BNB Fishing mag | Jun 2017

What to expect this winter

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June 2017 Print Post Approved PP100001534 Volume 28, Number 6

Showtime for snapper

Staying safe on coastal bars Winter whiting Offshore action Freshwater features Squidding Moreton Bay How to find more flathead All systems go on Gold Coast Proudly produced and printed in Australia

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Page 2 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

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Inside this month Moreton Bay

Stanage Bay

P40

P10

Squidding

Impoundment bass

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OUR COVER

G IN

FISH ING ’S

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☛ continued P4

Phone (07) 3286 1833 Fax (07) 3821 2637 Email: ben@bnbfishing.com.au Internet: www.bnbfishing.com.au PO Box 387, Cleveland, Qld 4163 Unit 2, 39 Enterprise Street, Cleveland, Qld 4163 AFTA PRINTER: Rural Press, Ormiston DISTRIBUTION BY: Fairfax Max. recommended retail price $4.50 (includes GST).

CORRESPONDENTS: Editorial contributions are welcome, as is news from clubs, associations, or individuals; and new product news from manufacturers. Entire contents copyright. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. It is the responsibility of advertisers to ensure the correctness of their claims and statements. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

RA

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EDITOR: Ben Collins ADVERTISING: Ben Collins, Kacie Hubbert PRODUCTION: Jo Hendley, Daniel Tomlinson

AUST

JULY edition will be on sale in newsagents from June 23. See subscriber offer on Page 72 to go in the draw to win a super-cool Techniice three-icebox combo with a total value of over $430.

Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine is published monthly by Collins Media Pty Ltd ABN 43 159 051 500 ACN 159 051 500 trading as Collins Media.

E TUR FU

Ben Smith picked up these cracking snapper offshore from the Gold Coast once the cooler weather started to kick in. For more on what’s biting on the Gold Coast, see WAYNE YOUNG’S article on Page 20.

these fish, which will normally be found in small numbers and even solo.

Finding these fish on the sounder first and then casting soft plastics, vibes or trolling hardbodies is a great way to target them.

It can be very challenging at times, but this can make it even more rewarding when a solid jewie smacks your lure.

In the upper reaches of the local waterways, it’s possible to scan the entire width of the river with a side-scan feature on your sounder.

Setting the side scan on the shortest distance possible will give better clarity and show bait and fish as larger and more defined objects.

Sometimes it can be very hard to get a bite from jewfish, depending on their mood.

A lot of jewies will only feed for a short period.

One day they will be everywhere and feeding aggressively and the next day they can be gone or shut down.

It can be very difficult to get fish to bite when they don’t want to.

If I find good numbers of fish that won’t bite, I’ll try a few different things before moving on.

Changing lures can work well.

My go-to soft plastic is the Z-Man 3” MinnowZ. This little plastic catches amazing numbers of big fish and will often be the first lure I throw at species including jewfish and threadfin salmon.

On the days when the fish are fussy, I’ll change to a larger-profile paddle tail or prawn imitation such as the 3” ShrimpZ. If these don’t get a bite,

ATI ON

around southeast Queensland are in good condition following the floods.

The baitfish have pushed back upstream and are widespread, giving anglers the option to target a variety of areas in search of hungry predators.

Big jewfish push a long way upstream in search of food during winter.

A good sounder can make it easy to locate

CI

The days are shorter and the water temperature will drop dramatically.

Towards the end of June, water temperatures may get below 15C in the smaller creeks.

Species including flathead, bream, tailor, jewies and threadfin salmon really fire in these temperatures.

The rivers and creeks

Local Luring

by KEITH STRATFORD

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INTER is finally upon us and with it comes a variety of new options in southeast Queensland.

Jewies, flathead and more ......by Keith Stratford................................P3 Boating Safety .............................by Bill Corten .......................................P7 Turtle rescue ................................by Daniel Vallis ...................................P9 Southern Moreton Bay ..............by Sean Conlon .................................P10 Moreton Bay and offshore........by Lachie Baker ................................P12 What to expect this winter.......... by Peter Herbst........................................P13 Offshore from Brisbane................. by Jordan ‘Grinner’ Koschel...............P14 Winter whiting.............................by Sean ‘Skip’ Thompson ...............P16 All systems go on Gold Coast.....by Wayne ‘Youngy’ Young ..............P20 Gold Coast creeks ......................by Heath Zygnerski ..........................P21 Mixing it up with metals...........by Brad Smith ....................................P22 Tweed Coast.................................by Gavin Dobson ...............................P24 Fish firing around Ballina ........ by Brett Hyde.....................................P26 Mulloway and tailor...................by Tye Porter ......................................P27 Deep dropping for bar cod .......by Jason ‘Birdy’ Bird .......................P30 Big jew and flathead .................by Nathan ‘Nath’ Palmer ................P32 Sunshine Coast............................by Wade Qualischefski...................P34 Plenty on the chew off DI .........by Craig Tomkinson .........................P35 Competition Report.................... by Melissa Frohloff..........................P36 Tips for big tuna...........................by Tri Ton .............................................P38 Flathead around Bundy .............by Brad Young ...................................P39 Stanage Bay .................................by Von Ireland....................................P40 Gladstone Region....................... by Gary Churchward .......................P41 Squid Rowe Trophy 2017 ...........by Mick Clutterbuck ........................P42 Trevally and queenies................by Zac Charlton .................................P46 Product News .............................................................................................P47 Charter Directory ................................................................................. P47,48 Squidding in Moreton Bay .......by Tom Laszlo ....................................P50 Kayaking & Canoeing ................by Darren Rama ................................P51 Kayaking the canals...................by Jack Burling.................................P52 Brute barra and GTs ...................by Todd Eveleigh ..............................P53 Cape York firing...........................by Matt Potter ....................................P54 Fishing Cape York estuaries ....by ‘Billabong’ Bazz Lyon .................P55 Trip of a lifetime ..........................by Lindsay Tomlinson ......................P56 4WDing & Outdoors ...................by Paul ‘Chief’ Graveson ................P57 Preparing the 4WD .....................by Craig Tomkinson .........................P58 Family Camping ...........................by Leeann Payne...............................P59 Recipe ........................................... by Melissa Frohloff..........................P60 Somerset Dam .............................by Andrew Mitchell.........................P61 B.A.S.S. Australia Nation..........by Drew McGrath .............................P62 Surface lures in streams...........by Noal Kuhl ......................................P63 Readers Forum.............................................................................................P64 Monduran barra ......................... by Donna Gane .................................P65 Freshwater Impoundments ..... by Matthew Langford......................P66 Maroon Dam................................ by Steve Wilkes ...............................P67 Competition Reports...................by Russell Nowland.........................P68 Wonderful winter fishing .........by Brian Dare.....................................P69 Fishing Around Oz ......................by Neil Schultz ..................................P70 Trading Post.................................................................................................P71 Drone fishing for barra ............. by Billy Gibbons ...............................P72 Subscription form ......................................................................................P72

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June a joyous month in southeast Queensland

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PRO TE CT

Jarryd Corney found this quality jewfish on his sounder before enticing it to eat his lure.

N

ET-FREE fishing zones have been a hot topic lately, with a strong push from parts of the recreational sector for more of these zones.

HIN G T R A D E

Currently there are three net-free zones in Queensland around the cities of Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton.

These zones were introduced in November 2015.

Some sectors of the recreational fishing community have been pushing hard for additional net-free zones in Hervey Bay and Moreton Bay. It is worth noting that while the areas are called ‘net-free’ zones, crabbing, line fishing and trawling are still allowed where they were permitted previously.

This has meant little or no impact on the supply of prawns, crabs, reef fish and many pelagic fish in these areas.

However, the draft risk assessment on the net-free zones, which is currently being put together, highlights something I seem to continuously harp on about, which is the need for better management of the fishery.

The draft report states the following: “A serious lack of compliance in the fishery to ecologically sustainable development principles is still evident as of 2017, despite there having been five other significant, independent reviews of the fishery, or parts of it, since 2008. All five studies identify a level of lack of compliance so serious as to question the legality of the fishery continuing without further urgent management reform.”

I read this as we need to get rid of the rogue commercial and recreational anglers who are exploiting and pilfering ‘our’ waterways.

I know the fishery is not an easy thing to manage, especially as different political parties seem to be in power on a regular basis, but action needs to occur, otherwise we will not have one in years to come.

A reform I definitely think needs to happen is the banning of netting in marine park yellow zones.

The fact this is still allowed beggars belief.

I’m not against commercial netting, in fact far from it, but some common sense needs to be used.

I think we need commercial netting but it needs to be better regulated.

For example, I, like many others I’m sure, buy a bit of bait, especially mullet for crab pots, which would have been supplied by a commercial netter.

However, netting below a stocked impoundment after water flows over dam walls should not be allowed.

I recently spoke to BNB Fishing scribe and Gold Coast local Brad Smith who travelled to Bundaberg to fish the river below Lake Monduran after the spill.

Unfortunately, the commercial netters got there a day or two earlier and were boasting they had pulled about five tonnes of barramundi out of the system in a couple of days.

The crazy thing is these fish were more than likely paid for by recreational anglers buying their Stocked Impoundment Permits.

Again, this should not be happening.

One way to fix the problem could be to makes areas like this a recreational angler-only fishery for a couple of months after the event.

This is just one of the many issues that reinforces the need for much better management of our fishery.

These barra would have been worth much more to the economy and fishing industry in general if recreational anglers had been given the chance to catch even a small percentage of them.

Ben Collins

April prizewinner Congratulations to Brad Smith, Redland Bay who has won an All 4 Adventure Rhino Rack Swag valued at $599.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 3

June a joyous month in southeast Queensland ☛ from P3

Josh Robinson trolled up this trevally on a Micro Mullet in a canal.

I’ll try a blade or soft vibe.

Another option worth trying is trolling hardbodies through the fish.

Trolling is often overlooked by many anglers, but it can get the bites when casting and jigging doesn’t work.

Flathead Flathead will show up in big numbers in the local systems this month.

The colder the water temperatures get, the harder they will bite, so the next couple of months are the time to chase these tasty treats.

Flathead can be caught using a number of techniques.

When they are feeding aggressively, they can be

quite easy to capture.

Casting and vertically jigging soft plastics works well, as does trolling small diving hardbodied lures.

Drifting well-presented baits also does the trick on flathead.

They like a moving target, so keeping your bait or lure moving will get you much better results.

This is a perfect time of year to take the kids or a friend out to catch their first fish on a lure, and flathead are an excellent species on which to introduce anglers to lure fishing.

I really enjoy trolling small hard-bodies in winter.

Flathead love eating these little things and it’s a perfect way to rack up

large numbers of fish.

Kids tend to like trolling because it gives them something to watch and it normally doesn’t take too long to get a fish.

It’s a great way to catch a variety of species and it’s not uncommon to land multiple species during a session.

Trolling sand flats limits the amount of by-catch you will come across.

The occasional bream and whiting will turn up but flathead will be the most common fish you come across.

I like trolling canals.

The variety is amazing.

Bream, flathead, estuary cod, mangrove jack, trevally, moses perch, jewfish, tarpon and a stack of others regularly turn up when trolling small lures.

Light gear allows the lures to swim to their full potential.

The only problem with using a light outfit is you will find yourself in a bit of trouble if a mangrove jack, big cod or solid jewie finds your offering too hard to pass up.

Occasionally a little bit of luck will come your way and the fish will find its way into the net, but on most occasions a decent jack will make short work of it.

However, that’s all part of the fun.

The best lure I’ve come across for this technique is the Lively Lures Micro Mullet.

This small lure catches huge numbers of fish and I think most anglers have one or two in their arsenal.

Leader size depends on the country you are trolling.

If it’s sand flats, you will get away with a 1012lb leader.

Occasionally a big fish will rub through a leader of this size during a prolonged battle, but it will handle most fish you come across.

June signals the start of a few months of great fishing in southeast Queensland.

Get out on the water and enjoy the action.

I hope to see you out there.

The pink and purple Micro Mullet is a good producer when trolling.

Kathryn Bruder landed this flathead on a Micro Mullet while trolling a Sunshine Coast canal.

Page 4 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

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Brothers out of pocket more than $11,000 for crabbing offences

T

WO brothers were fined more than $6000 after pleading guilty in the Cleveland Magistrates’ Court to using excess crab pots in a Moreton Bay Marine Park conservation zone.

The brothers, aged 18 and 19, were intercepted in a targeted operation

by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service officers and Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol Officers.

QPWS principal ranger Alan Dyball said they were intercepted on the water in the Pumicestone Passage - Goodwin Beach conservation park zone off Sandstone Point following two days of surveillance.

“One brother was observed and recorded working 23 crab pots on the day of intercept while the other brother was observed and recorded working 15 crab pots,” Mr Dyball said.

“Under the Marine Parks (Moreton Bay) Zoning Plan 2008, fishers are limited to a maximum of four crab pots per person in conservation park zones.”

Mr Dyball said the brothers admitted they had worked their crab pots in the conservation zone for at least two weeks prior to being intercepted.

“Thirty crab pots and 53 sand crabs were seized

as part of the operation,” he said.

“The majority of crab pots were not compliant with identification requirements under the Fisheries Act 1994, so they were also issued with infringement notices by QBFP. “One brother was fined $4000 for two counts of wilfully entering or using a marine park for a prohibited purpose (contrary to section 43 Marine Parks Act 2004).

“The other brother was fined $2500 for one count of wilfully entering or using a marine park for a prohibited purpose (contrary to section 43 Marine Parks Act 2004).

“Both brothers were also ordered to pay $750 in court costs and $1510.50 in investigative costs.”

Mr Dyball said the men admitted using extra crab pots purely to increase their catch.

“Both brothers hold current Queensland commercial fisher licences and it is disappointing that these wilful offences have occurred,” he said.

“Illegal activity such as this steals from everyone and ultimately impacts on the catches of honest commercial and recreational fishers.

“These fines are a deterrent to anyone who thinks they can break the rules designed to protect our

marine parks and fishing resources.

“Fishers must comply with the rules and vessels can be boarded at any time by QPWS officers or QBFP officers.

“The community plays a very important role as the eyes and ears of our parks and resources.”

Anyone wishing to report illegal fishing activity can contact Fishwatch on 1800 017 116, or to report other illegal activity in the park, contact 13 QGOV (13 74 68).

As no conviction was recorded, under the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 the government is unable to name the defendants in this case.

Island fishing on a whole new scale ■ ARB Moreton Island Fishing Classic – August 23-27

W

ITH over $65,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs, the annual ARB Moreton Island Fishing Classic is a must for anyone who loves fishing, and it’s no secret that last year’s comp was the best yet, so clearly word is getting around!

With so much cash and so many prizes to be won, the prize pool is an attractive one.

Four-wheel-drive accessories and fishing and camping gear from a whole range of the best in the business will be up for grabs, and you can be sure there is something in there for you!

Aside from the prizes and cash, Moreton Island really is the ultimate destination for a fishing competition.

Think endless beaches, warm August conditions, easy beachside camping

and friendly weigh-ins and you’ve got the ARB Moreton Island Fishing Classic pegged!

But don’t forget the kids, because the competition between the young’uns is fierce.

Junior entrants (5-15 years) have a separate competition, so make sure you bring the kids over for a whole lot of family fun.

In 2016, Meade Murphy’s long-standing mulloway record was finally broken, with Kane Maley reeling in a bruiser at 9.93kg, so don’t be fooled, serious records are waiting to be broken here.

Be prepared to hit the beach early or stay well after dark to give yourself the best chance of catching a big one.

But with six different categories of fish and daily weigh-ins, there’s room for everyone.

Review of import conditions for prawns and prawn products

T

HE Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources is undertaking a review of the import conditions for prawns and prawn products for human consumption.

The review will consider the biosecurity risks for these imports from all countries and recommend appropriate import conditions to manage these.

This review will be conducted through a comprehensive nonregulated risk analysis of existing import conditions and policy, including the current Generic Import Risk Analysis Report for Prawns and Prawn Products, which was finalised in 2009.

It is common practice to review import conditions to ensure risks are appropriately managed in a changing biosecurity environment.

The review will take into account the best available scientific information, international standards de-

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veloped by the World Organisation for Animal Health as well as policies adopted by other countries for the importation of these products.

The department will use external resources and experts as necessary to undertake the review and may include requesting advice or information from the Scientific Advisory Group.

It will identify and categorise hazards of biosecurity concern associated with the importation of these products.

Risk assessments of disease agents will be undertaken as required.

The department will then prepare a draft report, which will be published on agricul ture.gov.au before consulting with stakeholders and inviting comment.

Following the consultation period, the department will consider feedback in preparing a final report.

The comp this year runs from Wednesday, August 23 (fishing starts at midnight) through to the final weigh-in on Sunday, August 27, so you can catch the big one and still be back for work on Monday.

Make sure you hang around at the launch event on the opening evening

(August 23) not just for the free barbecue, live music and random prize draws but also to get some tips from the celebrity guests.

Entrants are also eligible for special discounts on the MICAT 4WD ferry.

For more information and bookings, head to moretonislandfishing classic.com.au and sign

up for event updates and more.

You’ll need to get in early to secure your entry and your preferred ferry times, so if you haven’t booked your entry into this year’s comp, it’s time (for lack of a better term) to pull your finger out!

Look forward to seeing you there!

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Page 6 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

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CONTACT YOUR NEAREST DEALER BRISBANE (BAYSIDE)

BRISBANE (NORTH)

Wynnum Marine 31 Fox Street Wynnum, QLD T: 3396 9777

Brisbane Yamaha Bruce Highway Burpengary, QLD T: 3888 1727

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If you haven’t done your homework, reality soon sets in when you get there.

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BRISBANE (SOUTH)

Northside Marine 2294 Sandgate Road Boondall, QLD T: 3265 8000

Stones Corner Marine 117 Old Cleveland Road Stones Corner, QLD T: 3397 9766

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BUNDABERG

GLADSTONE

Bundaberg Marineland 95 Targo Street Bundaberg, QLD T: 4130 0500

Curtis Coast Marine 40 Chapple Street Gladstone, QLD T: 4972 0135

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GOLD COAST (NORTH)

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Broadwater Boating Centre 46 Brisbane Road Labrador, QLD T: 5529 1777

Stefan Boating World 27 Waterway Drive Coomera, QLD T: 5665 8400

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GOLD COAST (SOUTH)

GYMPIE

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HERVEY BAY

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How to stay safe on coastal bars I

T has been an interesting month offshore, with reef fish biting very well now the water is cooling.

We have seen large amberjack, parrotfish have been firing consistently, pearlies are far more abundant and snapper responded strongly following the initial bursts of southwesterly wind.

Snapper numbers have been more noticeable on most reef systems as we head into winter, but the average size is still at the smaller end of the scale.

While it is all good positive news on the fishing front, the big downer of the month was the charter vessel rollover on South Passage Bar. A horrific and haunting experience for all those on board, my heart goes out to the skipper, crew, passengers and owner of the vessel who have had to endure every aspect of what happened.

Some stories of bravery and strong mateship have surfaced following the incident in the 9.4m boat, with loads of support for all involved, and it really highlights how fickle and cruel the sea can be at times.

Rather than dwell on that incident, let’s put some focus on what we can all do collectively as boat owners to avoid getting into trouble around our coastal bars.

