Shades Fishing News

IT comes as no surprise that the State Government’s unveiling of its Moreton Bay rezoning plan appears to have pleased very few with a stake in what happens in the waters stretching from our Gold Coast north to Caloundra.

The ‘tough love’ approach introduced by Canberra to protect and preserve the Great Barrier Reef in 2004 generated strong emotions.

On the one hand, the zonings were hailed by conservationists in Australia and in the international community as one of the great political and scientific achievements of the past few decades, with the likes of international environmentalists Jean-Michel Cousteau and David Attenborough happily expressing their delight.

On the other hand, the zones meant fishing was banned in areas that many north Queenslanders had considered they had a birthright to fish, generating intense anger and a series of very fiery public meetings.

The State Government’s bid to protect this region’s inshore fishing stocks, with its rezoning plan due to take effect from March 1 next year, bans fishing from 16 per cent of Moreton Bay waters stretching down to the Seaway.

The Bligh Government’s intention is noble enough: to ensure ‘our grandchildren will still be able to throw in a line’ in the bay — and presumably catch something worth eating.

But typically, environmentalists believe a considerably larger part of the bay should be no-go zones while the fishing industry argues the proposed measures are over the top and is warning of shortages of local supplies and an increase therefore in imported seafood.

It is important the rest of us keep in mind what has brought southeast Queensland to this point. Few can deny that while the majority try to do the right thing, there have been cowboys raping our fish stocks over the decades, leading to a situation now where stern measures are required.

It is sad that it will mean even more bureaucracy, with bay rangers with the power to levy on-the-spot fines enforcing the new bans.

It will be not only charter operators and commercial fishermen who could be hit hard in tough economic times. As one experienced fisherman told he Bulletin yesterday, there could be collateral damage extending to bait and tackle shops and others who service the fishing and tourism industries, such as clothing manufacturers and — as the Gold Coast has witnessed already — boat manufacturers.

Cool heads are suggesting it would be more effective to introduce bag limits on species that are unrestricted at the moment.

What is evident though is that common sense should have prevailed much sooner. Instead, professional and recreational anglers are about to be hit with measures that are probably too harsh — and too late.

Source : goldcoast.com.au

The Queensland Department of Primary Industries (DPI) says snapper stocks have been dangerously over-fished from Bundaberg, in the south-east, to northern New South Wales, and seasonal closures must be introduced.

It says 760 tonnes of snapper was caught last year and the resource can only sustain 440 tonnes.

Dr Brigid Kerrigan says public meetings were held in the past two weeks with commercial and recreational fishers about ways of preserving snapper stocks.

She says recreational fishers caught more than 500 tonnes of snapper last year and they are unhappy about the possible introduction of long-term seasonal closures.

“Total closures over a year of upwards of four months for a period of 10 years to rebuild that stock,” she said.

Dr Kerrigan says decreasing bag limits or increasing size limits will not help rebuild or preserve snapper stocks and seasonal closures are the only option.

“We have very few tools that we can use to effectively reduce fishing pressure on snapper,” she said.

She says if seasonal closures are introduced snapper fishing will be banned for four months each year and the impact will be significant.

Source : ABC News

Brian Williams and Rosemary Odgers

GREEN cops with the power to fine will patrol Moreton Bay to enforce new fishing bans but conservationists say that will not be enough to protect fish stocks.

The State Government yesterday unveiled its Moreton Bay rezoning plan, which bans fishing in 16 per cent of the waters stretching from Caloundra in the north to the Gold Coast in the south.

Only half a per cent of waters are currently declared green zones.

Premier Anna Bligh said the rezoning, to take effect from March 1, 2009, would ensure “our grandchildren will still be able to throw in a line” in the bay.

But environmentalists said 30 per cent of the bay should be no-go zones, while the seafood industry slammed the news as deceptive and secretive and warned that prices would rise.

Australian Marine Conservation Society spokesman Craig Bohm said the plan provided less than half the amount of protection needed.

Eight extra officers will enforce the new no-take zones, handing out fines ranging from $300 to $1500.

Go-slow areas will be enlarged to protect dugong and turtles species and artificial reefs will be trialled.

Under the proposal, about 544sq km of Moreton Bay will be declared green zones or no-take zones, while a further 7 per cent will be yellow zones, which means commercial fishers will only be able to use fishing lines, not trawlers.

