacer’s 2018 range can be seen in this shot of the Wild Rider 539 at rest. Note the full height transom, high sides offering plenty of freeboard, and the great proportions of this rig as a whole.

The Wild Rider 619 proved to be a bowrider with bite; there’s 200 horses on the transom there. Assault Pro The Assault Pro Tournament is the big news in Stacer’s competition-style craft. These rigs feature the new Revolution style hull along with options for dual consoles and expanded live wells (80L), as well as over 30 other options! Sizes are from 469/509/529 to suit any budget. All come with a 50L live well, rod lockers, extendable front and rear cast platforms, lockable

options for side or centre console drive systems. Drum winches are offered for all versions, including the new fishing iteration, called the CrossFisher. This model sports a raised front platform with space for a 100L icebox under it, a lockable rod locker and extra large transom. Sea Master In sizes 429, 449, 469, 499 and 519, the new Revolution hull is also standard in this handy-sized runabout with its bucket

are larger craft, the option list is also expanded to take in over 50 different items. The seven person 619 I drove was equipped with a bimini and envelope which were, fortunately, now standard along with the Revo hull, a drop nose, very smooth rolled side decks, fully welded sheets, 3mm topsides, 4mm bottoms, and concealed anchor well under the bowrider front cushioning. It also has increased underfloor storage

transom, the Wild Rider was a bowrider with bite, being seriously fast and just plain fun to drive. Sea Ranger The Sea Ranger stays with the Evo Advance hull but now offers buyers additional sizes. In the side console range there are 499, 529 and 559 models, with

With over 40 items on the options list, the Sea Ranger is a serious offshore rig with credentials to match. Ocean Ranger These are the big hitters in the Stacer range of offshore craft. The are available in both soft top, hard top and centre cab styles, with all three variants gracing the

station with enclosed storage is also a useful option. All Ocean Rangers feature self-draining floors – a useful feature for offshore work and the clean-up afterwards. SUMMING UP So that’s the rundown on the new Stacer lineup. In many respects it is

With the rain temporarily eased off it was time to open the 150 Gen2 E-Tec’s taps to see what the Assault Pro could do.

Stacer’s range of Revolution-based rigs exhibit higher and flatter sides, along with bucket loads of bling. hatches and standard thruster brackets. The 520 Assault Pro was a big favourite on the press day, with the 150 H.O. Evinrude G2 E-Tec really turning heads and treating the occupants to some eye-watering, high speed rain in the face!

pedestal seats up front, and wide bench aft. Sea Masters all feature the standard smooth sides, along with 3mm topsides, rubber gunwale extremities, welded side decks, carpeted floor, storage under the floor as well as under the dash, and a stainless ladder aft. There’s also a step-

space. This big bow rider pretty much has the lot, with everything from a sound system to a recessed ski locker. An optional Angler Pack provides a live well and an aft seating set-up that converts into a useful casting platform. With a 200 Evinrude G2 on the

centre console rigs available in 499, 529, 559, 659 and 709 sizes. New standard features are 4mm bottom and sides on the 449-559 models, 5mm bottoms, 4mm sides on 659-709 with fully welded floors and casting platforms also standard. A self-draining floor with scuppers makes sense on an offshore rig of this quality, as does a raised front cast platform able to conceal a 100L icebox. The Sea Ranger’s big kill tank drains straight overboard, which is useful, and welded rod holders come standard. There’s also a glass-sided live well along with big cockpit side pockets.

boat yards in 589, 609, 659, 709 and 759 sizes. Interestingly, all cabins are the same size in all models. These Stacers also come with a strike chair with swivel backrest, swept gunwale, windscreen wipers, optional electric toilet and over 30 other options. It was good to note that the hard top features carpet lining overhead. An Expedition Version (709/759) is part of the package, and these are built with extended hard tops over enlarged cabins with lockable doors, electric toilets, plus a bow mount plate up front. An aft bait

indeed a revolution, with the introduction of a brand new hull and a swag of new features across the range, from the smallest car toppers right through to the largest of their offshore trailer boats. Unfortunately, press days are always busy events, and between dodging rain squalls and moving between boats for assessment, it wasn’t possible to compile enough notes and photos for a thorough report on any one rig. However, I’m looking forward to reviewing some selected models from Stacer’s new range later this year. MAY 2018

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Sportsman 19 Island Reef with 115hp Yamaha - SC

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for fishing offshore in less than perfect weather. The console is easy to walk around and has all-round grab-rails for your mates. The helm is offset to the port side and there’s a flush mounted 7” Simrad as standard. All other switches are available and

Steve Morgan s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

Admit it – you’ve all dreamed about it – heading off into the sunrise in a slick, fibreglass American fishing boat. The boat’s landing softly into the small swell, your rod racks are loaded with premium gear and there’s a dozen live baits happily swimming around in the livewell, blissfully unaware of their impending fate. Then you wake up and the alarm is telling you it’s time to go to work instead of the ramp. Brisbane’s Northside Marine is doing its very best to help you achieve this dream. Stalwart salesman Bill Hull recently talked to FM about how the Sportsman dealership came to be. “Like everyone, I had the dream of selling this kind of boat, but it wasn’t