I have witnessed some crazy antics on the bar recently and heard the stories first-hand from the person who had a swim on the bar after falling out of his small boat while attempting to get over a monster swell and from the guys who had to get out of a big boat that ran aground on the bar and push it off the sandbank while the skipper stood around shouting instructions after his failed shortcut.

None of this relates to good seamanship, but how prepared would you be if something unexpectedly went wrong around the bar?

Doing your homework on which channel is best for the conditions on the day is a great start, as is acknowledging your limitations as the skipper and your boat’s capabilities.

Depending on your level of experience, the old maxim

Boating Safety

by BILL CORTEN

when you get to the bar should be first and foremost: “If in doubt, don’t go out,” followed by: “Tell someone where you are going.”

Lifejackets are important and the last two guys to drown on South Passage on Australia Day 2011 in an ugly little 1.2m easterly swell on a roaring runout tide would likely still be alive if they had worn their lifejackets that day.

For the 21 years that I have been providing hands-on bar crossing training in my own commercially registered vessels, virtually every person has worn a manual-inflation life-

jacket for the period we are around the swells on the bar.

Having said that, I admit I don’t always insist on wearing one if crossing to go fishing on a small swell day, but my clients jacket up whenever an element of danger exists.

A fundamental question I always ask at the boat ramp is: “Can everyone swim and does anyone have any injuries that I need to take into account?”

If so, it is one of my rules that those people wear a lifejacket on my boat while crossing the bar, regardless of the conditions.

Further, I wouldn’t object to

Jack Kennedy volunteers at Marine Radio Manly to help keep boaties safe. The radio room setup is a modern facility that fills an important gap in the marine radio network Monday to Friday.

Pieter Eksteen (front left) took nearly an hour to land this 1.7m amberjack on a floated three-hook mullet fillet rig. Pictured with him is his father Pieter (senior) at rear, his brother Fourie and his son PJ.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 7

How to stay safe on coastal bars ☛ from P7

Chris Jones with a school-size AJ hooked on live bait.

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it being made mandatory to wear lifejackets while crossing coastal bars in all boats in Queensland because this would massively reduce the safety risk when things go wrong.

There are the little things we can all do, such as being able to access safety equipment easily in the event of a rollover, having flares in a grab bag where they can be readily accessed and carrying a registered GPS EPIRB that is water activated.

These are all considerations that have come up in discussion with people I have accidentally come across on upturned boats on the bar over the years spent out there doing training.

Others that come to mind are: does your boat have a self-draining deck?

Does it have sufficient flotation to keep the boat upright or even floating upside down in the event of it filling with water?

Is your bilge pump capable of getting rid of a lot of water ingress in a hurry if swamped?

Do you have an adequate first-aid kit?

Importantly, do you have a plan of action in the event of something going drastically wrong?

Does anyone actually know you are crossing the bar?

Can you get out a mayday in an emergency?

Do you have a backup plan such as a waterproof phone or one in a waterproof case if your radio is rendered inoperable?

This is one of the reasons I run a Telstra Tough Max Android phone.

In its contacts are numbers I pre-loaded for multiple rescue organisations that cover before, during and after hours.

Far from being paranoid, the safety aspects of crossing bars are something I keep refining based on experience.

As an aside, I recently attended an Australian Maritime Safety Authority presentation on EPIRBs with a focus on it not being permissible to stow your EPIRB in the cabin so it is more easily accessible in an emergency.

Mine has always been kept in a cockpit bracket adjacent to the helm and that is another means of being on the front foot

with safety around coastal bars.

It is also very advisable to inform the crew of the location of all the key safety equipment on board, as they have a right to know too, especially in the event the skipper suffers an unforeseen medical issue.

Despite everything mentioned so far, the major item that most people overlook is to log on and off with a volunteer marine rescue organisation.

A lot of people are uncomfortable about getting on the VHF radio to log on and off, but it is an important means of communicating details of your trip and letting someone who counts know of your whereabouts.

Most people who come out with me admit they never or very rarely use their marine radio, let alone log on and off.

Logging on before crossing the bar, and radioing in to advise completion of a safe crossing lets someone know you are crossing the bar and that you made it safely through.

If contact cannot be established, a range of options can be exercised to ascertain why not and initiate rescue action if appropriate.

This is in part why you are asked to provide a mobile phone number when logging on.

We have some local 24-hour stations, so if available, log on with them or any of the other volunteer marine groups during regular hours.

On weekends, we have good radio coverage in southeast Queensland, but weekdays are another story.

No volunteer marine radio operation provides service between Jacobs Well and Redcliffe, with the exception of Marine Radio Manly, operating from the radio room at the Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club.

For the many of us who cross a bar prior to the volunteer marine radio services coming on air for the day, or for those who simply aren’t confident using their radio or who don’t want to create extra radio traffic, a great phone app called Boat Beacon is the next best option.

It allows electronic log on and off and even sends

you a text confirming your log on or off has been successful.

For anyone in southeast Queensland, providing you have mobile phone coverage, you can register the Boat Beacon number you receive when registering the app with the nearest group that uses it.

Currently these groups are: Marine Radio Manly, Coast Guard Mooloolaba, Coast Guard Tin Can Bay and Coast Guard Sandy Straits, but any other organisation can opt to join the network to make things safer for everyone, and no costs are involved.

The group of your choosing will enter your vessel details and Boat Beacon number in its marine electronic radio log and will then be ready to receive your electronic log-on for either local trips or transiting trips along the coastline in the area of coverage.

To log on for routine use, I access Boat Beacon on my phone and enter my details in the ‘Trip Details’ section of the app and then press the ‘sailing ship’ icon on the map page to log on.

I then receive a text from Marine Radio Manly confirming the log-on, or if Manly is closed it transfers my log-on to Coast Guard Mooloolaba, the next 24-hour station on the system.

Once Manly opens for the day, the log-on is sent

to the team members there and they will continue to monitor as your vessel appears as an icon on their electronic map as per an AIS-registered vessel.

You can make alterations to your ETA and destination on the app.

To log off, simply turn off the app.

You will then receive a text confirming you are logged off.

If you are overdue on your ETA, a text will be generated to remind you and if after a further two hours you have not altered the ETA or logged off, the water police will be informed and a search and rescue will begin.

If you are in trouble, the Manly crew can click the ‘on screen’ Boat Beacon number to reveal on an electronic chart the last point of transmission from the device, and this is a good place to start a search and rescue.

A number of people think this system is a game changer for encouraging people to log on, as it is so easy to use.

The app uses very little download data but the phone’s GPS chip uses power and in any event I always carry a 12V charger in my boat in case of low battery power.

If you are like me and don’t want to flag where your boat is while fishing with an AIS-driven system, the app is perfect for logging on at the ramp,

or anywhere with phone coverage, and I then like to log off well outside the bar but where I still have phone reception to protect my fishing location from prying eyes.

If there is a problem, there is a record of where I have been and where and when transmission stopped.

For real emergencies, nothing is better than the VHF radio for communication, with a mobile phone as backup.

While the mobile phone system offshore has plenty of black spots, I use a mobile aerial and patch lead on my ‘Blue Tick’ phone for extended range in black-spot areas, and if all else fails I can always fall back on the EPIRB. While on the bandwagon, I will stick my neck out a bit further and suggest it would do a lot of boaties a world of good to complete a radio operator’s course and become conversant with the appropriate use of their radio and on-board systems in an emergency.

Why not give Jack Kennedy from Marine Radio Manly a call on 0419 675 180?

The course might just save your butt one day.

If you are interested in gaining high-quality hands-on experience crossing coastal bars safely in a boat filled with upright foam flotation, just give me a ring on 0447 233 247.

Approximate log-on area for the Boat Beacon app with Marine Radio Manly.

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Turtle rescue in the mangroves ■ Crabbing by hand

F

OR many years, I’ve been walking in the mangroves hunting for mud crabs by hand.

I learnt the technique from my good mate Kim. His father shared decades of knowledge with him, mainly in terms of regarding mangroves as a living system, and if you treat the system with

Moreton Bay

by DANIEL VALLIS

respect, you will reap the rewards of what it has to offer.

I took what I learnt to heart and through years of testing theories I have worked out a specific period of the moon phase

Peter was happy with this decent buck.

A little muddy caught just before finding the turtle.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

that is absolutely perfect for crabbing by hand.

By only going once every three months to each spot and constantly rotating to different grounds, I’ve been able to maintain healthy and very sustainable areas where the volume of bucks is not depleted enough to interfere with breeding.

Wellington Point is one of my favourite spots around Brisbane.

On a recent journey there, I spotted a large creature in the distance.

Upon closer inspection, I realised it was a giant sea turtle.

Walking over to it, I thought it was going to be yet another dead turtle at Wellington Point.

Unfortunately, I have become somewhat numb to the number of dead turtles I’ve seen in the mangroves over the years.

As I approached the turtle, I was infuriated when I noticed a crab pot float and rope had wrapped around its rear flipper.

It had been twisting around and around when the turtle would try to swim, becoming tighter and turning into a tourniquet that was destroying

the turtle’s flipper.

I’m not a conservationist, but I challenge anyone to stand in my shoes at that moment and not have negative thoughts about the impact we are having on marine life when you see an amazing creature in this condition.

I knelt down and ran my hand over the turtle’s shell and then my heart stopped as the turtle lifted her head and made direct eye contact with me, as if she was asking for help.

I called out to my mate for help, and we got straight on our phones and Googled ‘Moreton Bay turtle rescue’.

Several numbers came up but no matter how many times we rang, the calls went unanswered.

The turtle was quite a way from the water, and with the neap tides approaching and an already high tide at our feet, we made the decision to rescue the turtle ourselves.

Once I cut away the rope, the turtle started to become more active, which was a great sign that she still had energy to survive.

Her flipper was in pretty miserable condition, without any flesh or blood left and only some skin and cartilage remaining.

So I felt pretty confident there was no ‘bad blood’ in the flipper to go back

into the turtle’s system.

Deep water was a good 100m away, so our next challenge was getting her there.

I remembered that earlier in our journey we had seen an old wrecked fibreglass boat frame and a decent length of thick rope, so I had an idea to make a sled from this debris.

Not knowing if it would even work, I grabbed my axe and took off.

I always carry an axe for those instances when a mud crab may latch onto my finger or hand.

It’s my pocket-sized ‘limb saver’ for when they don’t let go on their own (why do I keep doing this!?).

I cut the broken boat hull down to a more usable size and attached the rope.

My mate gave me a hand to lift the turtle onto her side as we slid the sled into place and he ended up copping an absolute flogging from her front flipper.

This old girl still had plenty of fight left.

Other than that, the operation was surprisingly easier than we had expected.

By chance, the rope had a decent sized loop that made it easy to put around my hips and haul the sled across the mud with ease.

It was a success! ☛ continued P10

The sea turtle was 1m long and weighed close to 100kg.

The author’s impromptu sled worked perfectly. It was a relief to see the big turtle swim away.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 9

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Matt caught this bay island squire while drifting rubble grounds and working a Zerek Live Flash Minnow Wriggly.

Southern Moreton Bay improving T HE water that came out of the Logan River certainly was dirty and it’s taken a while for it to tidy up.

It’s still pretty dirty at the bottom of the tides but reasonably clean water

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Sean trolled up this trevally on a Zerek 5m-diving Ripper Diver.

WITH SEAN CONLON

can be found around the bay islands at the top of the tide.

I’ve been looking for nice clean water, which I’ve been able to find around Peel and Goat islands.

In these areas I’ve mainly been targeting bait schools by trolling hardbodies to see if we can get the odd mackerel or tailor.

So far all the mackerel have been undersize, or if they were legal, the sharks made short work of them.

A few reasonable-sized tailor from 50-55cm have been mixed in too.

If you decide to try this sort of fishing, the first thing you will need to do is find good bait schools.

The next is to use hardbody lures.

I’ve been finding the 89mm Zerek Tango Shads and Ripper Divers have been working well.

Our successful trolling speed has been about four knots.

Be prepared to catch a lot of grinners between the quality fish.

To prevent bite-offs, I find a 3-6kg rod with 1520lb braid and 20lb leader with a bit of wire on a

Southern Moreton Bay

by SEAN CONLON

metal clip suffices.

We have also been scraping up a feed by working the rubble grounds around the bay islands, mainly on mid to high tides in cleaner water.

The water is still pretty dirty on the bottom of the tide.

I’ve mainly used plastics to chase bay island squire/ snapper, bream, grassy sweetlip and tailor.

Soft plastics that have been working best are Zerek Live Minnow Flash Wrigglies, Live Shrimp Hot Legs and Gobblers Curl Grubs.

The darker colours have performed better because the water is somewhere from green to dirty depending on what part of the tide you’re fishing and also how big the tides have been.

When it comes to flathead, hopefully by the time this edition hits the stands the water will have tidied up a bit.

There should be a few

around but at the time of writing the water on the bottom of the tides around the islands was rather silty and dirty, meaning the flathead fishing has not been great.

However, I think that will all change by the time winter properly arrives.

Sorry that it’s only a short article this month.

We haven’t been able to get a heap of fishing in because of the after effects of ex-cyclone Debbie, but all I can say is: bring on winter.

If you’d like to join me on a charter, phone 0433 732 310, visit moretonbay charters.com.au or check out the Moreton Bay Charters Facebook page.

If you would like to know more about our night tuition classes, feel free to give me a call.

Until next month, stay safe on the water.

Bec with a 55cm tailor caught on a trolled 89mm Zerek Tango Shad.

Turtle rescue in the mangroves

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However, five minutes later, when we reached the thicker section of mud and started to sink, the struggle started.

Without coming to a stop, I felt the tension on the rope begin to ease.

As I turned around to look, I could see the turtle was helping me push the sled with her healthy rear flipper!

That was the boost I needed to keep going strong.

When we reached water, at first her movements seemed lethargic but as she made her way into deeper water, her head came up for air and with a splash, she was off.

It was such a proud and satisfying sight.

It’s disappointing to see how much rubbish gets washed into the mangroves.

Plastics, ropes, construc-

tion waste, boat parts, blowup dolls – you name it!

If it floats, it’ll end up there.

If you’re into 1940s BEB bottles, you’re in luck because you’ll find more in the mud than your grandad’s old home-brew collection.

From my perspective, one of the main dangers to marine life in the mangroves is washed-up crab pots.

I’ve either dismantled or removed the abandoned pots I have come across.

Stepping into the mangroves brings a big responsibility to the crabber.

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Making the most of Moreton Bay and offshore

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I have been capitalising on the good weather windows, heading offshore a few times and to northern Moreton Bay. We are still in the transition period, with some of the warmer weather pelagics such as longtail tuna and spanish mackerel hanging around.

Dad and I recently shot out for a quick night fish to chase squire, and we were unpleasantly greeted by a solid 15 knots of southeasterly wind.

But seeing as we were standing at the ramp at Raby Bay, we decided to go for a look.

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Page 12 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

A soft plastic was the undoing of this offshore squire.

Moreton Bay Young Gun

by LACHIE BAKER

spot, we started marking fish on the sounder but for some reason they were shut down and not willing to eat.

We stuck at it and Dad hooked a big goldspotted estuary cod that pulled him back over a ledge and bricked him in the bottom.

After letting out some anchor rope, we drifted back over the ledge and turned the tables of the fight by pulling from a new angle.

Once boated, the fish went 75cm on the brag mat, and after a few quick photos and inserting a tag, we set it free to fight another day.

After that, things went very quiet, with only a few small squire coming aboard in the next couple of hours.

On one of the recent long weekends, I headed over to Tangalooma with my family.

After making a few stops on the way and then kicking back for an hour, I suggested we run up to Curtin Artificial Reef for a quick sound around.

Once we arrived, I deployed a Zerek 40g micro jig after I discovered a nice little ledge with bait hanging on it.

After jigging for a minute or two, I hooked up to what felt like a decent fish but unfortunately I pulled the hooks when I attempted to halt its run for the bottom.

I then got a phone call from good mate and fellow BNB scribe Joe Cormack, who suggested I meet him on the run back home to chase a tuna.

As we approached Joe’s boat we realised a stack of bait was showing on the sounder, and then we noticed Joe was hooked up.

And not only Joe; his mate David in the boat beside him was on too.

So I dropped a plastic into the bait while waiting for Joe to boat his tuna and hooked up on the drop to a really solid fish.

After one huge run, the hook fell out, but by this time Joe’s fish was on the deck and he was ready for me to jump ship.

It didn’t take long for me to follow suit, with a quality longy putting a solid bend in my Wilson 15-40lb Magnum Spin.

It was part of a double hook-up with Joe, which made things interesting when during the fight our

lines crossed over, with my line rubbing through Joe’s.

Let’s just say that fighting a tuna by hand on braid is something I hope to never see again.

I was glad it was Joe and not me.

We converted both fish from the double hook-up into a pigeon pair of 12kg fish.

Mine fell to an erratically worked 5” Z-Man StreakZ in Bubblegum colour, with Joe’s hitting a slow-rolled Zerek Flat Shad 3.5” plastic.

Both fish released well to hopefully give more anglers a run one day.

The following day I was working as a deckie on Moreton Island Fishing Charters and we had a really successful day, catching numerous snapper, pearlies and a few tuskfish.

I nailed a squirey snapper early on the same plastic that landed me the longtail the day before.

I also managed a few squire while float lining with the Wilson Venom PE2-5, 7’ overhead, as well as a solid pearlie while bottom bashing with a 15-24kg Live Fibre short stroker.

We came home with plenty of fish and very satisfied customers.

The following week incorporated Anzac Day, and on the public holiday my old boy and I headed offshore with the 100 other boats capitalising on the cracking forecast.

The fishing was relatively slow but the current was minimal and we managed to put away a few fish, mainly 45-55cm snapper.

We had one interesting moment where dad pulled the hooks right behind the boat on a quality snapper that would’ve been close to 70cm.

It began floating to the surface so I un-spot locked the Minn Kota and we started drifting back towards it.

The fish was just out of reach when it suddenly came back to life and bolted towards the bottom.

One lucky fish!

We used a variety of plastics, micro jigs and float-lined baits over the course of the day but the fish were only interested in artificial offerings.

I was fishing with fairly light tackle consisting of a 3000-size Shimano Stradic, 6-15lb Wilson Venom spin rod and 15lb braid.

It certainly made things interesting when fighting

the larger fish in 70m of water.

We ended up catching about 15 fish in a couple of hours, tagging half and keeping the rest.

This time of year means donning the jumpers and trackie pants to get out and have a good crack at the awesome fishing on offer.

Offshore fishing is looking more and more promising as the days go by.

We just need good weather and no current to take advantage of it because it should be going gangbusters out there.

I’ve also been getting gear together in preparation for a trip to Double Island Point chasing beasts from the deep, so stay tuned for hopefully a positive write-up on that adventure.

Tight lines and smoking drags.

Glen Baker with a 75cm goldspotted cod.

A quality fish on the first drop was a nice way to start the day.

The author pulled this squire from the 29s.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

What to expect this winter T HE flooding rains from ex-cyclone Debbie, along with the change in temperature immediately following, have set up favourable conditions for good winter fishing.

The majority of the rain fell southwest of Brisbane and all rivers south of the Brisbane River have seen significant flooding right at the top of these systems.

While the short-term fishing can be hampered by flood waters, the longterm fishing can greatly benefit.

Movement of sediment to expose structures such as snags and rocks, new snags dropping into the water and congregating of fish are a few things that help future fishing endeavours.