“It exposes a whopping 84 per cent of the marine park to intense fishing pressure, providing little security for local marine wildlife into the future,” Mr Bohm said.

Around 100, or about one-quarter of the commercial fishers working in the bay are expected to be forced out of the area and take up the Government’s $16 million offer to buy out their licences.

About 26 per cent of the bay had been closed to trawlers but 55 per cent will be off limits when the changes are introduced.

Moreton Bay Seafood Industry Association vice-chairman John Page said the ban would drive up prices for seafood.

“We’re going to get less seafood in the shop, and it’s going to be dearer,” he said.

Mr Page said it was equally important that recreational fishing be restrained through tough bag and size limits, otherwise the rezoning would be a waste of time.

Queensland Seafood Industry Association’s Winston Harris said the Environmental Protection Agency’s industry consultation was farcical.

“They kept the details of the plan and even the date and time of its release a total secret from the group who will be most impacted,” Mr Harris said.

“By contrast, you can be sure the EPA will have kept environmental lobby groups fully informed.”

Recreational fishing group Sunfish said it was too early to judge the impact of the changes but predicted it would “seriously impact” on local anglers.

Wildlife Preservation Society president Simon Baltais said threatened wildlife such as turtles, dugongs and shore birds faced an uncertain future.

“Coral reefs, seagrass meadows and, in fact, many special places have simply not been protected,” he said.

Professor Tor Hundloe, a scientist who compiled a report for commercial fishers, said the Government probably had it about right.

“But the real issue is the number of people living here and the way we treat the land. It’s too difficult an issue for governments who want to see more and more people and more and more development,” Professor Hundloe said.

Queensland Conservation executive director Tony Hutcheon said so many concessions had been given to fishermen the plan’s conservation benefits had been compromised.

Source: Courier Mail

A recreational fishing group has joined conservationists in criticising Wide Bay Water Corporation for failing to install a fishway over a weir in the Burrum River.

The Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council says thousands of Australian bass died because they could not get over the Burrum Weir.

The secretary of Fraser Coast Sunfish, Martin Bellert, says the whole ecosystem is being damaged because the company has not installed a transfer device.

“The Barramundi fishery in the Burrum River has declined in recent years and this is the reason why we really need that fishway to provide the reserve of stock to replenish the fish stocks in the river,” he said.

“But there’s also a whole [lot] of all the other small fishes in the food chain.”

Wide Bay Water says it will install a fish transfer system at the weir as soon as it finds one that works properly.

Source : ABC News

A memorial fishing competition will be held in south-east South Australia this week to pay tribute to one of the fishermen killed in a boating accident last month off Stansbury, on Yorke Peninsula.

The memorial will be held for Mt Gambier man, deckhand Adam Nicolai, 28.

The body of fellow Mt Gambier man, Justin Hellyer, has never been found.

The organiser of the memorial competition, Michael Gordon, says it will be held at a place where Mr Nicolai spent a lot of his spare time.

“It’s all about Adam’s life pretty much. The way he spent most of his life fishing and the enjoyment he had doing it down here,” he said.

“Most of his fishing got spent down at Livingston’s Beach, so we thought we’d have a memorial down there for him, for all families to have a bit of a think about the times they had with Adam and have a bit of fun.”

The competition will be held this Saturday at Livingstons Bay, starting at 10:00am ACDT.

Source : ABC News

KIM Martin hopes the hundreds of anglers expected at the 2008 Barra Bounty will have something to catch when they throw in a line in two weeks.

The Rocky Barra Bounty organiser has concerns about fish numbers in the Fitzroy River in the wake of reports that the floods earlier this year and high salt levels have affected the estuary’s ecosystem.

Emerald’s Ensham Mine, which was flooded in January, pumped out its pit into the Isaac, Mackenzie and Fitzroy rivers, increasing levels of sodium chloride salt.

While not harmful to humans, some fishers claimed the discharge may have contributed to a downturn in fish numbers.

Yesterday the Rockhampton Regional Council said tests showed sodium chloride levels at 118mg a litre.

“We simply won’t know how many fish are in the river until the event begins,” Mr Martin said.

“In all honesty there are many factors when it comes to fish numbers weather plays a big role along with water temperature.

“There are a lot of little fish in the river though, but they are only 12 months old and about 30cm long, so they won’t excite competitors much.