PERFORMANCE

Main: There’s no denying that the Sportsman hulls look good on the water – clean lines and an upswept bow make the 19 Island Reef a rig that’ll turn heads on the water and at the ramp. Above: With the hammers down on the 115hp Yamaha, it’s definitely hold onto your hats time. boats on order – plenty of which were pre-sold to keen anglers in the Brisbane area. The Island Reef 19 is a great all-round boat to cross over between inshore and offshore waters. Taking it out

SPECIFICATIONS Length........................................................5.8m Beam..........................................................2.3m Capacity ......................................... Six persons Fuel ............................................................ 113L Max hp ......................................................... 115 until recently that things fell into place,” Bill said. Sportsman is a brand that is only six years old in the USA, but is growing in leaps and bounds. It was a perfect match for Northside, who are meticulous in their preparation of boats to deliver to their customers. At the time of the test, there were 16 Sportsman 108

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complete with straps to lock it in. A couple of non-skid SeaDek pads are at the helm as well – good looking and practical. There’s a livewell in the starboard transom corner and the entire deck is self-draining. I imagine this would be an easy boat

on a nasty test day in Moreton Bay, it demonstrated an ability to drive soft and dry at the right combination of speed and trim. It’s simple and effective as a fishing platform and is guaranteed to turn heads both at the ramp and on the water. Let’s look at a few of the features. Packages from Northside for this model

start at $60k, which include a Yamaha 115, Twin Axle trailer and a 7” Simrad. We didn’t have the metering available to do the economy figures, but there is data available for a Yamaha 90hp, which will display very similar economy figures. Delivering 2.6km/L at 4000rpm, the 90 would give a theoretical range of over 250km – ample for nearly every weekend trip you’ll ever do. With the rough conditions, we didn’t get a top speed reading on the 115, however it was spinning an identical alloy 19” propeller, so you can add a couple of km/h for the extra few revs. From the upswept bow back, there’s a raised casting deck with dry, under-deck storage for anchors and other bulky items. It’s a one-person deal, so it’d be

a great spot to throw casts at pelagic or reef edges while the other angler is at the helm. The rest of the floor is low and eminently suitable

RPM Speed (km/h) Economy (km/L) 1000 ............................. 6 ..............................4 2000........................... 10 ...........................2.5 3000........................... 17 ...........................1.6 4000........................... 39 ...........................2.5 5000........................... 52 ...........................2.3 6000........................... 67 ...........................1.8 *Supplied figures are for 90hp Yamaha with 19” alloy prop. easy to reach. There’s also dry storage underneath the console for your valuables. The helm seating is flexible, with a removable backrest and space for a cooler underneath –

The variable deadrise and upswept bow mean that you have the best chance of a dry ride with the correct trim and attitude.

to keep clean, with not too many corners to get the blood and guts stuck in. The battery sits in an under-deck compartment. Of course, you can go crazy on the options list on this boat and add anything from factory T-Tops to cushion packages for the bow, but just as it is, there’s so much scope for fun fishing all over Australia that your head will be swimming with options. For more information, contact the guys at Northside Marine at www. northsidemarine.com. au or you can check out the Australian Sportsman website at www. sportsmanboats.com.au. Make sure you also watch the video test of this boat to see it in action – there’s a QR code to scan hereby or you can search for it on the Fishing Monthly YouTube channel.

Under the front casting deck there are a couple of dry hatches – one for the anchor and the other for your bulky gear.

The Yamaha F115 fitted on Northside Marine’s Sportsmans are factory fitted but are still backed by Yamaha Australia for a full local warranty.

That 16° of transom deadrise takes the sting out of landing on windy days.

The stainless steel bar that wraps around the console is handy for the driver and passengers alike. There’s extra storage under the front seat.

The seat back is removable and you can fit a cooler under the seat framing. Vertical rod storage is provided on each side of the console.

A 7” Simrad comes standard with the boat and is covered by a full, local warranty.

Top Left: You can sit a couple more people comfortably on each side of the outboard and the space underneath is also available. The battery is under the floor hatch. Top Right: The rear starboard seat hides a built-in livewell with horizontal divider. Above: Supplied on a hydraulic braked, twin axle I-beam trailer, the Sportsman rig is safe and 100% Australian compliant. MAY 2018

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Sea Jay 460 Velocity Sports with Mercury 75hp

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SPECIFICATIONS Overall.Length......................................... 4.74m Bottom ............................................4mm (5083) Sides ..........................................................3mm Beam..........................................................2.3m Depth .......................................................1.24m Floor.Ribs ...................................................... 11 Capacity ....................................... Five persons Hull.weight .............................................. 495kg Max.HP ..........................................................75 Rec.HP ...........................................................60 Max.motor ............................................... 175kg