Bream Autumn floods are always a good thing for the winter spawning run of bream.

Flood waters push bream and bait out of all the rivers, congregating them at the mouths and areas including Jumpinpin and the Broadwater.

This year saw a significant drop in temperature, which is a catalyst in bream beginning their annual spawning over winter.

You couldn’t ask for much else to make for a great bream season.

The majority of bream reside in deeper water at this time of year, where they aggregate and spawn.

Every year, the usual

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Luring Moreton Bay

by PETER HERBST

spots including drop-offs, snags and channel markers hold lots of bream.

Bream can be in big numbers at times and plenty can be caught in a day’s fishing.

I like to target these deepwater bream with sinking lures such as soft plastics and blades but they also respond to a host of lures including ultra-deep-diving hardbodies, sinking stickbaits and more.

When fishing structure including channel markers and large snags, I prefer to target the fish with a stationary boat.

Using the electric motor to position the boat downcurrent of the structure and casting the lure up to the structure and working it along the bottom is often successful.

On the larger tides, bream can sit well back from the structure, especially if a rocky bottom is present.

When fishing other areas such as deep rock bars and drop-offs, I prefer to drift through the area with the lure ahead of the boat or directly under it.

In both these scenarios, I like to fish as light as I can.

Around structure it may be necessary to fish a little heavier than on open ground.

I like to run 3lb fluoro-

carbon line but if fishing structure I upgrade to 6lb braid with 6lb fluorocarbon leader.

Tailor Winter is a great time to target tailor pretty much anywhere from Moreton Bay south to the Broadwater.

Tailor commonly feed on the schools of hardyheads and whitebait at the surface, turning the water to foam.

Casting lures that replicate the bait they are feeding on and retrieving them through the schools at speed can see plenty of tailor caught.

Fishing lures underneath the fish feeding on the surface can sometimes draw the attention of larger specimens hanging a bit deeper.

Casting small to medium-sized surface lures over the edges of shallow flats holding bait is another good technique.

Banks that get some current running over them and then taper off reasonably quickly are well worth a cast, especially if they’re holding bait.

Because tailor have sharp teeth, it may be necessary to use heavier leaders to avoid being bitten off.

Monofilament or fluorocarbon are better choices than wire when casting lures because offerings

with wire can be rejected by the sharp-eyed tailor.

Jewfish Jewfish are another popular winter target.

They can be in great numbers during the cooler months and caught in a number of locations.

At this time of year, jewfish like to feed on prawns, squid, tailor and sea-run mullet.

This is worth keeping in mind, and fishing larger soft plastics and vibes around schools of surfacefeeding tailor and schools of prawns and mullet can be very worthwhile.

Using your sounder is really important when targeting jewfish because they can school in big numbers close to the bottom.

Sounding around dropoffs and bait schools can narrow your search areas.

Hop plastics and vibes along the bottom with appropriate-sized tackle that will get the fish in reasonably quickly because jewfish are not overly leader shy.

Winter can see a lot of smaller fish caught, so remember the minimum size for jewfish is 75cm with a bag limit of two fish per person in Queensland waters.

The floods may have resulted in some time lost on the water but hopefully the wait will be worthwhile and a great winter awaits southeast Queensland lure fishers.

This 110cm jewfish was caught after the author dropped his lure size down to a 3” Z-Man paddle tail soft plastic.

Hopping soft vibes such as this Zerek Fish Trap along the bottom can be deadly on jewies.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 13

A beautifully conditioned AJ captured by the author.

The fish went a lot harder than expected for its size and had the author thinking it was going to be a monster.

Liam with a quality sambo.

Rod employed the slow-pitch setup to nab a beautiful pearlie.

You win some, you lose some I Dion took the cake against Pete in the size-off.

Dan and his live bait-loving cod.

T’S not every day you get a couple of weekends in a row out on the water with a group of close mates fishing the techniques you all love.

It seemed the boat was packed with all the jigging gear in the world – surely thousands of jigs weighing in excess of a couple of hundred kilos.

We might have had all the gear, but did we have any idea?

That was the question on everyone’s minds.

We all wanted to be connected to something that pulled string like a freight train.

As we pulled out of the

Perry landed a solid one. The smile says it all!

e k a t u o y t ! s a r h e t W t a m . . . u o y h wit

Offshore Action

by JORDAN ‘GRINNER’ KOSCHEL

leads at Manly Harbour, I had a quick look around the boat and every rod holder was taken up with quality gear.

Stella, Saltiga, Jigmaster, Zeikel and Jig Star were just a few of the brand names I could see around the boat.

Put it this way: there was enough gear on board to start a black market.

On the first weekend, the weather was far from the best but it was definitely fishable.

The wind blew 15 knots pretty much the whole day, which made it quite sloppy, but we were determined to get our jig on and do that drunken seagull dance.

It wasn’t long before we reached our first mark and anticipation was through the roof as the first large patch of bait came through on the everfaithful Furuno sounder.

It was what we all wanted to see.

Scattered bait with large marks mixed in can only mean one thing: AJs and kingfish.

After sounding around and setting up the drift, it was time to send the jigs and a live bait down (Hubbard has lost his jigging

fitness after spending too much time in KFC).

It wasn’t long before everyone reached the depth where the fish were holding and it didn’t take too long to hook up.

A rod was buckled at the pointy end of the boat and Hubbard had his live bait snaffled by a hungry AJ. He made pretty short work of the fish with the Shimano Talica and Wilson Live Fibre combo but at the other end of the boat one of the crew’s rods was getting stretched, line was tearing off his reel and the slow-pitch Jig Star was buckled.

It was good to see a rod bend like that, though unfortunately the fish was the winner of this battle and bricked him on the bottom.

We had a hot little session at this first spot where we could have easily bagged out on kingies and AJs but we were not out on a meat hunt, rather we were fishing for sport.

We have found these fish release well, so we figure why not put them back after they have given us the pleasure of a great fight.

There is nothing wrong with a feed of these fish, but a couple between

g

nline o r e d Or m.au o c . s r obble

the group is well enough considering they are only good eating fresh and don’t freeze well.

As the day charged on, so did the wind.

The forecast stated it would drop off during the day but it simply didn’t.

Unfortunately, there was a lull in the fishing for a couple of hours but that’s to be expected during the middle of the tides.

Regardless, we continued to fish very hard and while only a few fish made their way onto the boat, that didn’t faze us because we were all having a laugh and enjoying the banter.

The afternoon session produced a few really good-quality fish, with trophy AJs landed as well as a seriously solid cod wrangled up by Dan in the dying minutes of the day.

This earned him the heaviest fish of the day and $10 off each of the boys.

Some may say he cheated by using a live bait but he was adamant that he had won anyway.

Our next trip out was on Anzac Day and we were blessed with a total glassout, light wind and little to no swell.

It was an absolutely stunning day to be out enjoying the freedom in which we now live.

I would like to thank all service men and women past and present for what they have done and are still doing now.

Again, thank you.

On this day we had a very quick run across Moreton Bay and out to the offshore grounds.

The anticipation was crazy and all we wanted to do was get jigs down and start whipping the hell out of them.

If the previous jigging session was anything to go by, this was going to be a good trip.

Little did we know what the day was going to bring.

The first drop resulted in nearly everyone getting a fish – even Steven Mur-

phy got one – and that’s saying something!

And so began the trend of the day.

Fish after fish kept coming in and not many were small.

Good solid AJs between 8kg and 15kg were frequenting the deck of Firebird before being quickly returned to the deep blue.

After having our fun on these fish, we decided to head a little wider and see if we could find even bigger fish.

We were greeted with literally no run, which resulted in everyone switching to micro jigging gear.

We could easily get 80g jigs down in excess of 100m, and that doesn’t happen too often.

Our jigs soon hit the bottom and everyone was hooked up to stonker snapper and pig pearl perch.

And they just didn’t stop chewing.

Drop after drop and fish after fish.

It wasn’t only snapper and pearlies keen on the jigs, as a greedy black marlin decided it would also like to have a go at one, and after hooking it on the bottom it screamed right up to the top and put on a quick show until it threw the hooks.

If you can successfully imitate wounded baitfish with jigs, anything will eat them.

This hot little session was definitely one to remember.

I’d just like to thank Rod Clarke for being the cameraman on both trips.

The footage to come will blow your mind.

It brings me deep sadness to be writing this, but after a one in a million accident, Moreton Island Fishing Charters will be taking a little break off the water.

We will be back bigger and better and doing what we do best: putting people onto trophy fish!

At the end of the day, safety is our number-one priority.

The quality of pearl perch didn’t disappoint. They were solid to say the least.

Page 14 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 15

Winter whiting time in Moreton Bay I T’S that time of year and yes, the winter whiting, or ‘winteries’ as they are affectionately known, are on the chew.

A double hook-up with a red beads/red tubing attractant combination.

A summer whiting hooked on a Gulp Sandworm soft plastic.

Fish have been schooling in all the usual places around Moreton Bay and other popular locations such as the Great Sandy Strait near Hervey Bay. Their numbers have been picking up through April and May and will only improve during winter.

Winter whiting are a great option for a family fun day of fishing in the boat or for some mates who want to share a few laughs while catching fish.

While catching winteries is not rocket science, several tips and techniques can put you onto fish a bit quicker and make things easier.

Distinguishing features Readers should be aware that summer whiting can be mixed in with the schools of winteries, so you need to be able to distinguish between them.

Winter whiting (also known as diver whiting) can be distinguished from summer whiting by a number of key characteristics.

Winter whiting have dark blotches or spots along their back and sides and they have a paler belly with a silver horizontal band.

Summer whiting are a uniform silver colour and have pale yellowish pectoral, pelvic and anal fins.

While there is no minimum size for winter whiting (summer whiting is 23cm), any fish under 2122cm is hardly worth the trouble of filleting.

In Queensland, the current bag limits are 50 winter whiting and 30 summer whiting.

Fishing Tips

by SEAN ‘SKIP’ THOMPSON

While they are commonly captured around 25cm, I find the bigger fish of 28-30cm are generally caught on soft plastic worms.

Areas to find them Winter whiting prefer a mix of silty and muddy bottoms.

The places to start in Moreton Bay are on the banks such as Chain, Maroom, Banana, Pelican and Amity (outside the green zone), as well as around the edges of the Rous Channel, the Blue Hole, Fishermans Gutter and the Moreton Island Sandhills.

Winter whiting used to be in good numbers out from Wynnum but catches have thinned out in recent years.

Further north at Hervey Bay, my brother-in-law has been getting amongst them out from Tuan and you can generally find them from just south of Maaroom in the north to east of Tinnanbar in the south.

After arriving at a chosen location, I like to use my sounder to look for clear patches of sand between ribbon weed if I can’t find any schools by searching in a grid pattern using my Lowrance StructureScan (side scan) technology.

Winteries also tend to be found in deeper water than summer whiting, with my hot spots being areas in 3-4.5m of water.

They can certainly be found in even deeper water, such as near the Moreton Island Sandhills.

Furthermore, during most winters some of the smaller fish (under 25cm) also enter the mouths of rivers and creeks.

Interestingly, the fish occasionally disappear when the water gets deeper than 3.5m while drifting, and other days they start appearing at 3.5m and increase in numbers as the water gets deeper.

I’ve found a bit of a pattern in that if the water is very clear, they will move to deeper water (3.5mplus).

Another tip is to use your GPS like a fishing diary.

You can apply the same principles as I do for mud crabs and any species of fish.

Mark locations where you catch a number of fish and then rename the centre mark with the species and date.

Such as: ‘Winter whiting June17’.

This way, you can search

your waypoints for the species you are after and find a location from either a recent month or the same month from a previous year.

Failing all that, if you can’t find any fish and don’t mind crowds, you can play spot the boats and join in.

But please give people room and don’t anchor within casting range of somebody else or anchor when others are drifting the area.

Drift or anchor?

As a general rule, I find that if the water is glassy, the fish get a bit wary and prefer a moving bait, so I drift or cast and retrieve at anchor.

In water under 4m with glassy conditions, I find you need to cast further away from the anchored boat.

If you find what looks to be a nice school of whiting, anchor up-current from them and cast your baits back to the school.

Otherwise, if the fish are more spread out I will drift until I land a couple of quick fish in succession and then GPS mark that spot.

If you don’t have a GPS, you can drop a coloured float over with a brick tied to the bottom and continue to drift.

If the fish are widespread, I might continue to drift further along until they go quiet before returning to the top of my drift.

I always drive around in a wide arc so as not to spook the fish by driving over the top of them.

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.

I make sure the bucket is weighted so it sits on the bottom and the current doesn’t carry the berley away.

I also give the rope on the berley bucket a couple of pulls every five minutes to keep up the trail.

Sometimes when I anchor the fish go quiet for a while.

Give it 10 minutes, and if no fish, try a slow retrieve with one rod and if you get a hit this can show that the fish prefer a moving bait.

You can then either keep up that technique or pull anchor and drift again.

Baits and lures Believe it or not, small worm lures put straight onto your hook like a bait are incredibly productive in all but glassy conditions.

My favourite lures are the 2” Berkley Gulp Sandworms in Bloody colour.

They have little feelers on them that make them look lifelike and when ☛ continued P17

The smile says it all: winteries are a great fish to chase with the kids.

All the tackle you need to target winter whiting.

Set your long, whippy rods low to the water and the fish will hook themselves.

A scaler bag saves you from scaling your fish back at the filleting table.

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Winter whiting in Moreton Bay ☛ from P16

moving they bring the lure to life.

My number-one bait is worms, especially reddyed frozen worms if you can get them, with yabbies a close second.

While live bloodworms are fantastic baits for winter whiting, they are expensive to buy and hard work to dig.

I know a few people who swear by thin squid strips covered with red dye to look like worms.

Likewise, peeled prawns will also catch you fish, though they never seem to be as good as worms for me.

Rods, rigs and tackle As with all my whiting fishing from a boat, I prefer 7’-9’ whippy rods coupled with either a small Alvey or 1000-2000-size spinning reel.

The longer, soft whippy rods enable the whiting to grab the bait and swallow it without feeling too much resistance.

I like to let the rod load up with the weight of the fish before lifting and winding the reel in one action to set the hook.

If you are using an Alvey, you can wind backwards on the reel to give the fish line and then wait for it to swallow the bait and run, which will load up your rod.

I like to run 6lb mono on my reels because it

is strong enough to lift a couple of whiting into the boat.

I also like to use clear fluorocarbon traces of 6lb breaking strain.

My favourite rig for winter whiting is a double-dropper paternoster rig.

I attach a 1-1.2m trace of fluorocarbon to a small size 10 swivel and then tie two tagless dropper loops of about 15-20cm attached to a fixed sinker on the bottom.

I also make a few spare rigs and wrap them around a small piece of pool noodle.

Depending on the size of my bait, I like to run small long-shank hooks in size 4 or 6.

I tend to use size 4 for yabbies and 6 for worms.

I particularly love TruTurn hooks.

Another little trick is to add two or three 1cm-long pieces of red tubing or a couple of red beads on top of your hooks for added attraction.

Finally, as with most fishing, make sure you aren’t handling your baits and lures with hands that smell of sunscreen, fuel, oil and so on.

If they do, rub a little bit of bait scent on your fingers and then wipe them dry with a rag before touching your rod.

If the action is qui-

et, such as around the change of tide, I will also add scent to my baits, which tends to improve results.

Scaler bag Finally, when it comes to the end of the session and you have quite a few fish to fillet, there is a much easier way than scaling or skinning the fish.

First, I ensure my fish are nice and firm by keeping them in an ice slurry in my trusty Ice Box Bloke Esky with a 1:1 ratio of ice and salt water.

Then at the end of the session when the fish are firmed up, they go in a scaler bag (available at most tackle shops).

To it I tie 2-3m of rope and secure it to the stern of the boat.

I then motor off at sufficient speed for the bag to spin on the surface in the wash for two or three minutes, which effectively scales the fish.

If you prefer your fillets skinless, it is best to leave the scales on for removing the skin.

I hope you too get a nice feed of winteries this winter!

For more tips, reports and giveaways, check out my Facebook page at facebook.com.au/OntourFishingAustralia Until next time – bag your mates, not your limit!

It’s always fun catching flathead off the Dragon 2.8m Pro Fisher kayak.

This flathead was hooked in the Caboolture River on a MadZ Bug.

Flathead and bream on the bite

N

OW the weather has cooled, the fishing in our local estuaries will heat up.

Flathead will be in decent numbers and bream will begin to school in deeper water.

Jewfish will also become more prominent in our rivers and snapper fishing will start to fire.

I love to catch flathead and find they are much smarter fish than people make them out to be.

They can be extremely hard to catch at times, but persistence and awareness are key in achieving success.

During the cooler months, I like to fish shallower water because I notice flathead tend to school in this warmer water.

In the shallows, I often find quite a few mediumsized fish hanging around with a handful of bigger fish, so where you catch

Pine Rivers

by MITCHELL TOWNSEND

one fish, be sure to continue fishing the same area because more are likely to be there.

I prefer to either troll hard-body lures or throw soft plastics when targeting flathead because I can cover a larger area to find where the fish are concentrated.

Once I find the fish, I will continually change soft plastic or lure to find what they are biting most readily so the best results are achieved.

It is important to keep your eyes on the water to see what type of bait is in the area.

Whether you see small prawns skipping, hardyheads boiling on the surface or small mullet schooling in the shallows, you need to ensure your lure mimics the bait.

I have recently found quite a few small prawns skipping around the shallows in the Pine and Caboolture rivers.

Soft plastics such as the Atomic Prong and MadZ Bug and Curly Tail have worked best in yellow, brown and natural colours that match the characteristics of small prawns.

When fishing in 1-3m of water, I like to use no lighter than a 1/6oz jig head because it is crucial your soft plastic is on the bottom where the flathead feed.

If the tide is pushing hard, I will use a 1/4oz or even 3/8oz jig head.

At this time of year, the water cools and clarity improves to the point where it can sometimes be crystal clear.

When the water is like

this, it is important to use a long, light leader so the fish do not become spooked.

I also find that long casts are vital because in shallow, clear water, fish can be spooked by your vessel.

Long casts allow the flathead to watch and follow your soft plastic so they can figure out whether to eat it or not.

My favourite technique at this time of year is using soft plastics and hopping them consistently.

I like to cast my lure out as far as I can, let it sink to the bottom and give it one small hop so it rises 20-30cm.

I consistently repeat this throughout my retrieve so the flathead are able to time their strike.

While I have experimented with many different techniques, including a slow roll, two hops with a pause and multiple hops, ☛ continued P18

fishing on a whole new scale!

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 17

Flathead and bream on the bite ☛ from P17

the single hop has been the best by far.

Bream When fishing for bream in winter, it is important you have a good sounder so you are able to locate the schools.

This makes it so much easier to successfully target them during this time of year.

Bream can be extremely hard to entice, so it is important you have different techniques up your sleeve so you can find the one that is working on the day.

In the early mornings,

I like to start by fishing the edges of creeks with small surface walkers or poppers.

In particular, I look for drains, gutters, mangrove-lined banks and shallow flats because this is where bream will be looking to feed early in the morning.

Not many people target bream on surface during winter, however it is my favourite time because massive fish often cruise the flats looking for an easy meal.

Light line and a long leader are again important because these

fish can be spooked extremely easily.