“We have concerns that there may not be a large population of fish, but we just won’t know until the event.”

Over the past nine Barra Bounties 1150 barra had been tagged and released.

He said if the warmer weather continued over the next fortnight, it could boost fish numbers by the time Barra Bounty arrived.

“Barra are a tropical fish, so they don’t move when temperatures are low,” he said.

“If we can get a nice patch of weather, say 24 degrees (Celsius), it would be a godsend.”

This year’s Rocky Barra Bounty Tag and Release Barramundi Fishing Event is scheduled to cast off on the Fitzroy River from October 23 to 25.

The competition is judged on the most metres of barramundi tagged and released.

Meanwhile, The Morning Bulletin yesterday took water samples from the Fitzroy River upstream of the barrage for testing.

This reporter collected the samples in containers given to him by scientists at CQUniversity, who will conduct the tests.

They will test for sodium chloride levels and return the results to The Morning Bulletin probably early next week.

Source : The Morning Bulletin

MORETON Bay fishermen will soon find out which parts of the bay will be made off-limits to fishing.

Sustainability Minister Andrew McNamara says he has almost finished making his preferred changes to the State Government’s draft Moreton Bay Marine Park zoning plan.

But Mr McNamara has signalled further changes might be made when the document goes to Cabinet for approval in the next two months, and warned he could be overruled if other ministers wanted to adjust proposed no-take zones.

Fishing groups have consistently attacked the government’s draft zoning plan, which proposes fishing bans in 15 per cent of the marine park, while environmentalists have called for even stronger protection to safeguard marine life.

Mr McNamara spoke about a delicate “balancing act” when he visited the Redlands last week to accept petitions from about 1400 residents concerned about planned green zones.

The petitions, launched by State Labor Member for Redlands John English, called on the Minister to scrap the suggested bans on shoreline fishing at Victoria Point and Point Talburpin.

The State Opposition ridiculed the petitions last month after discovering two other Labor backbenchers had distributed near-identical petitions in their areas.

Mr English confirmed the Minister’s staff and the Labor Party had input into the wording.

The Liberal National Party claimed a backroom deal had already been done to make the proposed changes and the petitions were simply a ploy to make the MPs appear like community heroes at the end of the process.

But Mr McNamara told the Bayside Bulletin he hadn’t yet made up his mind on the petitions and accused the LNP of being out of touch with the processes of government.

“If I could announce today, and do a photo for you, and shake John’s hand and say, ‘Yep, good on you, it’s done’, I would,” he said.

“Cabinet is not a rubber stamp. It’s a very vigorous contest of ideas. Every minister will have their fingers all over this when it’s done.”

If certain green zones were removed from the draft plan or modified, he said, other areas would have to be added to maintain the same “overall percentage”.

The comments suggest the final plan is likely to include green zones covering about 15 per cent of the Moreton Bay Marine Park - the same level of protection as the draft plan but an increase on the bay’s existing 1 per cent coverage.

Source : Redland Times

Matt Conners

THE river glistens in the afternoon sun as a pelican glides to a slow descent just off the wharf. A canoeist drifts by as a CityCat ploughs upstream.

Apart from the gentle hum of Breakfast Creek traffic, it feels a world away from the fringe-CBD setting.

So, too, does the afternoon activity. As the city winds up to peak hour, here we are sitting on the edge of the river. Fishing.

Back in the murky, polluted days of the ’70s and ’80s, the only thing you could catch in the Brisbane River was a cold. Or if you were really unlucky, cholera.

Keen anglers brave enough to wet a line faced pulling up old boots, tyres and other flotsam and jetsam dumped by the city that had turned its back on its waters. There were fish to be caught, but constant dredging and river pollution made for a difficult catch and a truly unenviable meal.

How times have changed.

Ever since river dredging halted in 1993, the dying river has reversed. Pollution minimisation of southeast Queensland waterways also has helped, and while it still has a way to go - particularly in reducing effluent outflows - the Brisbane River is at its cleanest since the early 1900s.

And the fish are back.

Brisbane-based anglers are returning to the river and catching an array of local species, including some very good eating fish. Publicly accessible pontoons, walkways and riverbanks mean you don’t even need a tinnie, making it an ideal school holiday activity to keep the kids busy.

If you are at a loss about where to start your Brisbane River fishing expedition, before you wet a line it pays to go online.