Cruising at 4500rpm, the 75 Mercury delivered 2.4km/L at 46km/h. 110

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What do you get when you cross one of the proven Sea Jay Samurai hulls with a console of a 5.9m boat? You get this – the new Sea Jay 460 Velocity Sports. In Say Jay speak ‘sports’ means ‘side-console,’ so this is basically a Vision hull with a side-console. Based on the popular Samurai hull, the shell features a 4mm 5083-grade bottom sheet and 3mm side sheets. Samurais also have reverse chines, a heavy duty capped keel and a visually pleasing upswept bow that turns heads at the ramp and on the water. The 4.6m hull is also very beamy. In fact, the beam of 2.3m is exactly half the length of the hull, making it very stable in the water. Combine this with high gunwales and raised casting decks and there is a ridiculous amount of under-

As such, the boat more bounced than chopped the waves and we know that it’ll ride a lot more smoothly with some real-world weight holding it down. Powered by the maximum 75hp Mercury 2.1L 4-stroke, the Velocity jumped onto the plane and displayed best economy figures at 4500rpm, where it delivered 2.4km/L of fuel burned. That’s right in the zone of what you can expect from a rig this size. Drop the hammers and the speed went up a little and the economy drops markedly. We achieved 48km/h and

s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

deck storage up the front. You can see in the images here (and in the Video Boat Test on the Fishing Monthly YouTube channel), that the biggest compartment easily swallows Rob Gaden Jr. There’s room up there as well for a couple of trolling motor batteries and of course there’s a fabricated mount for your choice of long shaft electric motor. With that 100kg or so of weight up there, the boat will feel a lot less flighty than it did on the test day. We rode this rig basically empty with a couple of 80kg humans on board as ballast.

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Main: Sea Jay’s 460 Velocity Sports brings the features of the larger Velocity models into a smaller package. This one was powered by Mercury’s rock solid 2.1L 75hp 4-stroke. Above: With a beam of 2.3m and a length of 4.6m, this hull is half as wide as it is long. The end result is that it’s pretty stable. 48km/h at WOT. It was a bit rough to open the throttle fully on the test day. At full speed expect around 2km/L. The Sea Jay arrived at the ramp on a single-axle Sea Jay trailer, manufactured by local giant, Dunbier, to Sea Jay’s specifications. Like all Sea Jay trailers, they add a year to the boat’s warranty if they’re ordered on one. And, like all Sea Jay trailers, there’s a dearth of places for salt water to pool while at rest. They like C-Section or alloy I-beams which are easily washed down after use. Basics aside, the 460 Velocity Sports is a blank canvas that you can personalise to your own needs. Factory options like upgraded steering or a factory-installed wrap will help this boat reflect your fishing personality. Then, of course, you’ll

want to add electronics. The big-boy console can hold bracket mounted units up to 16” as well as all of the switches you’ll need to control the on-board accessories. The console also comes with a rail the full way over the windscreen, giving passengers and the captain something to hold onto in less than ideal conditions. Easily towable by the family car, the little sibling in the Velocity Sports family has

all of the big boat features at a small boat price – the test rig weighed in the low to mid $30,000 and you could drop the price even more with a 60hp motor. If you want more information, make sure you check out your local Sea Jay dealer or visit them on www. seajayboats.com.au. Like them on Facebook at Sea Jay Boats and you’ll be kept up-todate on all of the latest Sea Jay releases.

PERFORMANCE RPM........................Speed........................km/L 700 ................................. 3 .......................... 2.3 1000 ............................... 5 .......................... 2.1 2000 ............................... 9 .......................... 1.7 3000 ............................. 13 .......................... 1.2 4000 ............................. 38 .......................... 2.2 4500 ............................. 46 .......................... 2.4 5000 ............................. 48 .......................... 2.1

The rear of the cockpit is clean and clear with high gunwales and offers plenty of room to fish all around the back of the boat.

The console in the 460 Vision is the same as in the 590, so it looks big. The advantage is that you can fit the same electronics in the smallest Velocity Sports as you can in the largest one.

Above: We loved the all-round grab rail on the console and the multiple seat base points. Inset: The front deck is beamy and high enough to offer great vision (pun intended about the sister Sea Jay hull).

Did someone say that there’s plenty of capacity under the decks? This space holds at least one Rupe. And maybe also a swimsuit model, although we didn’t get to test the theory.

Supplied on a Dunbier-built Sea Jay trailer, this rig – and all rigs bought with a Sea Jay trailer – gets an extra year of warranty.

The 2.1L 75hp is the smallest horsepower in that configuration, so you know it’ll be underworked and over-performing.

The test boat was basically empty, so the boat more bounced over the waves than worked to chop them like the Samurai hull does. This will be fixed by addition of all of your fishing and day-trip essentials.

Yep – that’s a wide ass. It makes this rig really stable.

That’s the beast-mode console. Plenty of dry storage underneath and room for a 16” sounder on a bracket up top. MAY 2018

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