I use no heavier than 6lb leader unless I am fishing around timber or oyster leases, where I will use 8lb or 10lb.

Long casts are important too and the technique is extremely simple.

As long as you twitch your lure and give it ample pauses, you will be in the game.

Sometimes even pausing for up to 30 seconds can get the bream to bite.

You will usually get your biggest fish when adjusting your electric motor or talking to

your mate and not even looking at your surface lure.

Bream put up a wonderful fight in shallow water and they can be extremely aggressive when hitting your surface lure.

I hope everyone makes the most of the cooler weather and the opportunities it presents in our local estuaries.

If you haven’t already, you can like my Pine Boys Facebook fishing page to keep up to date with my fishing adventures.

I hope to see you on the water soon!

A quality flathead taken on a MadZ Grub.

A lovely flathead caught by Hayden in the Pumicestone Passage.

Page 18 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

This 35cm bream was tempted by a surface popper in less than 30cm of water.

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Page 20 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

I

T’S winter again and a lot of fishos’ minds will turn to chasing snapper offshore or beach fishing, which are two great winter pastimes.

The snapper season started well, with goodquality fish taken from the 36-fathom area northeast of the Seaway as well as the 40m zone out the front of the Seaway.

Float lining a bait to the bottom in 70-80m of water can be a slow way to fish but the results make this a far better option than bottom bashing with a paternoster rig.

The bigger snapper and pearl perch will always sit up off the bottom, so slowly floating a bait down through them will almost always entice a bite.

When fishing the bottom, you normally get smaller fish and vermin including grinners and those small red cod I hate and everyone calls poor man’s lobster.

The hardest part of float lining is deciding what size sinker to use.

Much like deciding what size jig head to use when soft plastic fishing, it all depends on water depth and current flow.

If there’s not much current in 40m, a 3 or 4 ball sinker is perfect, but if a bit of current is running, a 5 or 6 ball is more practical.

On the deeper reefs, anything up to an 8 ball sinker can be used in current.

When it comes to bait choices, most reef fish aren’t fussy.

Pillies, squid, flesh baits and livies all work well.

If the fishing has slowed down, the one bait that always seems to attract a bite is bonito flesh.

Unfortunately, bonito is not cheap nowadays, though if you are lucky you might get a few bonito on the bait reefs and the wreck of the Scottish Prince out the front of Sea World, just past the surf breakers.

Our best run of tailor on the beaches won’t occur for another month or so but it’s still worthwhile heading to the beaches for a mixed bag of bream, dart, flathead and the odd tailor.

Our two most popular

Broadwater Region

by WAYNE ‘YOUNGY’ YOUNG

beach stretches on this end of the coast are from Narrowneck to the Seaway and the Southern end of South Stradbroke Island.

These are long stretches of beach and being able to wander along the beach, fishing from gutter to gutter is a much better way of getting a feed than standing in one spot and hoping the fish come to you.

Bait buckets that fit on your belt and shoulder bags make walking the beaches a very easy task.

Rigs and baits can vary for the different species, but by using a light to medium surf rod such as a Wilson 4144 you can catch all the species mentioned.

Rig this rod with 12lb monofilament line and trace and a 5 ball sinker, though if there is a lot of sweep in the gutter you may need to upsize the sinker.

Hook choice is critical when trying to catch a variety of species on the one setup and by far the most consistent for me has been two ganged 3/0 hooks with a swivel in between.

The best bait is half a pillie or a piece of flesh that is a similar size to the hooks.

Another option is to make up separate traces for the different species.

You could run a Mustad 9555B hook for smaller baits such as yabbies and

worms and then change over to the two-ganged rig on a 20lb trace to fish the bigger baits an hour before dark or around first light.

The best times to fish the surf are from first light in the morning until about 8am and then again from 3pm until about 7pm.

You must access the South Stradbroke beaches by boat, with the best spot to leave the boat being the lagoon at the North Currigee camping area.

A short 10 to 15-minute walk will see you on the beach.

It’s usually a lot less crowded at Straddie than on the mainland beaches, making the fishing more enjoyable and often much better.

Never leave anything valuable back in the boat because unfortunately it might not be there when you get back.

But overall, Currigee is a safe place to leave your boat.

On the inside of Straddie, the area between South and North Currigee is a great place to troll for tailor of an early morning and late afternoon on the run-in tide.

Any 8-10cm lure that swims between 1m and 3m will catch tailor.

Keep an eye out for surface action because this is the easiest way to find fish.

Trolling the Broadwater

A couple of quality early season snapper caught by Ben Smith on the Gold Coast reefs.

for tailor at night can be productive as well, and these are normally bigger fish.

This month will see a few flathead show up in the Broadwater, though they will mostly be smaller male fish, with the bigger fish still about a month away.

Drifting around the mouth of Biggera Creek on the run-out tide and the smaller channels and drains around Crab Island is worth a try.

Flathead tend to lie and wait for their food, so a moving bait is best, whether you’re drifting, casting or trolling.

Large yabbies and white pillies are best for the bait fishos, with small plastics and hard-bodied lures ideal for lure fishers.

In last month’s article I said the whiting would start biting better during the day and much further upstream in the Nerang River.

Sure enough, the past month has seen good numbers of fish caught both morning and afternoon between Bundall Rd Bridge and Carrara.

Not as many of those big 40cm-plus summertime fish but plenty of 30cm eating size fish.

Bloodworms will always be the best bait.

Bass fishing in the upper reaches of our Gold Coast creeks and rivers is becoming popular, but just remember June is the start of the closed season for bass in tidal waters, which runs until the end of August.

Brett captured this lovely painted sweetlip in the Seaway on live bait.

Becky landed an early season flathead at the mouth of the Coomera River.

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Top spots for finding GC fish

W

INTER has arrived but what will it have in store for the Gold Coast angler?

The past few months have been very frustrating for those venturing offshore.

The mackerel season has been a bust except for those handful of days where the spotties have decided to chew.

Of late a few have been caught but you can’t count on them hanging around as the water temperature starts to slide.

My last trip out saw the water still very dirty in close and it was only around the 50m mark that it cleaned up to that warm cobalt blue colour.

With current non-existent on the shallow reefs, spanish mackerel have been hard to find also.

In the end, to find a good feed I had to resort to winning the raffle for the Scales Seafood tray at the Currumbin Eagles Footy Club!

Given how sporadic the fishing has been, anything could be on the cards when heading out, so it is best to cover all bases by taking your pelagic and snapper gear.

With the school holidays coming up and fishing being a great way to beat the boredom with the kids, I thought I’d give you some ideas for fishing around the Currumbin and Tall-

by HEATH ZYGNERSKI

ebudgera areas.

Both give you a great chance at catching quality fish.

Tallebudgera and Currumbin creeks get their fair share of fishing crowds during the school holidays, so you could just follow them and take your chances, but some real gems exist where you have the chance to catch sensational fish including mangrove jack, queenfish, trevally, flathead, whiting and even jewfish.

Tallebudgera Creek 1. Tallebudgera Drive – small bridge. The water races through here, so the change of tides is the best time to fish. Use live bait for the best results on jacks, trevally and jew. Big flatties sit on the drop-offs too.

2. Tallebudgera Drive – big bridge. Both sides of the bridge fish well. On the creek side is a rock wall that holds bream and luderick. On the canal side of the bridge on the western side along the wall you’ll catch trevally, jew and jacks. Huge sharks frequent this area during the night.

3. Tallebudgera Drive – creek. You can’t miss the parking area. You’ll see some walking trails

that lead into the mangroves. Follow these until you reach the creek. It’s a great spot for the kids to target bream, whiting and flathead.

4. Nineteenth Ave – near Melaleuca Drive. It’s the end of the canal with deep water. The area is good for muddies, jacks, trevally, queenfish and giant herring. Live bait is best here.

5. Nineteenth Ave bridge. This is one of the locals’ favourite spots for jacks and flatties. Good whiting are to be had if you move along the sand.

Live baits and worms work best.

6. Koala Park. Head into Koala park and follow the road around the water’s edge. It is a public park, so you can fish at the mouth of the small creek. Plenty of flathead, bream, luderick and whiting hang in this area. With the weed beds within easy casting distance, squid are not out of the question.

Fish the quiet times for the best results.

Currumbin Creek 1. Currumbin Creek Rd. Just up from Winders Park you will get away from the crowds. The water is deeper and holds good flathead, trevally

and pike. If fishing close to the bridge, you’ll be in with a chance of catching a jack.

2. Currumbin RSL. A small tidal creek feeds the lake system of location 5 below. When a good depth of water is at the mouth you will get bream, flatties and whiting by using yabbies and floating them out with as light a sinker as possible.

3. Cyclades Cres. This is a great location for the kids. Several points along the lake are public land.

Use live bait for the best results on trevally, flathead, jacks, queenies, giant herring and sharks.

4. Guinness Creek Rd – bridge. Fish on the lake side of the bridge on the bank. A run-in tide is ideal, with trevally, jacks, queenies and the odd jew available. Walk along the bank for a chance of flatties. Sharks are a possibility also.

5. Judeller Rd – bridge.

A great little lake system. Jacks, trevally and flathead frequent the lake.

Heaps of bream are here too but they’re on the small side. Live baits and lures work best.

I hope some of these locations get you a feed.

The local bars are in varying shape.

Tweed River Bar still has the bank out the back, though the dredge is now working on it, so take care. ☛ continued P22

1

2 4

5

3

Currumbin Creek area.

6

2

3

5

4

Tallebudgera Creek area.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 21

This flathead took a liking to an Atomic Metalz in Muddy Prawn colour.

Whiting are a common capture on a well-worked blade.

Blades worked along the bottom in deep holes often produce jewies.

Mixing it up with metals G

’DAY everyone, in this article I will discuss a very handy and versatile little lure known as a metal blade.

Quality flathead are a great target on blades.

Bradh's Smited Guiding Fishs Tour

Blades are often overlooked for the more publicised and regularly used soft plastics and not everyone realises just how versatile blades are.

For example, they can be fished deep with a vertical lift and drop, cast and retrieved, drifted along the shallows, trolled and even cast sub-surface.

So let’s discuss these options in more depth.

Blades are well weighted for their small size, which makes them very handy for fishing in deep water.

I have nicknamed my method ‘tea bagging’, which involves locating bait or fish on or near the bottom and fishing vertically over the top of them.

It is important that once you have found a target on your sounder, you mark it on your GPS so as to be able to position the boat correctly on the drift.

My technique involves short 30cm flicks of the rod tip without winding up.

Fish usually take a blade or plastic on the drop and not the lift, so make sure you drop the rod tip quickly once you have flicked up to allow the lure to immediately flutter down.

This will bring more strikes and keep the lure

GOLD ST COA

Gold Coast Guide

by BRAD SMITH

in better contact with the bottom.

I usually use this technique in water over 5m deep.

For water under 5m, I employ another method I call ‘twerking’.

This involves casting the lure up-current and once again giving the rod tip constant and very even 30cm flicks.

You will not have to wind in because as the boat drifts downstream, the slack line will be taken up by the drift and movement of your rod tip.

In the ultimate situation, if you make your twerks repetitious enough you should get three even hops per metre across the bottom.

This technique enables you to cover a lot of ground with the lure constantly in the strike zone.

Blades can of course be cast and retrieved and without a boat you have

no choice but to do so.

I use the same twerking 30cm rod tip flick but on land you will have to wind in and retrieve the slack line between flicks.

I always have a spare rod in my quiver with a blade rigged on it because over the years I have lost count of how many times I have been travelling along and had trevally, queenfish or tailor bust up on the surface.

Because the action is on top or just sub-surface, once a blade is cast into the pelagic boil-up, I use a fast to medium constant retrieve to induce the strike.

I have caught just about every kind of species you could think of in our local rivers on blades.

When fishing blades I run my new Atomic Arrowz 7’, 3-8lb spin rods.

These rods have a perfect balance and crisp action through to the tip.

I match these rods with 2500-size reels loaded with 6lb braid and either a 6lb or 8lb fluorocarbon leader.

Lately though I have been using 10lb leader and have noticed the slightly heavier line has resulted in just as many strikes and fewer bite-offs from flathead that often swallow these small lures whole.

My favourite brand of blades is Strike Pro Cyber Vibes in 40mm, with the most productive colours being 146OB, BLG and JU020ES. My other go-to blades are 40mm Atomic Hardz Metalz in Muddy Prawn, Golden Shiner, Ghost Gill

Brown and Hay U. Both these quality manufacturers have smaller and larger blades but I find the 40mm size perfect for all species.

I should also mention that because blades are only small and come fitted with two sets of very sharp trebles, the hookup rate on all species is very good, which is a real bonus, especially when it comes to fish such as whiting that have small mouths.

Well folks, that’s a wrap for this month.

Enjoy your time on the water and try mixing it up with some metals.

The author’s favourite colours in the 40mm Atomic Metalz range.

Top spots for finding GC fish ☛ from P21

Currumbin Creek Bar is silted up in front, and you need to follow a channel running well north before being able to get in or out.

I found this out the hard way when coming in two hours before dead low and missed the gutter.

Having Aquaholic flounder on the sandbank waiting to be pushed off with the next

coming swell was not a good feeling.

Tallebudgera Creek Bar has a small gutter running along the south wall, but take care with the swell because you have nowhere to run.

The Seaway is as per usual and you just need to keep an eye on the banks to the north.

They run a far way east before you can get around them.

‘Til next month, smelly fingers to you all.

Joe was stoked with this little trevally.

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A yabby-munching 50cm flathead Mitch caught and released.

Mitch with a decent whiting from Currumbin Creek.

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However, the rewards are there when I do drag myself up, don enough clothes to go to Alaska and go fishing.

Good size squire have been biting freely during recent sunny mornings on the close reefs when a fresh southwesterly prevents travel any wider.

By mid-morning the wind usually starts to back off and boats begin to head to all points of the compass to the east.

I’ve been lucky enough to make a few trips out wide lately, with some surprises in store.

Off our coastline in these parts is a fair bit of ground to be fished between the main 50-fathom line of reefs and the continental shelf.

Apart from a couple of well-known reefs we refer to as the 90-fathom rocks, which get visited on a regular basis, most boats burn straight to the shelf after leaving the 50s.

Most of the ground I’m referring to is in the 70 to 75-fathom depth, though I have found more in the 90-fathom region and even one great bump of rock right on the 100-fathom line.

I don’t blame most boats for going straight to the shelf because most of this in-between ground is gravelly and hit and miss, but some days it inexplicably fires.

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www.kareemarine.com.au Page 24 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Tweed to Byron Bay

by GAVIN DOBSON

Nathan Mitchell recently came out with me and we started on the main 90-fathom rock but it was dead.

After five drops we had just one legal squire and things weren’t looking good.

I made a move of just over a kilometre to a small and seemingly insignificant rise on the seabed.

This spot has only fired once before for me and the rest of the time it only produces the odd rosy jobfish and pearl perch.

I was explaining this to Nathan as he dropped his baits to the bottom, but this was not one of those quieter days.

As the baits hit the seafloor, a hook-up was immediate and Nathan winched three fat squire to the surface.

I couldn’t wait to get my line down and quickly repositioned the boat for another drift.

The next drop produced the same result, with a few other species mixed in.

Over the next hour we caught more squire along with super-fat rosy jobfish, nannygai (redfish), pearl perch and Nathan even got a little bar cod.

The bite went quiet, so in perfect conditions we moved around, checking out old spots and looking for new ones.

Late in the day came a surprise.

Nathan was winching his fish to the surface, a nannygai, and I had just started bringing a fish off the bottom when our lines crossed.

I stopped winding to unhook Nathan’s line off mine when I commented that my line was getting really heavy.

It couldn’t have been snagged because I had just lifted it 20m off the bottom.

On the other hand, it wasn’t fighting like a fish, so I thought I had snagged some old trap rope.

A few seconds later, I noticed my line was heading out sideways and not going straight down.

“Something’s grabbed it,” I said as I worked more frantically to undo the tangle.

The second I got the tangle undone, the line was ripped from my hands and I saw a splash on the surface 150m away.

Initially I had thought maybe a tiger shark had eaten the fish I had on my line but I was a bit surprised to see a splash.

Next thing the unknown monster raced straight at the boat at high speed and ended up 150m out the other side of the boat, again making a large surface splash.

“Way too fast for a tiger

shark,” I said.

This had me guessing again because I thought I saw a long skinny part of the fish break the surface, like a bill or pectoral fin.

This got me a bit excited because the way the fish had taken the bait down deep and then raced for the surface reminded me of behaviour I had seen from broadbill swordfish on TV shows.

For the next 20 minutes or so, the fish changed depth fairly regularly, often coming to the surface but not showing itself.

A broadbill swordfish is something that interests me as far as captures go and I was pretty keen to see the fish.

The trouble was that absolutely maximum drag pressure on the 80lb braid wasn’t making much difference.

I was past ‘sunset’ because early on when I thought it was a shark I was trying to break the fish off.

Every time the fish came near the surface Nathan drove the boat straight at it and at times we had it within 20m but still no visual, and then it would suddenly strip 100m off the reel.

Finally, on one of the fish’s visits to the surface it stuck its massive head and shoulders out of the water and revealed itself as a huge blue marlin.

Both Nathan and I have no experience with big marlin, so we aren’t really confident in a weight estimation.

We both agreed that it was minimum 200kg but could easily have been 300kg-plus.

It was big, and as Nathan said, the 45 minutes we had it on for was barely the beginning, had we chosen to try to boat the fish.

While I think they are magnificent fish and I’m glad to have seen it, we made the decision to break it off.

It was about 3pm and had we tried to get it alongside for a photo, it would likely have been dark by that time anyway.

We made the right decision and the fish didn’t have to fight to a standstill.

Hopefully it’s still swimming to the bottom looking for a feed of nannygai, as they apparently do.

June is usually one of the better months weather wise for taking advantage of the wide grounds.

A good feed of reef fish is generally on the cards and who knows what else may surprise you.

As a post script, it would be remiss of me not to mention the massive number of small ‘reef sharks’ around at the moment.

I misidentified them as hardnose sharks, but it would appear they are juvenile spinner sharks and they have invaded the coast from at least Bundaberg to Evans Head.

NSW DPI Fisheries asked me for a sample, so if the team gets back to me with any interesting information, I will let you know.

Just in our area alone, these feisty little sharks are around in their thousands, and the total biomass off the coast must be huge.

It’s good that fisheries officers are interested in this mass invasion.

Nathan with an 8.7kg bar cod from the deep reefs.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

‘She fishes’ – Chloe Laurence picks Mercury FourStoke

Large fines for illegal crabbing

C

T

HLOE Laurence is having a great time and breaking down stereotypes while doing what she loves.

A talented fisher with numerous tournament wins to her name, Chloe is helping to eliminate the myth that fishing’s just ‘a bloke’s sport’ while encouraging everyone to try throwing in a line.

“I started out fishing occasionally on the weekend but I got bitten by the bug and now it’s developed into a fulltime passion,” Chloe said.

Chloe also works as a fishing journalist and photographer and has her own website shefishes.com.au

With a focus on inshore sportfishing as well as game fishing for marlin and tuna, Chloe spends as much time as she can out on the water – propelled by a brand-new Mercury 150hp FourStroke.