City portal ourbrisbane.com features some great places where you can fish, but if you want the real inside information, head to Brisbane Fishing Online (brisbanefishing.com.au), a community built around local recreational anglers.

And like many good ideas hatched in Brisbane, it started over a beer at the Regatta Hotel at Toowong.

Keen anglers John Petrie and Angus Gorrie were lamenting the lack of respect for our main tributary and devised a plan to hold a fishing competition, the Brisbane River Classic, with the inaugural event held in 2006. From there, BFO was born.

The site includes a wealth of information of fishing sites, hints and local fish species, but it’s the piscatorial forums where the real gold resides. Join as a novice and you’ll soon meet a bunch of anglers keen to share information and encourage others to enjoy river fishing.

Gorrie says Brisbane Fishing Online wants to promote the river as an angler’s dream. “The river is fishing unbelievably well but only the people who are doing it actually realise it,” he says. “Other people are highly sceptical but the quality and quantity of fish coming out of the river are just phenomenal.”

Species caught in the river include snapper, flathead, estuary cod, mangrove jack, jewfish, bream, moses perch and the ubiquitous Brisbane River catfish.

“You are almost guaranteed of catching one of those,” Gorrie says of the catfish. “It’s fun for the kids, at least.”

And despite catfish being considered vermin, BFO encourages catch-and-release practices with all species - even catfish - as well as obeying bag and size limits.

“We also try to raise a lot of money for stocking groups and community awareness on things like catch-and-release fishing,” Gorrie says. “We want to preserve the waterways and be able to take our kids fishing in 10 years.”

As for the eating part of fishing, some stigma of the much-maligned river remains, but Gorrie says you need to think about the fish you are catching.

“People still have very differing views on it but the simple fact is that a lot of the fish we catch in the river are migratory.

“People who put their noses up at a salmon or a snapper from the river and then buy some at the shop, there is a high chance they are buying a fish that has come in and out of the river to Moreton Bay anyway.”

One particular breed, threadfin salmon, is said to be the river’s best-kept secret.

“They’re quite a big fish and can get up to about 1.8m and 20kg in the river. Some people will spend $6000 on a charter to go up to Darwin to catch one of these things. They don’t realise there is an incredibly healthy population on their doorstep.”

Brisbane Fishing Online

BRISBANE Fishing Online has more than 3700 members who share their Brisbane River fishing tips, insights and stories about the ones that got away on a daily basis.

A few members shared their insights into Brisbane River fishing with couriermail.com.au

Name: Ash Anderson, 27

Occupation: Business Relations Officer

Suburb: Jamboree Heights

What are your favourite spots: The mouth of the Norman Creek, Moggil Ferry Park, Newstead and Breakfast Creek, Kookarabarra Park, Karana Downs

Any secrets to fishing the Brisbane River: It has a very strong tide flow. So if you are using bait, use either a very heavy sinker or float your bait by not using a sinker. Fish around bridges, creek mouths or mudbanks.

What bait do you suggest: I find mullet strip is the best all-round bait. Prawns also are good.

What types of fish do you regularly catch: Squire, Jew (Mulloway) catfish, bream, whiting, estuary cod, flathead and threadfin salmon mainly. Also the occasional shark in summer.

Do you regularly eat the fish: No, but my wife and daughter do. Pan-sized flathead, squire or threadfin seem to be the favourites at the table. Bream with lime juice isn’t too bad either. The best table fish from the river so far has been the Jewfish. Very white, clean flesh.

Name: Andy Chan, 26

Occupation: Work Force Co-ordinator

Suburb: Cannon Hill

What are your favourite spots: Newstead Park, Breakfast Creek (walkway outside Breakfast Creek Hotel) Bretts Wharf, Southbank (Along the bank under the Rock Climbing walls)

Any tips for bank fishing: Persistance

What types of fish do you regularly catch: Bream, flathead, estaury cod, threadfin salmon, Jewfish, catfish

What bait do you suggest: I mainly use lures (soft-plastics and hard-bodied lures) but you can’t go past prawn meat

Do you regularly eat the fish: Yes occasionaly, I will only keep around 1-2 fish max per fishing session as I fish for fun not for food.