“My husband Tom and I have had two-stroke engines on our Seydel Craft 520R for the past five years and have done nearly 3000 hours in that time but decided to upgrade after fishing with friends with fourstrokes,” Chloe said.

“The boat is very sensitive to weight, so the Mercury 150hp was an obvious choice, being the lightest engine in its class.

“I admit I was a little concerned about losing

WO men have received fines totalling $20,000 after being caught with female and undersize crabs at night on the northern end of the Gold Coast.

that two-stroke ‘grunt’ that really helps with some of the river bar crossings we have here on the east coast.

“But our initial test runs put those concerns to rest instantly.

“The power, that instant acceleration of the 150hp Mercury FourStroke is just incredible.”

Chloe, like so many others, has also been amazed at how quiet the engine is.

“It’s often hard to tell whether it’s actually running at idle, and you can comfortably have a conversation even when running at high revs,” she said.

“I also really like the troll control option and being able to increase our rpm in small increments below 1000rpm with the push of a button.

“It’s a great feature when live baiting for marlin and just makes life that bit easier out on the water.”

You can check out Chloe’s fishing exploits by searching for Chloe Laurence - She Fishes on Facebook and learn more about the brilliant Mercury 150hp FourStroke at mercurymarine.com. au

Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol officers conducted surveillance at Shipper Drive on the Gold Coast after receiving complaints from recreational fishers.

QBFP officer Ryan Stove said around 10.30pm, officers intercepted two men as they were leaving the area after observing them place crab pots, a large white sack, bucket and shopping bags into their vehicle.

“We intercepted their vehicle and found 18 female mud crabs, 18 undersize male mud crabs, two undersize yellowfin bream, three undersize summer whiting and one undersize dusky flathead,” he said.

“Officers also found 10 unmarked crab pots.

“Upon completion of the inspection all mud crabs were released back into the water alive.”

Mr Stove said both men claimed they had no knowledge of crabbing or fishing regulations in Queensland and were charged with five counts of possessing regulated fish as well as two counts regarding use of regulated fishing apparatus.

Mr Stove said both men pleaded guilty and were fined $10,000 each in the Southport Magistrates’ Court.

“Fishers are reminded that ignorance of the law is not a valid excuse when caught with regulated product because the onus is on fishers to know the rules when fishing in Queensland waters,” he said.

“This is a great example of the benefits of the community providing information through our Fishwatch hotline that we can act upon.”

If you suspect illegal fishing, whether seen in person or online, report it to the Fishwatch hotline on 1800 017 116.

Don’t engage the person, as this can compromise an investigation.

All information provided to the hotline will be prioritised based on potential fishery risks, accuracy and reliability with an appropriate response formulated.

For more information on Queensland fishing rules, visit fisheries.qld.gov.au, call 13 25 23 or download the free Qld Fishing app from Apple and Google app stores.

You can follow Fisheries Queensland on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@ FisheriesQld).

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 25

Mid-size mulloway and thumper tailor at Iluka ☛ from P27

Up along the beach at Shark Bay, the fishing continues to be in the doldrums, with crappy formations or lack thereof preventing anglers getting amongst the great fishing this location normally offers.

Hopefully things improve this month and

anglers can finally begin catching the big bream, dart and tarwhine the area is renowned for.

So, June will see catches of bream and luderick increase dramatically inside the river system as the fish move in to spawn, while good jew fishing will continue as long as you take the time

to locate the schools of flat-tail mullet.

As for me, well, I will be either spinning the headlands in search of a big jew during big seas or lurking in the river hunting the mullet schools and waiting for the jew to feed. ‘Til next month, safe fishin’.

Timothy Butchart of Brisbane held a cracking bream taken from Middle Wall on a recent trip to Iluka.

Insights into boat insurance

B

USH ‘n Beach has brought Nautilus Marine Insurance on board to expand the fine print and provide readers with clear, easy-tounderstand and helpful tips on protecting their boating assets.

The scenario You have plenty of warning that a cyclonic storm is bearing down on your vessel, which is riding at anchor or on a swing mooring.

A safe haven is available to you in a nearby marina.

What should you do?

The answer Contact your insurance company immediately.

A specialist marine insurer such as Nautilus Marine may decide to approve and cover the relocation costs of your vessel.

And those costs could include your travel to move your boat, or engaging another person to move your boat on your behalf.

As well as the incidental costs, the insurer may also cover your vessel’s tenancy in the marina during the storm.

The key issue is whether you are undertaking

an approved preventative action to specifically avoid damage being done to your vessel.

In a related example, you may own a large cruiser and have an inflatable tender mounted on the cabin roof while it is moored in a marina.

Given that a severe storm is coming, a specialist marine insurer may approve the costs of someone moving the inflatable from your boat’s hardtop and storing it in the cabin, or in a secure building until the storm passes.

A good rule of thumb is to consider what you would have done if your vessel had no insurance.

Would you have simply left it there to ride out the storm even if you had been able to access your vessel?

Would you have made a trip to lock it down more securely?

Would you have double-checked the mooring lines?

If the answer is you would have taken preventative action, then it certainly is worth contacting your marine insurer because their priority, like yours, would be to avoid damage or minimise the risk of

damage to your vessel, as well as consequential damage.

Consequential damage would include the damage your vessel might do to other people’s property if it broke loose.

Conversely, if you don’t worry about the condition of your mooring lines; if you leave your boat parked unsecured on a trailer on the street; or if you’ve done nothing about that tree that has been leaning over more and more every year above your boat and just waiting for the next storm to send it crashing down on your hull, you could be in for a shock.

Insurance policies ordinarily require you to avoid preventable damage.

You have an obligation to act responsibly.

Always check your

policy and its product disclosure statement.

You can contact Nautilus Marine Insurance on 1300 780 533 for any boat insurance requirements.

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Any advice contained in this article is of a general nature only and may not apply or be right for you as it does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any advice provided in this article, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 29

Brad Chapman with one of the best eating fish in the ocean: a small bar cod of about 5kg.

W Brad and Lance ready to clean a cod. The author included this picture because bar cod are possibly the hardest fish he knows of to clean. Even a medium size fish can be a two-person job due to sliding around so much.

E recently had a small window in the weather that allowed for a run out to the continental shelf off northern NSW, so we headed east.

Luckily, a run to the shelf off the Coffs Coast

Brad, Lance and the author, at the cleaning table with part of the catch.

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Page 30 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Lance Bird with his PB bar cod that went just over 9kg. It was the fish of the day.

by JASON ‘BIRDY’ BIRD

is under 20 nautical miles, so at worst it is not far to come home compared to the much longer runs we make to the shelf off Brisbane.

Out wide, the wind was still up a bit from the south as the back end of a southerly blow drifted east.

The forecast predicted the wind would swing to the northeast in the afternoon, so I was confident we would be fine.

I headed to an area I had fished previously on the top of the shelf southeast of North Solitary Island.

Running out of Minnie Water, it took us about an hour to get to the mark, running slower than I normally would while heading into the wind, but we were in no hurry.

This area is a large gravel patch rising out of 240m on the western side and topping out at 225m before falling away quickly on the eastern side to the shelf.

We usually find eastern nannygai and snapper here, with the odd bar cod mixed in when they can beat the other fish to the bait.

Our plan for the day was to look for a mixed bag of deep reef fish for a feed.

I started sounding a fair way out, looking for the usually huge school of nannygai that moves around the gravel from day to day.

On the way in, I found fish sitting right on the bottom away from the peak, so I gave it a go.

I pulled up to get the gear ready and let the boat run through a dummy drift while we got organised and watched the sounder to work out how long to make the

first proper drift.

The patch of fish was spread over about 200m, so I marked the end of the fish and headed back up to start our drift.

Pushing past the start mark, I found the fish were scattered right through a large area and I was quietly confident they were all bar cod because they were holding tight to the bottom with almost no bait over the top of them.

This is the type of show I get excited about off Brisbane, and although I was hundreds of kilometres south, it seemed like this area would produce good fishing.

Then it was time to see if they would bite.

Fishing one deep-drop rod and reel out of each corner, we sent the gear down for a look, backing into the wind to hold the boat while the gear went down.

It became apparent the wind and current going against each other meant I would need to stay on the wheel the whole time to avoid tangles and keep the bait on the bottom to give us the best chance of catching a few.

Dad was first to get a bite and subsequent hookup.

The bend in the rod wasn’t the heavy bar cod kind I was hoping for but it was good enough to think something for the box was coming up.

Brad found the bottom not long after and was into what looked like a good fish too.

First drift and a double hook-up within 50m – this looked like it would be some fun in the deep.

The chorus of two electrics working fish up is something you look for-

ward to between trips and after a while you get pretty good at picking the size of the fish from the tone of complaint coming from the reel.

Three bar cod on the first drop was the result, with Dad bringing up two small cod and Brad a nice fish of about 4kg.

At this size, bar cod are among the best eating fish in Australian waters, and while we all like targeting big fish, I was very happy to be catching topnotch table fare.

On the next run I went a bit further up the drift line to make sure we crossed the same piece of ground again.

There was still a distinct lack of bait and fish higher in the water column but this didn’t concern me because from experience I know bar cod rarely show on a sounder as they hug the bottom most of the time.

This drift was much the same as the first, with the squid and cut fish baits getting belted right as they landed on the bottom.

They were better fish this time, with the reels on both rods working a little harder but still well within their limits.

It was clear these were not big fish but more high-quality small to medium size bar cod.

A couple of 5kg cod came over the side and into the box to rest on the ice.

With each drift for the next hour we picked up one or two fish every time we went back over the mark.

By this time I had narrowed the drift down to short 70m drifts over a particular patch of gravel.

I have a habit of hitting the mark button as soon as a rod bends with a good bar cod, so after a few fish the GPS tells a story of where they are sitting, and some days it

proves they are spread far and wide.

This was the first time I had found decent numbers of bar cod tightly packed into a small area and this challenged what I thought I knew about them.

Previously I thought they got around in small groups or hung on ground as individuals.

To find a tight school on a piece of ground was interesting and as usual posed more questions than answers.

So why were they there?

The area was not showing anything different to usual, apart from a lack of bait and nannygai.

Maybe they are always on this spot in these numbers but the nannygai and snapper that are usually here beat them to the bait.

However, the aggression and speed of the bites on this day led me to believe this would not be the case.

In any event, these learning opportunities we come across in fishing and life do wonders to fuel a curious mind like mine.

Dad ended up with his PB too – a really solid bar cod of a bit better than 9kg as the fish of the day.

It was the 10th bar cod to go into the box and this brought us to the NSW deep-sea fish bag limit of 10 in total for a trip.

I had plans of heading wider to the shelf escarpment at the beginning of the day but with no room in the bag there was no point fishing any wider.

We made the call to end the trip early and head for home knowing we had plenty of freezer fillers and a lengthy fish cleaning session ahead of us.

It was a great day out.

If you’ve got any questions about the specifics of deep dropping, you can contact me via the BNB Facebook page. www.bnbfishing.com. au

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 31

Big jew and flathead on the chew T HIS past month has been great, with excellent catches taken around Newcastle.

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We have been scoring awesome jewfish and cracking bream as well as a few other tasty treats to keep us wanting more.

Starting at Stockton Beach, my cousin Luke Wheatley landed a top jew of 130cm, making it one of the best jew caught around Newcastle this year.

He was stoked and told me he was using live yakkas.

With the right tide and great conditions, it wasn’t long before the first livie fell to a hungry jew.

Luke went on to tell me he landed three more that night but they were only small.

I’ve teamed up with my lure sponsors and come up with great brag mats for promotional giveaways to our loyal followers on Facebook and the first ones arrived with a length of 120cm, which I thought was a good size mat.

But once I showed Luke, he just stared at me and said I should go bigger because he only catches jew of 130cm and up, the cheeky bugger.

I recently went out under Stockton Bridge with good mate Jeremy from Zoomy Lures and after he landed a huge bream it wasn’t long before I scored a 90cm jew.

It played up nicely with heaps of head shakes and runs.

After sending Luke a

Bonito

3WAYSFISHIN – Newcastle

by NATHAN ‘NATH’ PALMER

photo, his reply was: “It’s only a pup mate, in three days I’ll show you what a good size jew looks like.”

Let’s just say I contacted my supplier and got the length of the brag mats changed.

I’m happy to see how many people have sent photos of their catches in to my 3waysfishin Facebook page.

You guys and girls are awesome for showing off your catches and sending them in to me.

And what better way to thank you than to get the amazing team at BNB to print the photos in this cracker of a magazine so you can show all your friends.

But remember to tell them to subscribe to BNB because they can win a monthly prize and see what everyone else is catching.

Our river bass season came to a close on May 1 and I’m wiping away the tears because I love river bass adventures.

I can’t wait for the season to reopen on September 1 to get back out there and try new hunting grounds.

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I’ve seen so many good size bass posted to my page and they made my bass look like goldfish, with the biggest one for the season going 49cm.

Now let’s talk about where fish are biting in our amazing backyard.

Stockton Beach has produced jew, tailor, whiting, salmon and more during cracker days.

The nights have been cold but bearable, so get out there and chase the fish before it really cools down.

I have a few hard-core mates who have the night fishing under control, with some smart ways to keep warm.

One recent night we turned up at the beach with three four-wheeldrives, a 40-gallon drum with loads of wood and tarps around us to shelter us from the cold.

The rods were locked into PVC pipes and at arm’s reach so we could grab them when they loaded up.

I have to thank these lads for what they came up with because from now on the cold will not stop me fishing the beach.

We’ve got great gutters along the beach at the moment, even though we just had a 4.5m swell hit us head-on.

If you’re keen to head out to the beach, you won’t have any trouble finding entry and exit points to fish, so good luck.

In the Hunter River, the brown water that resulted from ex-cyclone Debbie has not stopped the fishing.

Most times a flood shuts the rivers down, but not where we have been fishing.

We struggled to find baitfish a few times but when we did we caught them at our feet and then placed a hook in them and dropped them down to find hungry jew and bream wanting an easy feed.

Most times the fish were fairly small but fun on light gear and even more fun when they were a bit bigger.

The chipyards and the sandbars across from the new and improved boat ramp at Stockton have produced great catches of whiting, bream and plate size flathead on fresh and live baits.

Soft plastics have been getting a workout as well, with the run-out tides the most productive.

If chasing live baits, the area around the Stockton ferry wharf has loads.

Stockton Bridge has been firing, with plenty of jew large and small being captured on live baits.

Big bream have been smashing live yakkas, as Jeremy found out.

Jeremy had a live bait on and having not caught a jew in ages, his rod loaded up and the fish pulled like a freight train.

As I was saying congrats on your first jew for the year, the fish turned out

to be a cracker of a bream that measured 48cm.

How fat this fish was blew us away.

Looking at the picture on the following page, you have to remember Jeremy is 6’3” with hands the size of bricks.

He did end up landing his first jewfish for the year on this trip too.

While only 60cm long, he was still pumped to get it in the boat, so congrats mate.

The pylons under Stockton Bridge have been a good spot to hook jew and bream, with a run-in tide the best.

Place your boat in the glow of the lights from the bridge and let your baits drift back to the shadows.

You can head upriver and find holes that hold jewfish too.

A few mates have been scoring huge flathead as well as bream and jew upriver, so it’s worth heading up there and taking a look.

The pylons up and down Newcastle Harbour are seeing good size bream and the odd small jew chasing your plastics and hard-bodies.

I’ve found that in the brown water, earthy-coloured lures are working well.

The run-in tide tends to make for the most fun but make sure you’re there

☛ continued P33

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W W W. B O N I T O B O AT S . C O M . A U Page 32 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Jeremy Menchin from Zoomy Lures landed a solid 48cm bream.

Big jew and flathead on the chew ☛ from P32

early before the high tide or you won’t be able to cast to the back of the pylons to tempt these fish to strike.

The pilot station is another great spot to chase bream because it stands high out of the water and you will have loads of time to pester the fish into striking one of your lures.

Horseshoe Beach is a good place to catch a feed

and the perfect location to take the kids out for a fishing adventure because of the many safe spots where you can fish and not worry too much about your young ones falling over or into the water.

Prawns and squid are the gun baits here, with loads of fish including bream, flathead and tailor on offer.

You and the kids will have fun but to do so you

just have to beat the crowds.

If it’s looking like being a good day on the water, get there early.

Across from Horseshoe Beach is Stockton, and the small breakwall out the back of the local pool has produced jewfish, flathead, bream, tailor and much more.

This is one of my favourite spots for chasing blackfish.

I missed targeting black-

The author’s 90cm jewfish.

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fish last winter but I’ll be there most days this winter looking to land a few of these tasty fish.

I go to the end of the little wall and fish the left-hand side towards the small beach.

Just remember to berley up with weed and sand to get them on the chew.

If you strike out, head to the big breakwall and look for the first flat rock.

Even if you have never been fishing here, you will see the rock I’m talking about.

It’s a cracker of a spot.

If you’d like me to show you around to target any of the fish I have talked about, jump onto my 3waysfishin Facebook page and send me a message.

I would love to show you some of these amazing places I like to fish.

‘Til next time, tight lines.

Stay safe wherever you wet a line.

David Hopper with an awesome flathead.

Luke Wheatley held a 130cm jewfish.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 33

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A beautiful red emperor boated by Louise Marshall.

Jack Hart was stoked with his pair of flathead.

Winter wonderland on Sunshine Coast

J

UNE is a very diverse month on the Sunshine Coast and this year’s winter fishery is shaping up to be the best yet.

WADDY POINT - FRASER ISLAND

Page 34 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

There is an old saying: a drought on land is a drought at sea, however we were blessed with the perfect start to the season thanks to ex-cyclone Debbie dumping large amounts of rain on the region and giving our rivers a flush that will benefit both river fishos and those who venture offshore.

The Maroochy River remained dirty for nearly three weeks and the southerly wind blew for the best part of a month, which gave the bream and jew fishing a fantastic early start.

Our beaches are firing on all cylinders, in particular the gutters along Marcoola to the southern end of Maroochy North Shore.

Good size jewies are the star catch at the moment, with fish up to 15kg being weighed in.

The best baits have been fresh mullet fillets, bonito fillets and live beach worms.

The perfect strip bait rig consists of ganging 5/0 and 3/0 Tru-Turn 711 hooks with a black rolling Tru-Turn swivel and then connecting it to your main line with a length of Black Magic Tough leader.

My other favourite rig is designed for using live beach worms.

This rig is best used at night on open beaches during a rising tide.

It consists of a Mustad 542 hook in 1/0 with a running sinker rig.

It’s important to use a heavy sinker to anchor the bait securely in position.

When placing the worm on the hook, be sure to feed part of the worm over the eye and onto the line and don’t be afraid to use lots of worm.

When using bait, it may help if you wait for a few seconds before striking to ensure the hook is swallowed.

Fish hooked by swallowing the bait tend to be a little slower than those that are lip hooked.

Far more jewfish are

Sunshine Coast

by WADE QUALISCHEFSKI

around than most anglers realise, so get out there and try your hand at catching one.

Tailor captures have certainly improved with the run-in tide on the open beaches.

First light and just after dusk are the best bets.

A few trophy size tailor of 5-6kg have been caught and most of these fish are taken after dark using a bonito fillet on a strip bait rig.

This rig should be anchored heavily using a large star sinker, allowing the bait to wave around in the water as large tailor cruise up and down the gutter looking for a feed.

Occasionally the smaller fish will chew on the bait, however don’t be concerned because this attracts the bigger tailor’s attention and brings them straight to your bait.

Good-quality dart have been present and willing along the Coolum to Mudjimba stretch as well as along Teewah Beach.

Using traditional baits such as pipis and worms on a baitholder hook will deliver the best results.

The Noosa River is fishing very well, with solid trevally, tailor and bream biting in the early morning.

Surface fishing has been popular, with lures in the 50-80mm range ideal.

The trick is to look for key giveaways such as fleeing bait and boils on the surface.

Good lures include the Lucky Craft G-Splash 65 and fabulous Owner Zip ‘n Ziggy 80mm.

The best areas to target in the Noosa River have been the Woods Bays and the back of Noosa Sound.

If you love to chase bream, hit any area with structure such as pontoons, jetties and bridges.

Smaller soft plastics are the key, with a couple of standout models being the Z-Man 2.5” GrubZ and Keitech Easy Shiner 2” matched with the appropriate TT jig head.

Keep your presentation as light as possible.

The retrieve is fairly straight forward.

Make the cast as close to structure as possible, allowing the lure to fall slowly.

If it does not get hit on the way down, work it back slowly, using either a double hop or sharp shake of the rod tip.

The Maroochy River is seeing a lot of bream, with the famous bread rig proving very popular this season.

The perfect bread rig consists of two or three size 2 suicide hooks tied in a loop so the hooks can move freely.

I have been using the Mustad Penetrator in size 2, with the pieces of bread wrapped individually around each hook.

This allows a second or third go if the bream miss the first hook.

This method is perfect for fishing the mouths of creeks, deep channels and holes.

Combined with a good berley such as the Big John’s 2kg mix, you will have a sizeable feed in no time.

School jew are smashing ☛ continued P35

Kahn Alberts with a feisty longtail tuna.

Mark Handel did well to land this big jewfish offshore.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Plenty on the chew off DI H I, Craig Tomkinson here.

June is a great time of year because the weather is colder, the water temperature will drop to 20C and the snapper should be on the chew, with plenty of them around.

We have done a heap of trips offshore in the past month and this will continue through winter.

The fishing on Sunshine Reef off Noosa was great after the rain but it has died off.

It should pick up once again when the snapper numbers increase.

On one day, Will and I ran a seven-hour charter to the top end of North Reef.

We anchored and a whopper cod of about 25kg was caught, as well as cracker frypan snapper and regular snapper.

They shut down, so we moved out to the wreck because it was not far off the top of the tide.

It took two shots with the anchor to get right on the spot and then I started berleying.

The clients boated mixed reef fish, and next minute one was onto a good fish that I called for a jew.

Sure enough, a lovely mulloway was netted and brought aboard Trekka 2.

Another three were landed but it could have been only two because one client was fishing out the back of the boat and lost his fish three-quarters of the way up.

Shortly after, a client asked about something floating in the water.

Will spotted it, hung over the outboard and grabbed an 8kg jewfish with his hands.

Great work Will.

A few more mixed reef fish were captured and then our time was up, so we headed in.

On another seven-hour

Noosa to Fraser Coast

by CRAIG TOMKINSON

trip, Will and I headed towards Massouds Reef and at the first hang the clients got mixed reef fish but the flaming grinners wreaked havoc.

They have been thick of late and they’re big buggers.

We moved all day and one bloke got a just-legal

large-mouth nannygai before we headed in with a good haul of lovely fish.

The channel out through the Noosa River Bar is well north at the moment and very shallow at low tide.

I have touched bottom a couple of times in recent weeks.

To make things worse,

when going out over the bar, surfers have been right in the only channel, so you have to dodge around them and it’s a bit tricky.

I have the feeling that someone will get hit out there one day.

There’s plenty of beaches to surf on without getting in the road of boating traffic on a bar.

I reckon surfing in bar channels should be banned.

‘Til next month, be safe on the water.

COMPETITION

live baits in the deeper holes near the motorway bridge and upriver around the Bli Bli islands.

Rig your live baits using a snooded-style rig, placing the first hook in the mouth and the second just lightly pinned under the dorsal fin so it does not interrupt the swimming action.

Offshore, the water temperature has dropped, which will see the pelagics slowing, but on a brighter note, the reef fishing will improve greatly.

This is the time of year when we get those perfect winter days with sparkling blue seas and ambient temps in the www.bnbfishing.com. au

DATE

LOCATION

2017

Jeff Smart and Raoul McKay with a few lovely mulloway.

B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Teams Event Round 4

Jun 10-11

Glenbawn NSW– bassaustralia.com.au

Taroom Fishing Competition

Jun 10-11

Glebe Weir, Taroom – Harry Johnson 0427 361 631

ABBT* X-Factor Teams Series Round 2

Jun 17-18

Bjelke-Petersen Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

VMR Bundaberg Family Fishing Classic

Jun 23-25

Burnett Heads – vmrbundabergfishingclassic.com.au

B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Jun 23-25 Atomic Pro Series Round 6

St Clair NSW – bassaustralia.com.au

Evans Head Fishing Classic

Evans Head NSW evansheadfishingclassic.com.au

Jul 7-14

B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Jul 20-23 Atomic Pro Series Round 7

Wivenhoe – bassaustralia.com.au

ABBT* X-Factor Teams Series Round 3

Jul 29-30

Cania Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Bass Qualifying Round 4

Aug 5-6

Somersest Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Atomic Pro Series Final

Aug 24-27 TBA – bassaustralia.com.au

Catch a Catty Family Fishing Competition

Aug 26-27 Mingo Crossing – Beppie Stanley 07 4156 3185 or Ruth Rokesky 07 4127 7252 E: jnrrok@gmail.com

B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Teams Event Final

Sep 8-10

TBA– bassaustralia.com.au

Bowen Family Fishing Classic

Sep 16-17

Bowen – Russ McCabbin 0428 776 653 or 07 4786 3899

ABBT* Bass Qualifying Round 5

Sep 23-24 Borumba Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

Gold Coast Flathead Classic

Sep 26-29 Ross Meadows 0438 603 209 flatheadclassic.com.au

WTF Women That Fish Barra Classic

Sep 28-30 Rockhampton – Shara VanHaeren 0429 923 243

ABBT* Bass Qualifying Round 6

Oct 7-8

Boondooma Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

WIN Television Family Fishing Classic

Oct 14-15

Lake Monduran, Gin Gin masa-fishstocking.org.au

Callide Dam Fishing Classic

Oct 28-29

Callide Dam – Nigel Krueger 0402 923 443

ABBT* X-Factor Teams Series Round 4

Oct 28-29

Wuruma Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Bass Grand Final

Nov 25-26 TBA – Cania Dam a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* X-Factor Teams Series Championship

Dec 2-3

Somerset Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

Jan 13-15

Awoonga Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

E:bowenfamilyfishingclassic@yahoo.com.au

Happy Trekka 2 clients with quality fish.

Winter wonderland on Sunshine Coast ☛ from P34

COMPETITION DATES

mid-20C range.

The close reefs off Mooloolaba are very popular for afternoon/ evening sessions during winter.

The better areas are Murphys, Gneerings, Currimundi and Mooloolaba 9 Mile reefs.

Floating baits of large pillies or small slimies rigged on three 5/0 TruTurn hooks is the ideal setup.

When bottom fishing, use only two hooks in the gang instead of three.

If the fish are a little hesitant, drop your bottom rig back to one hook in a lighter gauge such as the Mustad Octopus style.

This will improve the

catch rate and hopefully increase the size of fish caught.

Noosa’s two best offshore locations, North and Sunshine reefs, are showing good numbers of snapper, pearl perch, moses perch, tuskfish and excellent-quality cod.

The best baits have been mullet fillets, squid, pillies and live yakkas.

Anglers keen to head out wide to the Barwon Banks or the Hards will find themselves fishing deeper water from 5090m with large pearlies on the prowl as well as the odd big snapper and venus tuskfish.

Whole squid and flesh baits rigged on a pater-

noster will deliver the best results.

On a final note, take caution when fishing offshore at night because plenty of whales will be passing through at this time of year.

Be very vigilant when travelling in the dark!

For all the latest information, log onto fishing noosa.com.au – a great resource for all fishos.

Up-to-date bar and fishing reports will provide you with a muchneeded head start.

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

Tight lines and bent spines!

2018 ABBT* Barra Round 1

*Australian Basstasstic Bass Tournament To have your competition listed in the calendar please phone (07) 3286 1833, email design@bnbfishing.com.au or fax (07) 3821 2637

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 35

Poona Family Fishing Competition H UNDREDS of keen anglers rolled up to participate in the recent Poona Family Fishing Competition, with over 200 seniors and 80 juniors registered to fish.

This is why the Alvey surf reel raised such a great price at auction. It is one of a kind due to the spool’s unique colouration and pattern that will never be replicated. It has now become a collector’s item.

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Numerous categories catered for the whole family with a list of fish species to target.

The Great Sandy Strait fishing boundaries were Kauri Creek in the south and River Heads across to Ungowa in the north, with the Mary River included in the fishing area.

The boat ramps at Poona, Maaroom, Tuan and Beaver Rock were certainly busier than usual.

All competitors who weighed fish in on Saturday automatically went into the draw for five random prizes drawn on Saturday evening.

The winner had to be present at the draw to collect their prize.

Plenty of prizes were won and loads of entertainment kept everyone entertained on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

An auction was held on Saturday night in aid of the Poona Progress Association to help the competition continue to grow next year.

The auction is always a great attraction.

Locals supported the auction and donated canvas prints as well as a polished timber slab.

The prizes that drew the crowd were a signed

Competition Report

by MELISSA FROHLOFF

Brisbane Broncos training jersey and a one-of-a-kind Alvey 6500BCVRR sidecast reel signed by Bruce Alvey and in a swirling colour that can’t be replicated.

Bob and Ros Devenish bought the Alvey reel from Freedom Fishing Supplies and donated it to the auction in support of their local community.

Live entertainment included a band performing at Poona Centenary Hall.

Poona Progress Association made sure nobody went hungry with food and drink on sale both evenings.

On Sunday, loads of fish were caught and weighed in.

Every junior and toddler who entered the competition received a medallion,

which was a highlight for all the young fishers.

Sunday afternoon saw the final weigh-in.

Anglers young and old crowded around the weigh-in board, hoping their fish was going to weigh the most.

Plenty of prizes were allocated in each category for the heaviest species of fish, heaviest overall fish and a random prize for one female entrant.

Two major random draws were given away too, with every senior entrant going in the draw.

The first random prize was a $500 voucher donated by Freedom Fishing Supplies and the second was a sounder and Esky.

The major junior/toddler random prize was a

Viking kayak sponsored

by Freedom Fishing Supplies.

Freedom Fishing Supplies was the major sponsor this year, with the company’s good friends at Shimano also contributing.

Local businesses on the Fraser Coast donated hundreds of dollars in prizes too, and without their contributions the event would

Bob Devenish and his daughter Michelle (owner of Freedom Fishing Supplies) congratulated Paul, the highest bidder for the custom Alvey reel with a final bid of $1570.

JUNIOR WINNERS

SENIOR WINNERS Species

Name

Whiting

C. Bandholz

not be possible.

With the continued support from volunteers, competitors and visitors, the Poona Progress Association is positive the 2018 Poona Family Fishing Competition can only get bigger and better.

The Association members thank everyone for supporting their small community.

Weight (kg)

Species

Name

.305

Winter whiting

S. Orpin

.1

Summer whiting

B. Lakin

.35

Bream

J. Limbrick

.79

Flathead

J. Limbrick

1.235

Cod

J. Knight

Other

M. Hatton-Ward

Weight (kg)

Bream

D. Collier

.92

Flathead

D. Coleman

1.4

Cod

S. Peterson

17.62

Grunter

D. Collier

Mangrove jack

T. Anderson

1.585

Threadfin salmon

R. Sanners

6.82

Winter whiting

M. Waye

.095

Pelagic (tuna)

E. Ferling

4.69

Summer whiting

R. Jackson

.265

Other (barra)

R. Doyle

5.5

Sweetlip

L. Jones

.375

2.57

3.88 3.155

TODDLER WINNERS

STOP Commercial Netting in the Great Sandy Marine Park !

Go On-line NOW and sign the petition @ www.frasercoastfishingalliance.com.au Or

www.facebook.com/FraserCoastFishingAlliance

If you fish the following areas and want to see commercial NETTING removed from these waters we NEED YOUR Support NOW ! · · · · ·

Baffle Creek & tributaries The Elliott River & tributaries The Burrum River & tributaries The Mary River & tributaries The Great Sandy Strait to Tin Can Bay Inlet & tributaries

Sign this PETITION to request Dr Steven Miles - Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef and the Palaszczuk State Government to commit to ending destructive commercial netting operations in the Great Sandy Marine Park and adjacent waterways under the current full term 10 year review to restore fish stocks and help protect the Queensland urban coast’s largest dugong population.

Scan QR CODE to go directly to the petition.

Go On-Line NOW and sign @ https://www.change.org/p/dr-steven-miles-stop-commercial-netting-in-the-great-sandy-marine-park Page 36 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 37

Charlie boated a solid queenfish.

Huggy lifted an absolute pig of a fish: 125cm of MB-munching fatty. Longies get longer but this thing was fat!

Tips for targeting big tuna

S

EEING as I’ve contributed a few images of big longtail tuna this month, I thought it might be wise to write about suitable tackle for catching these big ones.

Mike with a surface-feeding trevally caught on the ever-lucky MB Custom 114.

Mike with a cracking 120cm longtail.

> Hervey Bay > Fraser Island > Sandy Strait

If you are targeting big fish on light tackle, meaning too light, you are being a bit irresponsible.

In this day and age, there is no need to fish too light.

If you are chasing and catching snapper and a big longy or cobia takes the lure, fair enough, nothing can be done.

However, appropriate tackle will give you a buzz and you can still boat the fish in good enough condition for release.

And a timely fight and release may even give you and your crew a chance to catch more than just the one big one.

Let’s start with line.

I believe 40lb in a PE-rated line (roughly PE2.5) is a good strain to start with – my preference is Castaway by Sunline.

If you use brands such as Fins, PowerPro or Tuf-Line, you could maybe run 30lb because these braids are generally thicker, tougher and break at a much higher strain than labelled.

These coarser braids usually break at nearly twice the labelled strain, but keep in mind they don’t have the castability, sensitivity or sink-rate of a true 30lb braid.

As long as you understand this and adjust accordingly, you shouldn’t have an issue.

You can use heavier 50-60lb line but doing so can limit you when it comes to using lighter lures.

Fraser Guided Fishing

by TRI TON

This heavier line will, however, give you plenty of grunt to power in those fish.

Bear in mind the hurt you can inflict is the same force the fish can lever back onto you.

If you are inexperienced, I suggest you tread carefully.

It is one thing to load an outfit statically in a tackle shop, but it is a different world in a rocking boat with a big fish on the other end circling under the boat.

I like to tie a 40lb leader to the braid.

You can go heavier but I find 40lb heavy enough when used in conjunction with solid knots.

I tie an FG knot for the join and either a uni knot or perfection loop to the terminal tackle.

Terminal knot choice varies with lure type and what sort of action you wish to impart on your lure.

To choke the lure more, a tightly clinched/closed knot is preferred.

Yes, sometimes less movement is better, especially on fast retrieves.

I run FC100 leader by Sunline because it is heavy and very durable, and that is exactly what you want.

Fine leader is no good for chasing big tuna, so don’t skimp out.

If you have tied an FG correctly, the weakest point in the rig will be the terminal knot (if you run 40lb line and leader).

The braid may break first if it is old or has copped boat or shark damage.

Conservatively speaking, the line/leader combo should have a breaking strain of about 15kg without a terminal knot in the system.

In terms of reel, I like a highspeed option with over 1m of line collection per handle turn.

This makes line control and management easier, especially with the long stroking techniques used with some stickbaits.

Daiwa 4000 and Shimano 6000 reels are a good size, but any similar brand will suffice.

Use metal-bodied reels because they are solid and do not flex.

I like the Daiwa Catalina 4000H. With my line combo, I can run 7-10kg of drag no problem, which is enough to slow a big longtail relatively quickly.

Some anglers will end battles faster than others, and for the record it has little to do with strength.

As for the rod, ideally you want something with which you can cast both soft plastics and stickbaits.

The casting weight should be from 20-80g and a regular to fast action is ideal.

Extra fast will bend unforgivingly during battle and put more stress on the angler.

You will require a long butt section to help anchor the rod when the fish circles deep, and you will need to use your body ☛ continued P39

Get into the best fishing action!

Full and half day tours All levels of experience Experienced guide

www.fraserguidedfishing.com.au > 0427 230 261 Page 38 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Mick Geary did some hefty loading on the Daiwa Saltist Extreme 762 PE2-4.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Tips for targeting Fine time to target flathead around Bundy big longtail tuna W ☛ from P38

weight to lever the fish up.

Do not use your arms.

A long butt section will also help you catapult bigger, flatter casts with greater accuracy.

All the above will most likely result in a 7’6” to 8’ rod.

I use the Daiwa Saltist Extreme 762 PE2-4.

This rod is now discontinued but Daiwa makes a similar rod in the Saltiga X range.

What is great about this rod is it loads parabolically and makes the battles less brutal.

Yes, it does feel a bit less crisp, but in my opinion I haven’t seen too many rods, if any, come close to the ability of the Saltist, including those in higher price brackets and custom-built rods.

This rod will happily cast 20g lures and I have even cast 15g jig heads with it.

However, it is at its best in the 30-60g range, which I think is perfect for the lures we tend to use for big longtails.

Lure wise it is hard to go past soft plastics with 20-30g jig heads.

Many jerk shads will

do, and I mainly use the 5” StreakZ from Z-Man. Sometimes I will use 15g heads with a tiny grub such as a Bass Slider Grub.

It also pays to have a few metal slices and pencil poppers for fast-skipping surface retrieves.

And then we can’t forget the stickbaits.

I find a range of floating and sinking plugs to be ideal.

Choose weights that best suit your rod and conditions.

I like slow-sink plugs in 30-60g because they are the most user friendly.

You may notice from my photos that I usually run one treble only, and I firmly believe that is all you need.

An extra treble is just three more chances of foul hooking a tuna, which is something that happens a lot.

Foul-hooked tuna are a fast ticket to a wheelchair, because unlike other fish, tuna have no swim bladder.

They do not float, meaning you do all the lifting, and they never give up, well not until their hearts fail from exhaustion.

ITH the cooler temperatures and a recent ‘fresh’ through our local river and creek systems, now is an ideal time to target a favourite bread and butter species: the humble flathead.

Quite a few lizards are usually available for the keen angler at this time of year.

Flathead are highly regarded table fish and are not too difficult to target, primarily because they are unable to resist anything that resembles a dead/dying baitfish and happens to pass by their keenly focused eyes.

To best prepare yourself to target flathead, as with all species, it is worthwhile developing an understanding of how, where and when they hunt their prey.

The flattened head of these fish and their camouflaged colouring provide a couple of good clues.

Flathead will partially bury themselves in the sand, blending in almost perfectly with the bottom and awaiting unsuspecting baitfish to pass by.

From their position in the sand/mud, they will launch forward with a burst of speed and use a gaping mouth to inhale the baitfish.