Name: Kris Lubbers, 25

Occupation: Sales and parts rep

Suburb: Moggill

What are your favourite spots: I have a kayak as well but the good thing about the Brisbane River is that you can fish anywhere. If you’ve got a couple of spare hours you can throw a rod in the car and off you go. If people want to start, the parks around Jindalee and Seventeen Mile Rocks are good.

What bait do you suggest: I don’t use a lot of bait but most servos near the river sell bait. With lutres, it really depends what you are fishing for. I have more luck on plastics.

Do you regularly eat the fish: I’m not one of those fishermen who fish for a feed and you’ll find that a lot on BFO. It’s more of a fun sport than anything. It’s a great way to get out and about and meet new people.

Source: Courier Mail

KEEP up to date with the latest boating and fishing reports - Mud Island is the place to fish for snapper this week.
Fishing Report

GOLD COAST TO LOGAN
FLATHEAD are at their best throughout the southern bay, Jumpinpin and Broadwater. Some of the better areas at Jumpinpin include the steep foreshore from the eastern point of Short Island to Cobby Passage, the deeper edge of sandbanks between Kalinga Bank across to Crusoe Island and the edge of banks wide of the northern western tip of South Stradbroke.

They have been on the main channel edges of the run-out tide and move up into creek mouths and drains on the rising tide. Floating weed has been a problem for those trolling lures but it is possible to get away from it my moving out of the main channels.

Whiting catches are in the increase as the water temperature rises. There has been reasonable numbers of excellent quality fish around the green beacons towards the mouth of the Logan River known as Ageston Sands. At Jumpinpin the better fish have come from out in front of Behms Creek and on the edges of Green and Gold Bank.

The Nerang River is starting to produce good numbers and quality around the moored boats near the Gold Coast Bridge and on the edges of the main channel at the Gold Coast Council Chambers.

Sand crab numbers have increased making it worthwhile targeting them from now on. The better catches have come from the southern bay around McLeay and Garden islands but most sand areas throughout the bay are worth targeting.

Best results have come from early morning before the sun hits the water. Mud crab catches are also on the increase although there are quite a few soft shell and undersize crabs mixed in with the keepers.

Best results have come from the upper reaches of creeks and at the mouth of mangrove drains throughout Jumpinpin.

Dave “Nugget” Downie www.nuggetfishing.com.au For all the latest fishing information listen to 1116am Talk Radio 4BC from 5am-7am over the weekend.

MORETON TO BRIBIE
THIS weekend strong southwesterly winds look set to blow and make fishing in open waters not only very uncomfortable but also dangerous. If you are planning to head out for a fish the best options will be the sheltered local rivers and estuaries targeting a few flathead, whiting and bream.

Cabbage Tree and Nundah creeks should have plenty of flathead on offer at this time of the year, particularly for those willing to use soft plastics to target them. Powerbaits and Gulp have been the two plastics of choice recently with Bruiser, Nuclear Chicken and Pumpkin Seed being the general colours of choice.

For those chasing bream, all the moored trawlers near the mouth of Cabbage Tree Creek are worth a go, particularly on the run-in tide. Fresh strips of mullet fillet, peeled prawns and lightly weighted plastics are all worth a go for these fun estuary fish.

Before the wind came up out in the bay there were a few quality snapper being caught around Mud Island and the ledges throughout Moreton Bay. Again lightly weighted baits such as slimy mackerel, yakkas and yellowtail pike will be the best options, provided they are fished near the bottom or top of the tidal movement.

We are coming up to a great time for fishing Mud Island and the quality of fish should only improve over the next few weeks as the big snapper start to move in.

Around the beacons there are still reports of some big cobia getting caught both on large live baits and big chrome slugs. The best technique to target these brutes is to anchor away from any given structure and berley the fish away towards you boat to stand a better chance of stopping them.

Jason Comino, jcbayfishing@hotmail.com

SUNSHINE COAST
NOOSA: Bream and luderick are being taken from the rock walls inside the Noosa River mouth – it has been best three hours before the top of the tide to the top of the tide.

A few trevally and chopper tailor are being taken in Woods Bay on lures, flesh baits and pilchard baits. A few whiting have been coming in from the Frying Pan area on small yabbies and live worms.

Good dart and a few good bream and tailor have been taken from the deeper gutters north of Teewah – late afternoons into the night has been best. Maroochy River: The river mouth has been producing a few chopper tailor and a few school jew around the top of the tide.