This is why you may not feel a distinct bite when a lizard takes your bait, rather a dull tug or subtle increase in the weight on the end of your line.

by BRAD YOUNG

As a young boy, I remember my dad targeting flathead and explaining that sometimes a little pause is needed between feeling the take and striking the hook.

This is because the fish, having just inhaled the bait, has not really taken it firmly in its mouth and the bit of time before the strike helps to ensure the hook will be set rather than dragging the bait out of the cavernous mouth without sinking the hook.

With this knowledge, you can plan and evaluate the likely places where flathead can be successfully targeted.

They will usually be found along the sloping edges of sand or mud banks, especially on a falling tide.

Here they will lie in wait for baitfish leaving the draining flats as they head to deeper water.

A way to better develop your knowledge of flathead and where they can be found is to walk the sand flats at a low tide, especially around the full and new moons when the spring tides occur (the highest high tides and lowest low tides).

The low tides at these times will reveal the largest area of sand flats where you can look for the kite-shaped depres-

sions left in the sand and mud by flathead waiting to ambush their prey.

It is also worth remembering the location of these depressions because flathead will often return to the same area.

Bait for flathead is usually simple to source yourself in our local area, with yabbies easily pumped from many of the sand/ mud flats at low tide and poddy mullet and sprat (herring) often readily available with a cast net.

Another good bait is the small winter/diver whiting that can sometimes be netted using a 15m bait net.

They are also suckers for almost any type of lure from the old silver Toby wobbler style to small hard-body minnows and especially the more recently developed soft plastics.

Fly fishing enthusiasts will have a ball with flathead.

The fish’s downfall is not being able to resist smashing anything that passes their eyes.

Rigs for bait fishing can be as simple as a live baitfish pinned just under the dorsal fin (but not into the backbone, which will paralyse it) on a 1/0 hook with a very small sinker sitting directly on top of the hook.

This allows the bait to swim erratically, drawing the attention of any nearby predators.

This rig is best suited to being used where you want the bait to drift along the edge of a bank in the tidal stream.

Another alternative is to use a heavier sinker to hold the bait onto the bottom but with a 1m-long trace.

The long trace enables the bait to move around, even though it is held near the bottom by the sinker.

This rig is best used when you want to cast your bait over some country and then retrieve it, slowly moving along the bottom in an area you believe may hold a flathead.

Using this method, you can cover a large area by making eight to 10 casts in a fan-like formation from your position before moving a little further along the bank and repeating the process.

A third option is to have your bait sitting underneath a float with a trace long enough to hold the bait just clear of the bottom.

The waves will bounce your float along on the surface, imparting the same erratic movement to your bait.

This is a good alternative if you are fishing areas of bottom with scattered rocks that would normally pose a problem with frequent snags.

When bait fishing for flathead, it is worthwhile

using a heavier trace because they have a large set of small, needle-like teeth.

When being retrieved, they tend to shake their head from side to side, which can see them saw through a light leader.

Usually 15-20lb leader is all that is required to reduce the chances of this occurring.

With many fish being targeted on clean, sandy bottom, you will not need a main line over 9-12lb.

The weight of trace will depend on the type of lure being used.

If you are using a wobbler, spoon or hard-body lure, it may not be necessary to use a heavier trace because it’s unlikely the fish will contact the line with its teeth.

If using soft plastics, where the fish may still completely inhale the lure, it is best to use a heavier length of leader.

I hope these tips help you off to a successful start chasing flathead.

By now, flathead should be around many of our river and creek mouths and can be accessed by both land-based and boat anglers.

Good luck with the lizards and enjoy the fishing over the next month!

As always, I can be contacted via bnbfish ing.com.au, by email at fishnboat@bigpond.com and mail at PO Box 5812, Bundaberg Queensland 4670.

Until next month...

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 39

Brendan with an 86cm barra.

This big spanish mackerel was a prized capture in May.

Make the most of mixed species at Stanage

W

ELCOME one and all to Stanage Bay, Shoalwater Bay, Percy Isles and surrounding islands.

Lissy landed this big 12kg-plus jewfish.

Stanage Bay Marine

oAccommodationoBaitoIce oTackle

Aparadise fisho's

Monster crabs

Awesome fishing stanagebay.com Call Von 07 4937 3145

Of late the Stanage Bay road in from the highway has been in reasonable condition.

As usual, from the Shoalwater Bay turn-off to the Plumtree boat ramp, apart from the sealed sections, lie a supply of deep potholes and a couple of dangerous drains and wash-outs.

I believe council has had ample time since the cyclone Debbie-associated rainfall to rectify these issues.

The estuary has given up mixed species including quality parrot, jewfish, large bream, flathead, cod, barra, grunter and blue salmon.

Good on the anglers who endeavoured through

Stanage Bay

by VON IRELAND

the hard days to come out on top by the end of their holiday.

We’ve seen numerous big muddies to top it all off.

Around the islands and offshore, the bigger boats have not been big enough to combat the rough weather most of the time.

Mother Nature has only permitted brief windows of calm weather.

But within these windows were excellent fish captures.

Onya Wes for accidently hooking a mackerel and getting it on board with light line and a small lure – gee, I wish I had a pic.

Big grass sweetlip have been chewing big time around the Dukes.

The pics show how proud Garry was with his parrot, as was Lissy with her jewfish, which was her first over a metre.

Well done Lissy!

As for June and what you should expect to pull on board, if you are fishing the reef and islands, I anticipate spanish mackerel off Steep and Alnwick islands.

Not too far away you will find Low Rock and Table Rock.

Both these rocks fish surprisingly well at certain times of the tides and they can produce anything from legal coral trout to red emperor and small and large-mouth nannygai.

Stanage Bay Marine and Accommodation sells all safety gear, charts and books on the area as well as quality bait, ice and tackle.

The fishing accommodation was set up for fishos by fishos and is close to the boat ramp, pub, servo and tackle shop.

Ask for Pacific Villa or Pacific Oasis when you call.

You can contact us at stanagebay.com, on Facebook, by email at stanage baymarine@bigpond.com or call me on 07 4937 3145.

Until next time, keep your lines and hooks wet.

Garry was proud of his parrotfish.

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Plenty on the go around Gladstone

W

ATER temperatures are on the way down and summer species will be slowing as the cooler weather fish take over.

After the water cleared from the flooding caused by ex-cyclone Debbie, fish including barra and jacks started to bite well again.

Their aggression will wane as the water temp drops further but will still be available in a shorter bite window.

The Fitzroy River will just about be back to normal after Rockhampton copped serious flooding that caused parts of town to go under.

While the barra fishing will slow, threadies should be around in good schools through the entire river.

Barra will be an option but be prepared to put in a bit more work and patience to find fish ready to feed.

Large amounts of bait can be found in the Calliope and Boyne rivers, with queenfish, trevally and tarpon sometimes seen chasing baitfish on the surface.

Fishing around these bait schools with soft plastics and small to medium vibes will get results and you will also have

Gladstone Region

by GARY CHURCHWARD

the chance to score a fingermark or grunter sitting under the bait.

If you can see bigger fish on your sounder, they are likely to be barra or salmon.

Blue salmon numbers should be on the rise as the temperature drops.

Focus your fishing around the mouths and edges of creeks and rivers where the bottom drops into deeper water.

If a river mouth is holding prawns and mullet, salmon won’t be far behind.

The best baits are live mullet and gar or fresh strip baits and pillies.

Most of the creeks and inlets running off Gladstone Harbour will see schools moving through at some stage of the tide.

Either play the waiting game and sit tight until a school moves through or employ a run and gun strategy and keep moving until you find the fish.

A few fingermark are being caught around the deeper rocks in the Calliope River, with 3”-4” plastics, vibes and live baits doing the damage.

The fish aren’t huge, with fingermark of 50cm considered a good size.

Larger fish can be targeted around the headlands and rocks at the top of Curtis Island.

Grunter will increase in both size and numbers and the bigger fish will typically come from deeper water around the outside of Curtis.

Smaller fish will be found on gravelly bottom in Toolooa Bends and both the Boyne and Calliope rivers.

Bream were biting extremely strongly during May and this fact will only improve as winter sets in.

Try the shallower rocky edges in the harbour with a lightly weighted plastic or small hard-body.

Estuary cod can be taken year-round and they will keep you busy when other fish won’t bite.

They can be a good alternative to chasing jacks as those fish slow down.

Cod are willing lure takers and will hit hard.

The only letdown is the fight can be average until they reach a decent size.

Flathead haven’t been around in the same numbers as last year but this could change as they school to spawn.

Hopefully we will also see longer periods of better weather that allow for longer sessions on the water.

Cheers and happy fishing from Gladdy.

This barra took a 3” Z-Man MinnowZ in Opening Night fished around bridge pylons.

An average size fingermark taken from the Calliope River on a Zerek Fish Trap soft vibe.

$9000 fine for illegal netting in far north Queensland

A

NORTH Queensland recreational fisher has been fined $9000 after pleading guilty to four fishing offences in the Ingham Magistrates’ Court.

The man was charged with unlawfully using two commercial fishing nets, possessing four commercial fishing nets and two protected sawfish rostrums, and making a misleading statement to Fisheries Queensland officers.

Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol district officer Robert Marsh said illegal netting was a serious offence, which had been demonstrated by the magistrate issuing a significant fine.

“QBFP officers located two illegal nets at Toomulla Beach north of Townsville during a routine patrol in December 2015,” Mr Marsh said.

“The man was charged with illegally using two commercial fishing nets and the other charges resulted from the execution of a search warrant in February 2016.”

The six commercial nets were forfeited to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The court did not record a conviction.

Mr Marsh said recreational fishers needed to be aware of restrictions on recreational fishing equipment. www.bnbfishing.com. au

“There are strict guidelines in place for the use of nets because when left unattended, they can be indiscriminate in what marine life they entangle and catch,” he said.

Mr Marsh said the court prosecution was a timely reminder about the rules for recreational net fishing in Queensland tidal waters.

A seine net (commonly known as a bait net or drag net) must not exceed 16m in length, 3m in drop and must have a mesh size no greater than 28mm.

Cast nets can be no more than 3.7m when measured from the point of attachment of the cord or rope to the rest of the net, to the net lead line or bottom of the lowest pocket of the net, whichever is greater.

Mesh size must be no greater than 28mm.

“If anyone suspects illegal fishing activity, they should report it to the Fishwatch hotline on 1800 017 116 so that it can be investigated,” Mr Marsh said.

For more information on Queensland fishing rules and regulations, visit fish eries.qld.gov.au, call 13 25 23 or download the free Qld Fishing app from Apple and Google app stores.

You can follow Fisheries Queensland on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@ FisheriesQld).

Boondall Northside Marine 2294 Sandgate Rd, Boondall Q 4034 Phone: 07 3265 8000 info@nsmarine.com.au northsidemarine.com.au

Gladstone Curtis Coast Marine 40 Chapple St, Gladstone Q 4680 Phone: 07 4972 0135 sales@curtiscoastmarinecom.au curtiscoastmarine.com.au

Noosa Laguna Boating Centre 16 Project Ave, Noosaville Q 4566 Phone: 07 5442 4872 info@lagunaboating.com.au lagunaboating.com.au

Whitsundays Whitsunday Outboard Centre 17 William Murray Dr, Cannonvale Q 4802 Phone: 07 4946 7286 woc@whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au

Bundaberg Adrians Marine Centre 28 Ritchie St, Bundaberg Q 4670 Phone: 07 4153 1819 adriansmarinecentre@bigpond.com adriansmarinecentre.com.au

Gold Coast White Water Marine 10 Hinde St, Ashmore Q 4214 Phone: 07 5532 4402 sales@whitewatermarine.com.au whitewatermarine.com.au

Sunshine Coast North Coast Boating 264 Nicklin Way, Warana Q 4575 Phone : 07 5493 9376 sales@northcoastboating.com.au northcoastboating.com.au

Wynnum Wynnum Marine 31 Fox St, Wynnum Q 4178 Phone: 07 3396 9777 info@wynnummarine.com.au wynnummarine.com.au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 41

Squid Rowe Trophy 2017 T

HE weather once again played a role in the nearly non-event that was the Squid Rowe Trophy 2017, with boats pulling out left right and centre due to the dodgy forecast.

Rob Schomberg and a healthy pearl perch.

Helaine Wilesmith with a scarlet sea perch (largemouth nannygai).

The Squid Rowe Trophy is one of our friendly competitions based around Rainbow Beach and fishing over the Anzac Day and May Day long weekends.

Some crews thought stuff it, and went to Rainbow Beach early, staying for the week as they did last year in the hope the weather would at least let them out for a fish a couple of times.

As it turned out, the majority of boats got in some sort of fishing most days.

Day one of the competition started a bit windy, making for a bumpy ride out, but settled down during the day, allowing a nice run home.

Nick and the crew of Reef Runner elected to stay in close to Helaine and her team on Amity due to the sloppy conditions, with just a couple venturing further out.

Talk on the radio through the morning in-

Reef Runner went chasing rainbows. Not a setup. No gold or unicorns found.

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Offshore reef fishing fanatics WANTED One of Brisbane’s oldest deep-sea fishing clubs with a 100 percent safety record has vacancies for new members. Owners of suitable vessels encouraged. All levels of experience. Those without own vessels also invited to apply. Approximately 15 deep sea trips per year. One week-long fishing holiday to Town of 1770. Monthly meetings, video shows, guest speakers and free nibbles. 4WD beach fishing and camping. Inshore fishing also on the agenda.

Interested? Then call Darryl (0407 596 822) or Robin (3269 5013).

POWER BOAT ANGLERS REEF FISHING CLUB INC Page 42 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Power Boat Anglers

by MICK CLUTTERBUCK

dicated fishing was pretty quiet.

Amity found things slow but persisted, with the crew making up a bag of mixed reefies including a couple of decent parrotfish.

Unfortunately, they were soon found by the sharks but strangely the guys on Reef Runner, just 30m away, kept pulling in fish with no interference.

It left Rob and Helaine wondering if the 1kW transducer might attract the sharks more than a smaller unit, which was about the only difference between the boats they could think of.

The rest of the day was spent moving from here to there before everyone called it quits and headed to the gutter at 4pm for a good but bumpy bar crossing.

Nick Cooper come home with the best bag of the day, earning him the early points lead and bragging rights leading into day two.

Tuesday morning saw the boats back at the ramp at 6am, this time joined by Ian and Paul in Mad Dog, the 685 Cruise Craft.

The gutter passage was OK and once safely out, the boats spread out to do their own thing for the day.

Amity set off to the east, checking spots from the previous day.

Rob bagged a solid pearlie but with little else around decided to keep heading out.

Mad Dog went straight to his spot near club mark 11 and Nick and his crew ended up in the same area as Amity out wide looking for reds.

Unfortunately, looking is one thing and finding

is another, and this time around they drew a blank, with nothing of note going in the box.

Again, all boats did it tough but managed a feed.

Parrot seemed to be the flavour of the day, with the odd small snapper thrown in.

No one caught sight of a trout though many stories of undersized reds did the rounds.

The best fish weighed for the day was Ian’s 7kg cobia and Rob brought in a 2.5kg parrot.

At the end of day two, Nick remained in the lead, with Ian close behind courtesy of the cobia.

The second weekend for the trophy loomed, and with another unfavourable forecast all other boats thinking about making the trip to Rainbow pulled the pin.

Having paid for the week at Rainbow Beach, Helaine and her crew elected to fish on and with the use of Ian’s tinnie they fished every day in one way or another.

Wednesday was the best day, allowing Amity out to the open ocean.

They headed out about 65km, stopping for a crack along the way at a few old marks as well as trying several new ones.

The old marks only produced a few undersize fish, though with no sharks things were looking up already.

They continued out another 5km and finally found good shows.

Helaine dropped what was believed to be a good red (aren’t they always?) that went under the boat and busted her off on the first drop, but that was it for big runs.

Quality parrot were on

the chew and moving around over new ground allowed them to put a decent bag together.

Helaine had Rob’s rod belt and was finally catching more fish than him and would not give it up, even when he found her belt.

Rob let her keep using it and when she kept getting better fish including a large-mouth nannygai and a good size maori cod, he started to rethink his decision.

Thankfully it was soon time to head back, and they arrived safely over the bar just on 5pm.

Thursday was intended to be a lay day but the weather dictated a trip to the Pinnacles was on the cards.

Fishing slightly wide, they hooked a couple of fish that were promptly taken by sharks.

A move to the Pinnacles proper produced a pearlie on plastics but that was it.

Last stop was the Nursery and while quite shallow, it usually does produce good fish.

They found a good show in 6m and landed several decent size grassies among the tiddlers before it was time to call it quits.

The next couple of days were spent in the tinnie,

either launching from the beach and fishing the close reefs for grassies and snapper or heading up the Great Sandy Strait and looking for a feed of sweet whiting.

Twenty-two was the count in that department, as well as a few squid.

Ian also got in a quick prop test on Sunday in the 685 before it was finally time to pack up, hook up and head home.

In the wash-up for the trip, it was Nick Cooper who took the honours and won the Squid Rowe Trophy for 2017 after his good haul on week one.

He was followed by Rob Schomberg a close second and Ian right behind in third.

Regardless of the weather, it was again a couple of great long weekends, with everyone who attended keen to go again next year.

Next meetings The next club meetings will be held on Monday, June 5 and then Monday, July 3.

Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month at the Bulimba Bowls Club located in Quinn St, Balmoral.

Please feel free to come along and meet us.

Until next month, safe boating.

This 2.5kg venus tuskfish was boated by Rob.

Formosa keeps offering more D

UE to popular demand, Formosa Marine has once again grown its range of boats for 2017.

Last year there was enormous growth in model size, standard features and options.

This year continues to see development in response to customer demand.

Formosa Marine is Australian owned and operated and has always been dedicated to building and developing quality aluminium trailer boats since 1998.

Last year saw the development and release of the new 7m sizes, available in Centre Cabin, Half Cabin, Centre Console, Bowrider and Territory models.

Formosa Marine also

released the innovative X Bowrider design as a model in itself, available in sizes 580, 620, 660 and 700.

The X will be available in sizes 520 and 550 later this year.

The never-seen-before wake tower design allows boat owners the option to take the family out skiing one day and experience offshore fishing the next.

Formosa Marine also released the Enclosed Cabin Hard Top option for the Centre Cabin and Half Cabin models in sizes 580 to 700.

This option offers more protection for the family and offshore fishing adventures, especially in colder areas.

The large range of optional extras grew even larger and some designs

were enhanced in response to customer feedback.

New designs include the Enclosed Cabin

Hard Top, Recessed Side Lounge and on the SeaRod range the Active Transom design.

The Sea-Rod water

ballast range was designed with a new stepdown transom allowing for the choice of four ☛ continued P43

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Formosa keeps offering more ☛ from P42

Active Transom options: Full, Dual, Single and Enclosed Access.

Choose the option you need for fishing, casting, diving or simply enjoying the waters.

For more information, check out all these new features online on Formosa Marine’s new mobilefriendly website formosa marineboats.com.au Formosa Marine continues to advance its boats to handle the Australian environment yet keep them affordable.

The new Sea-Rod Off-

shore 740 Centre Cabin was released in mid-May and Marine Tune had the pleasure of fitting this beauty out for a customer.

Marine Tune is Formosa Marine’s Sea-Rod dealer situated in Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast.

Marine Tune offers great boat, motor, trailer package deals and the full range of Sea-Rod boats by Formosa Marine.