A few whiting have been taken from around Chambers Island and Cotton Tree on worm baits. School jew have been taken from around the the Cod Hole and also a few chopper tailor.

It has been fishing best on the top of the tide. Good flathead are being taken from the Bli Bli reach of the river on soft plastics and pilchard baits.

Mooloolah River: Pt Cartwright rocks and the Mooloolaba rock walls have been producing tailor and good bream. Early morning has been fishing best. Pike and garfish are being taken from Cartwright Cove and La Balsa Park area – on the top of the tide has been best.

Kawana Beach has been fishing well for good whiting and dart. Mooloolaba offshore: With the offshore conditions not being good most of the fishing has been done on the close reefs.

Inner Gneerings: Good snapper, yellowtail king and grassy sweetlip have been taken on floating baits whole pilchards and flesh baits have been the best baits. Murphy’s Reef: Snapper to 5kg, just legal pearl perch, moses perch and grassy sweetlip taken on whole pilchard baits, whole squid and fresh flesh baits.

Raper Shoal: good grassy sweetlip, snapper and a few school mackerel taken drifting with whole baits. Caloundra: Bream and flathead are being taken from the crossover channel between Golden Beach and the Blue Hole on the incoming tide on live yabbies and mullet fillets. School mackerel are being taken from Dicky Beach.

The Caloundra Bar area at night has been producing a few good bream.

Caloundra offshore: Bray Rock has been producing small snapper, sweetlip and trevally on floating baits. The coffee rocks on the northern end of Bribie has snapper to 3kg.

Barry McDade, fishing guide, Sunshine Coast Offshore Fishing Service, www.scofs.com.au (07) 5437 7754.

HERVEY BAY TO BURNETT
THE forecast for this weekend is for SW winds at around the 15-20 knots and easing by Sunday afternoon. The moon is going to be in the first quarter so the tides will only be small with highs around late afternoon and early morning.

Big summer whiting are being caught on yabbies and some fish have been over 500g. Winter whiting, bream and big flathead are still abundant as well as nice tailor and a few grunter around the deep holes in the creeks and rivers.

The water temperatures are slowly rising and are now about 20C. Snapper will still be about until late September and early October and soon pelagics will show up.

Juvenile black marlin are already being caught up north and it looks like being a good season. Hopefully the winds will decrease enough and we can all get out this weekend.

Mark Bargenquast, fishing guide, 0427 230 261, www.fraserguidedfishing.com.au

CENTRAL COAST
WEATHER conditions are tricky to predict but it looks like the strong winds will start to settle down on Saturday afternoon and progressively ease to 10-15 knots but offshore sea conditions are likely to remain pretty ordinary for trailer boating beyond the Keppel islands and Rodds Bay peninsula.

Sunday will possibly be the pick of days to fish the coastal reefs, shoals and shipwrecks. These conditions generally see the offshore fishing grounds go quiet so save the fuel and try a bit closer to the ramp.

With the quarter moon phase next Monday, the tidal run is diminishing and will see angling a little easier at locations that are otherwise challenging on larger tides.

While the tide changes are not all entirely ideal, the hour or so either side of the midday high change provides an opportunity to hit the sand and weed bars around the mouths of the larger creeks for flathead, threadfin salmon and grunter.

Try the making tide in Water Park and Fishing creeks in Corio Bay for grunter, bream, whiting, threadfin and trevally. The Fitzroy River mid to lower sections have been producing a few sizeable king and blue salmon along with quality grunter and bream inhabiting the structured areas and deep holes down into the estuaries of Port Alma and The Narrows.

The level of fresh, if any, entering the region’s river systems will inherently determine the fishing prospects. There have been a few mud crabs in the mangrove creeks and although many are female, a few meaty big bucks are available.

Bait your crab pots with oily fish like mullet or bream or even give chicken thighs a go and leave them set for a full tidal phase before checking them.

The Calliope River and Anabranch is worth a look for blue salmon and bream or South Tree’s Inlet for grunter, yellowfin bream and mangrove jack with prawn, herring and mullet flesh good all round baits.

The Colosseums, Wild Cattle and Turkey Beach have seen a good run of whiting and bream with flathead and blue threadfin also a welcome catch.

Rod Griggs

FRESHWATER
AS if on queue to the warming days of spring, Lake Boondooma has had days where the bass are right on the chew. Schooled bass have kept anglers entertained with steady bites through the day.

On the good days schools can be easy to locate with active fish spread through the water column.

More often these schools will hug the bottom and can fool anglers and sounders alike. When attempting to locate these inactive schools sounding slowly can be an essential element of success.

At the slightest suggestion of possible fish, target this area. Often these “suggestions” turn into a hook up and a cluster of active bass on the sounder. Most schools are holding in 8-11m. Prime locations are the second yellow buoy, the two sunken islands, and Pelican Point.

Best method has been slow rolling jig head rigged paddle tail bass grubs through the school. At times vertical presentations (slowly winding up and down through the school) have also been successful. Slow rolling and hopping blade baits have also been effective.

The shallow water around the banks has been a little quiet but may fire up at any time. Jackall’s and spinner bait are the best option for prospecting the banks.

John Schofield, tournament angler, flytime@optusnet.com.au

OFFSHORE
THE influence of the upper trough that caused the rain and the resultant low pressure system will be sliding away down the coast progressively over the weekend leaving improving fishing weather in its wake.

If keen for a fish wait until Sunday as there will likely be a high pressure system over us late in the day with excellent offshore conditions. Again there was zilch current offshore early in the week and a good fish bite in the lead up to high tide and a few hours after.

Large line twisting teraglin put on a good show on paternosters loaded with big baits out on the 42s. Deep water jigging a mix of long metal jigs and the new generation hybrids was productive for amberjack and yellowtail kings but the crew had several good fish bitten off by sharks.

The northern end of Tempest has continued to produce good snapper and reasonable pearl perch this week with the fish well spread along the reef chain. Teraglin are in smaller schools and should still be active on the rising barometer.

The 37 fathom reef inside Square Patch will be worth a visit for amberjack on live baits and will be a good location on this moon phase for a mix of reef fish on floaters and paternosters.

There have been some big cobia caught on the 33s this week while following the whale movement along the coast.

The swell off the low pressure system should be easing considerably as it moves south, but plenty of caution will still be required on the run-out tide early Sunday morning if crossing any of the coastal bars.

Bill Corten, coastal bar crossing and offshore fishing instructor 3286 3647

MACKAY TO WHITSUNDAYS
THE forecast for Saturday is for SW/SE winds 10-15 knots, reaching 15-20 knots offshore. Sunday will have similar SE winds of 10-15 knots.

Don’t forget to check with the Bureau of Meteorology for a more up to date weather forecast if you are going fishing offshore over the weekend. The last quarter moon is on Monday night. Species to target are barramundi, mangrove jacks, blue and threadfin salmon, cod, bream, flathead, grunter and whiting.

Best spots to try will be the Gregory River, Sinclair Bay, Proserpine River, Repulse Bay, Thompson’s Creek, O’Connell River, Dempster’s Creek and the 10 Mile Creek. Live baits of mullet, prawns and herring are the favourites of these species, but fresh dead baits of the same will also produce good results.

Trolling and casting both hard body and soft plastic lures along the deep banks and holes, rock bars and other obstructions will produce good catches. The best times are the last couple of hours of the outgoing tide and the first couple of hours of the incoming tide, especially if it coincides with dawn or dusk.

When fishing up the creeks, don’t forget to put in a crab pot and you might just be rewarded with a mud crab or two.

Ken Crittenden, Whitsunday Tackle Shack, 4948 1899

TOWNSVILLE
CONDITIONS have been up and down all week with plenty of people hitting the water and heading out for a fish. Coral trout have been a little patchy although those who were prepared to up anchor and work for them did catch a good feed.

The good news is that conditions look OK on Saturday with light to moderate winds forecast but bureau says the sea breeze will be strong in the mornings so just keep that in mind. There isn’t a great deal of run in the tide this weekend and this will make fishing a little tougher.

Trout should bite OK in the deeper water with pilchards still the best for bait, there have been some great catches of redthroat emperor in the shallows mid-week so expect them to still be on the chew. They have been responding best to strips of flesh baits.

Mackerel catches have only been moderate with the water temperature still a little low, those putting in the effort have been rewarded.

Nannygai catches have been good with the deeper shoals holding good numbers, most have been small-mouth with the large-mouths a little more spread out. Places like Trunk, Loadstone and Bramble have been best.

On the inshore wrecks there have been some monster cobia caught on live baits – these fish should improve in numbers over the next few months and just love live baits. Mixed in with them are plenty of trevally which are falling to baits and jigs.

The shipping leads and inshore islands are producing a few school mackerel on floating pilchards. This weekend be sure to use a float with little run so the bait doesn’t sink to the bottom and stay there, and continually work your baits back to the boat.

Barra and jack catches have been good in the Ross, Haughton and Bohle rivers and Hinchinbrook Channel with fish falling to live baits and lures.

Scott Hillier. Catch Scott on Friday night on Seven local news Townsville and Cairns and Fridays between 9-10am on Sea-FM

CAIRNS
MODERATE weather during the week has allowed several boats to fish the blue water and some good fish have been caught. Reef fishing has really started to fire with the large-mouth nannygai back on the bite and coral trout starting to feed up ready for their first spawn.

A variety of other bottom fish including spangled emperor, small-mouth, cod and trevally are also keeping bottom anglers happy. Pelagic fishing has also been hot with plenty of small black marlin on the wide grounds and some quality spanish mackerel are also in the same vicinity.

The Cairns Inlet is still alive with big schools of banana prawns and fishing is improving quickly as water temperatures increase.

Mangrove jacks and fingermark are back on the bite and barramundi will also be smashing lures again in the very near future. Big giant trevally have also moved back into the Russell River and are being taken on poppers and surface lures.

Saturday looks like being a good day on the water with winds forecast at 10-15 knots south of Cairns, but always check the latest report before heading to sea as conditions are continually changing.

Robert Erskine, Erskine’s Tackle, Cairns, 4051 6099

FRESHWATER NORTH
WITH a large rise in temperature over the last week the barramundi have become more aggressive and an increase in catch rate is filtering through from all the major dams.

Larger concentrations of bait are also starting to show up and all indications are that if we get some calm days the next few weeks should see some top fishing in the impoundments.

At the moment most of the activity is in the shallows with the big barra taking a mixture of lightly weighted soft plastics and shallow running lures.

Anchor in 1.5-2m of water and cast to the shallows slowly working the lure over the weed beds or along the drop-offs. According to the staff at Tackleworld Townsville, the weirs in the Ross River have also started to fish well with barra up to 1m and the occasional mangrove jack and tarpon being caught.

The Russell, Mulgrave, Johnstone, Liverpool, Tully and Herbert rivers are fishing well with good numbers of sooty grunter and the occasional jungle perch taking a variety of lures ranging from soft plastics to poppers.

Try to time your trip from mid to late afternoon to take advantage of the slightly warmer afternoon water temperatures.

Roly Newton, Barrier Reef Tackle Village, Tully, 4068 1604

Source: Courier Mail

Earlier in the week, as calm conditions prevailed, the outer reefs were just too much of a temptation.

Snapper were in excellent numbers and sensational size at The Hards: plenty of “knobbies” about 3kg-5kg and a number at 7kg.

The Barwon Banks also fired, with excellent snapper to 7kg, plus samson fish and mowong.

Double Island Point was also worth the effort.

Angler Ben Nothling and his mates blitzed the area with 7’ Gulp soft plastics, boating spangled emperor to 7kg, parrot fish, pearl perch, snapper Maori cod and cobia.

At North Reef there were yellowfin tuna, yellowtail kingfish and Maori cod on the bite, Sunshine reef produced Maori cod and sweetlip and Laguna Bay cobia and juvenile mackerel were active at Little Hall’s Reef.

The Noosa Offshore Fishing Club meets on the last Wednesday of each month at The Villa Noosa Hotel, presenting guest speakers and specialised information nights.

For more details call Greg at Davo’s on 5449 8099.

In the river, quality whiting are dotted about but not in huge numbers, while luderick are still on the bite at the river mouth.

Coolum “cabbage” is the main attraction to these feisty fish at the river-mouth car park rocks.

There’s plenty of trevally action in The Woods bays plus the odd tailor, a few mangrove jacks responding to live baits around the back of Noosa Sound and the odd flathead in Weyba Creek around 65cm.

Marcus Beach produced good tailor this week: top weight 3kg. And Sunrise Beach produced whiting and tarwhine.

Win a $200 full-day offshore charter at Davo’s with Noosa Blue Water Charters for Father’s Day. Any purchase goes into the draw.

Visit www.fishingnoosa. com.au for more tips and reports.

Source: Sunshine Coast Daily