The new 7.4m boat was tested, fitted and handed over to the customer with all the bells and whistles including new features.

For the new length, For-

mosa Marine increased the deadrise from 18.5 to 20 degrees yet retained the stability its boats are known for.

Some design features of the new 740 include slightly higher sides, a 300-litre fuel tank and importantly, more deck space for you and your mates.

The 740 is available in Centre Cabin and Half Cabin configurations, with Hard Top options such as the new Enclosed Cabin, Open Cabin and Hard Top Visor as shown on the 740 pictured.

Standard build features include the V2 Hull with 5mm bottom sheets and 4mm sides; self-draining aluminium deck; multichamber, water-ballast, foam-filled hull; deeper sides and wide beam; fully welded side decks and gunwales; raised sheer and chine line, new TowCatch; new aluminium bow roller; heavy-duty dive ladder; installation of the world’s leading SeaStar steering system; 32mm rails; side pockets; sounder brackets and more.

Visit Formosa Marine’s website to download the full spec list.

Options on this 740 were a Hard Top Visor, Single Active Transom with a fold-down rear seat and transom door, hydraulic steering, two-tone paint, cabin underfloor storage boxes and three cabin shelves.

Marine Tune fitted a 300hp Yamaha motor, which saw the big 740 reach almost 80km/h; a digital gauge fuel management system with flyby-wire optical controls; VHF radio; Lowrance Elite-9 Ti combo; dual batteries; stainless steel prop; freshwater deck wash with 60-litre tank; fantastic rear extension sun peak bimini; clears; Fusion stereo; Muir electric drum winch with plough anchor and more.

Formosa Marine is proud to be working with Marine Tune, Australia’s leading Yamaha outboard dealer and an authorised Yamaha service centre.

Check out the Sea-Rods in the large Marine Tune showroom at 64 Kortum Drive, Burleigh Heads or speak with one of the professional sales staff today on 07 5576 7388.

All Sea-Rod by Formosa Marine models in size 520 and over are uniquely designed with a four-chamber counterbalance water ballast system for extra stability at rest.

You can see this unique feature on a Formosa boat displayed in Marine Tune’s showroom today.

For the full range of boats and design features, visit formosamarineboats. com.au Contact Marine Tune today for a quote on the number above or visit marinetune.com Discover more with a Formosa.

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07 3808 7333 Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 43

Luke takes fishing to the outer limits with AMM Q

U EENSLA N D earthworks business owner Luke Doyle loves pushing his recreational fishing to the Outer Limits.

A round trip of 200 nautical miles pursuing his favourite reds (red emperor, not wines) is nothing unusual for Luke.

But he now will be making the trip in an Australian Master Marinedesigned and built Weekender 7800 plate alloy boat powered by twin Suzuki 175hp outboards.

Named Outer Limits and with a huge compass rose graphic splayed down its flanks, Luke likes exploring the boundaries.

“You’re always pushing yourself to the Outer Limits – hence the compass,” Luke said.

“It gives a sense of direction and encourages you to always push new boundaries to get to those outer reefs.”

The compass rose was a creative idea from his wife, Sammie.

“She loves her fishing just as much as us boys,” Luke said.

Luke’s AMM Weekender boasts a string of ‘firsts’ – the most significant of which is that it is the first time the Weekender series has been created in a 7.8m length.

AMM has traditionally built Weekenders in 6.1m,

Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

6.4m, 6.8m, 7m and 7.4m lengths.

However, AMM does have its Tournament series in a 7.8m version, which allowed the company to carry across the naval architect-certified belowwater hull geometry.

Obviously, Luke is no novice when it comes to boating.

His last boat was a Kevlacat 2400 and he previously has owned a Tabs and various Haines Hunters, among others.

And as if the 40 rod holders (yes, that’s another ‘first’, 40 separate builtin rod holders) weren’t a big enough clue, Luke said in typical understatement: “We built her for fishing.”

“If there are four of us on the boat and we’ve all got a variety of rods, we have storage for them on the roof, then we have the rod holders around the bait station in the centre area for rigging up.

“That way you don’t have rods hanging over the side while rigging.

“It really gets the rods you are not using out of the way.

“Outer Limits is built for fishing, but there’s plenty of room to have a bit of fun as well.

“That’s why we included the midge screens for camping at Wathumba Creek.”

Wathumba Creek is a sheltered area on the western side of Fraser Island with no shortage of midges.

“The back station is a big icebox as well as a tackle locker,” Luke said.

“We haven’t got a sink or fancy kitchen because we don’t need them.

“A portable cooker is all the luxury we need.”

Luke chose to supply his own selection of Simrad gear: an Evo2 12” MFD, S2009 sounder paired with a 1kW 265 LH transducer, StructureScan and 4G radar.

“I’ve always had Simrad gear and found it to be pretty good bang for the buck.”

Outer Limits includes a number of special build items as well as the full catalogue of options.

The AMM Weekender’s standard 240-litre underfloor fuel tank has been replaced with three 220-litre tanks with separate deck-top fillers, giving a total of 660 litres.

And there are other customised features including a solar panel and two underfloor deep-cycle storage batteries; a hard top that has been extended 400mm; seatbox Eskies extended by 500mm that drain to the outside of the hull; rear-facing Hella Sea Hawk LED light bars;

forward-facing Lightforce LED light bar; LED lighting under the gunwales and underwater lighting on the transom; a cabin that is 150mm longer; two Hella oscillating cabin fans (for those summer nights); water diverters on the side decks; extended side cabin clears; 12V and USB sockets; extra side pocket storage; a Lonestar Marine GX3 anchor drum winch; Reelax helm seats; stabiliser legs for low-tide beach anchorage; and a customised alloy trailer with stone guards.

Even the cushion on the front tackle station has been customised – tapered to allow a wider opening to the storage area below it.

The Weekender series’ standard equipment already included a fully welded, plate alloy selfdraining floor; battery locker; bow and side rails; boarding steps, keel bar and keel cap; bowsprit; foot locker between the bunks; self-draining scuppers; a cleaning tray; polyurethane painting inside and out from the chines up; and the optional twinoutboard pod with duckboards setup.

Some of the video footage from Outer Limits’ sea trials has been posted on AMM’s website aus tralianmastermarine.com. au

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Savage Blue Water will take you offshore without breaking the bank

S

AVAGE has recently released a budget-friendly offshore fishing machine perfect for tackling bluewater conditions.

The beauty of the Savage 615 Blue Water is it comes at a great price point but you can still option up the model to suit your needs.

The 615 Blue Water will get you offshore quickly and safely with a 5mm bottom, 3mm topsides and a 160-litre fuel tank as standard.

A combination of the Ultra Lift Hull, hydraulic steering and 200hp motor rating makes this boat a breeze to drive while giving you the confidence to tackle

rough conditions.

The cavernous cabin has plenty of storage as well as a hatch for air and light, so you’ll be happy to spend a night on the water.

If you’ve got more fishing gear than you can poke a stick at, you can find additional storage under the box seats and in two large side pockets.

Savage account manager Nick McCartney said while the Blue Water covers all the essentials, you have the choice to option up this model to suit your fishing prowess. “The new optional live bait tank/cutting board combo optimises functionality while saving space, so you still have

plenty of fishing and storage room,� he said. “The optional underfloor kill tank is perfect for holding that massive catch while the optional drum winch makes anchoring a breeze. “If this isn’t enough, you can even add an aluminium rocket launcher in which to store your prized rod collection. “The list of options goes on and on, including cabin cushions for a little more luxury on those overnight trips.�

For pricing and more information on the Blue Water, please visit your local Savage dealer or visit aluminium.savageboats. com.au

Streaker Marine takes out two of Quintrex’s top honours

In 1973, Leon and Paul Savage Snr started Streaker fibreglass boats before opening Streaker Marine in 1993.

Streaker Marine became a Quintrex dealership in 2005 and the business has since been passed down through two generations of the Savage family.

The collection of awards under their belt including previous Quintrex Dealer of the Year in 2010 and 2011 exemplifies Streaker Marine’s commitment to improving the business.

Dealer principal Sean Savage said the secret to success and winning the Quintrex National Dealer of the Year Award is ensuring every customer leaves the dealership with a smile on their face. “Customer service is number one for us and after 44 years of being a retailer and manufacturer, our reputation keeps growing,� Sean said. “We have had huge growth in 2016 and 2017 due to a young sales team that has embraced the digital world we live in and where the customer is number one.�

On winning the Quintrex Sales Excellence award, Sean said the en-

tire team at Streaker Marine plays a part in the success. “We strive to represent the best products as professionally as possible and make sure our service department has the highest customer satisfaction in the country,� Sean said.

Quintrex account manager Drew Jackson said Streaker Marine goes above and beyond for customers and the business has set up a boat delivery system like no other. “Streaker Marine has a designated beach-themed delivery area inside the showroom complete with a jetty to enter the boat where customers can get an awesome photo with their new purchase,�

Drew said. “The new owners then receive champagne, chocolates, hats, keyrings, a Quintrex wash kit and a personalised plaque adhered to the dash embossed with the customer’s name. “If that’s not enough, all deliveries are offered a half day on-water experience. “It’s added touches like these that exemplify Streaker Marine’s exceptional customer service.�

Visit streakermarine. com.au to find out more.

For more information on the Quintrex range, head to quintrex.com.au

Bravely go where

no man has gone before

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Visit your local Quintrex dealer!

Brisbane Brisbane Yamaha Quintrex account manager Nathan Shaw, Paul Savage Jnr, Paul Savage Snr and Quintrex account manager Drew Jackson.

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174 Eastern Service Rd, Bruce Hwy Burpengary Q 4505 T: 07 3888 1727 brisbaneyamaha.com.au

*450 and above.

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ICTORIAN Quintrex dealership Streaker Marine has won the Quintrex National Dealer of the Year and Quintrex Sales Excellence awards for 2016-2017.

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Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, June 2017 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Page 45

This golden was pulled aboard the author’s SeaBreeze Kayak.

A surface-caught queenfish out of the author’s SeaBreeze Kayak.

Time to target trevally and queenies with topwater lures

A

S the weather cools, now is the time for all us wild bass fishos to say goodbye to hot sweaty afternoon sessions on the rivers.

This little diamond trevally fell victim to a micro jig.

A solid golden trevally Jake McGown hooked on a small soft plastic.

Bigeye trevally aren’t generally a target species but are always fun to catch.

Queenfish just love Bent Minnows.

Page 46 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Instead it’s time to slip on the warm gear and venture out on the estuaries to give the bass a break over the closed season (June 1 to August 31) and chase the multitude of saltwater species we are privileged to have close access to throughout our vast network of creeks and rivers across Australia.

This winter will present a new challenge for me.

I’m mixing things up and have decided to chase some of the hardest-fighting fish on offer, pound for pound.

The cooler months open up many options to anglers, with bream sitting at the top of an extensive hit list.

However, it’s trevally and queenfish that really spike my interest.

As the weather cools, they move into the small marinas and sand flats in search of food.

These moderate size estuarine fish not only provide great sportfishing but also a tasty feed.

Many different species of trevally are active over winter.

Diamond, golden and giant trevally certainly take the cake for the most sought-after species, along with the mighty queenfish, which can grow to incredible sizes and provide some of the best sportfishing action in the country.

The key to successfully chasing these fish is patience.

When GTs and queenfish come on the chew, they will devour almost anything thrown at them.

However, using topwater lures has long been my favourite method.

The aggression of a topwater strike from an angry and hungry fish is so exhilarating.

But finding the fish can sometimes boil down to

Fishing for Fun

by ZAC CHARLTON

When GTs and queenfish come on the chew, they will devour almost anything thrown at them. However, using topwater lures has long been my favourite method. a game of cat and mouse.

When the fish are actively hunting and feeding, one of the best signs to look for is bait scattering on the surface.

Boils and surface strikes on bait almost always indicate feeding fish.

On one recent afternoon, casting surface lures towards a changing current line on the incoming tide was the key to finding active fish.

My lure of choice was a little Daiwa T.D. Salt Pencil F. Stripping the lure across the water as fast as possible mimics a fleeing baitfish and sends these predators crazy.

Big angry surface boofs and screaming drags ensued for the rest of the afternoon.

GTs and queenies provide heaps of fun on an aggressive approach but

another technique I enjoy for golden and diamond trevally is slowly hopping plastics and micro jigs.

This is a simple technique.

Having a boat with a quality sounder really aids in finding the fish but the most success I have had has been when the tide is running.

I work under pontoons and houseboats, allowing the lure to slowly flutter down before giving it two to three sharp hops and then letting it sink to the bottom.

This has been a really fun way to chase these fish, and when 80cm-plus models turn up, stopping them on light gear can be an absolute mission.

My two combos of choice this season will consist of a lighter model for smaller micro jigs and plastics and a slightly

heavier model for helping deal with larger fish and throwing heavier jig heads and surface lures.

I’m currently running a 2000-size Daiwa Generation Black reel and itchy-twitchy Gen Black rod with 6lb braid for my lighter setup and a 2500-size Daiwa Cerate with 2-6kg Gen Black rod and 8lb braid as a slightly heavier combo.

My leader mainly consists of 12lb fluorocarbon, but when the fish are running into structure, beefing up to 20lb can pay off and help in avoiding losing expensive lures.

As for lures, in the surface department anything around the 60-80mm size should work, providing the fish aren’t spooky.

O.S.P Bent Minnows, poppers and stickbaits all work well, remembering that most lures don’t necessarily need to be ‘worked’ but skimmed back in as fast as possible.

For diamonds and goldens, any small 5-8g micro jig is perfect.

Grubs and flickbaits in the 2”-4” range can be very successful too, especially when fished on a 1/6oz or 1/4oz jig head, depending on tides.

I’m hoping you can get out over these cooler months and give it a good crack, remembering that different systems may have their own little knacks for chasing these fish.

Best of luck and tight lines.

Jake released a beast of a golden.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Send details to Bush ’n Beach Fishing magazine E: ben@bnbfishing.com.au PO Box 387 Cleveland 4163

Mustad 5.5” SS Pliers

MUSTAD has released a set of pliers that will allow small split rings to be opened easily, while retaining the strength to remove hooks from fish if necessary.

The Mustad 5.5” SS Pliers are constructed using German stainless steel to ensure longevity in the field.

These pliers feature a micro-sized split ring opener, two split-shot crimping slots (they may also be used for light crimps) and a line trimmer at the back end of the jaws.

Fitted out with non-slip handles to ensure a safe grip, the Mustad 5.5” SS Pliers come with a corduroy sheath, lanyard and carabiner.

For more information, visit wilson fishing.com.au

Rod Armour protects your rods

beloved sport expensive and sometimes a hassle.

All things considered, a lightweight, effectively weaved, durable and slick rod cover presents a viable and costefficient solution for the problems we face.

A new Rod Armour customer explained his previous anger and frustration at buying a new $350 rod and then having it break within the first week of ownership due to the constant bashing of waves on a rough day in his tinnie.

He was devastated to say the least, and after this experience went straight to us to buy a Rod Armour cover.

This is our aim and overall ambition: to limit rod breakages with a cheap and affordable solution.

You can have faith knowing your rods are protected and the peace of mind that you have done everything to protect your beloved rod.

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Samaki Torpedo V2 Spinners

THE all-new Samaki V2 Spinners have some serious attitude, and now ranging from 10g to 85g, these spinners hit the bullseye with each cast.

Throw them into a school of baitfish and you’ll be attacked by every predator swimming around.

Alternatively, re-rig them with an assist hook and drop them to the depths to attract any aggressive species.

The elongated bullet design allows you to cast further, while the lifelike colour combinations, 6X strong treble hook, natural eye, extra-hard external coating and UV colours with glow properties ensure the Spinners will attract plenty of attention and stand up to the task of dealing with multitudes of gnashing teeth.

Samaki has designed the ultimate weapon when it comes to spinning up a storm.

RRP starts from $4.95.

For more information and stockists, visit samaki.com.au and like Samaki on Instagram and Facebook.

is perfect for a large variety of situations.

There are no rules, the Berkley PowerBait Gotam Shad does it all.

RRP is $8.95. www.berkley-fishing.com.au

Flying Fishunter soft plastic

INTRODUCING the new Berkley PowerBait Gotam Shad.

Its translucency paired with the inner mylar foil gives it the appearance of a real live baitfish.

The firmness has been carefully studied to get the best vibration from the paddle tail, with 3D eyes and micro sparkles completing this fantastic shad.

Available in 3” and 4” sizes and eight killer colours, the Gotam Shad

onds per metre yet maintain an excellent casting distance.

The Shallow jigs are ideal for use in shallow water or when the squid are very sensitive because the slower sink rate is often more appealing in these circumstances.

Yamashita’s R&D team has discovered the best sound for squid to detect is 600Hz and the best light for the squid’s eye to detect is 490nm.

The LIVE Search 490 Glow series jigs are equipped with both, making them simply the most attractive jigs for squid!

For more information, visit ejtodd. com.au

Yo-Zuri’s new Nomad Design SuperBraid Madscad KINGSTON Lures is proud to release an innovative spinning lure dedicated for targeting most fresh and saltwater predators.

The Flying Fishunter came from Team Mikado’s co-operation with Rolf Shwarzer, one of Germany’s most well-known fishing journalists and avid anglers.

In essence it is a combination of Kingston’s legendary Fishhunter soft lure and a Double Twister tail.

The main body of the lure has been modified with a hole to put through the twister wings, thus giving it an ultra-aggressive action that fish just can’t resist.

For more information, visit king stonlures.com.au

Samaki Egi Inked rod

STYLED on the typical deep-bellied baitfish that are so prevalent all over the globe, the Nomad Design Madscad has been designed to be effective in all environments, in a range of sizes for a huge variety of species.

This design has been refined over years of testing and many prototypes along the way.

Subtle features such as the flattened top of the head, scalloped sides and small tail wings all combine to make the action on this lure truly dynamic.

The Madscad sinks level and wiggles much like a small stick minnow you would use for bream.

It has an erratic swimming action when twitched, producing a pronounced thumping side-to-side darting action.

You can employ a straight retrieve as well, which will give a more subtle swimming motion.

The fast-sinking 190mm/160g version can even be trolled at 15 knots.

The larger sizes are ideal for tuna, GTs, mackerel and kingfish, with the smaller sizes perfect for all sizes and shapes of reef dwellers, tuna, smaller trevally, salmon and kingfish.

You name it and it’s probably been caught on a Madscad.

By far the most popular shape in the Nomad Design range, the Madscad is the must-have lure for so many anglers.

Built with the same HD ABS plastic, foam-filled body and machinestamped metal plate on all Nomad Design lures, the 190mm and 150mm sizes are tough enough for any bluewater predator.

The 115mm size features a unique full-wire system that has been tested to be the strongest in the industry.

No more ripped-out hook points or busted lures with Nomad Designs.

Finally, the 95mm Madscad is a very effective barramundi and manNEW from EJ Todd are the Yamash- grove jack lure when twitched slowly ita LIVE Search 490 Glow Shallow amongst structure. and Deep squid jigs.

All Nomad Design lures come fitThe popular LIVE Search 490 Glow ted with the highest-quality superseries is now available in Deep and strong BKK hooks, chosen to balance Shallow models in size 3.5. perfectly with each lure and provide The Deep jigs sink at 1.8-2.2 sec- exceptional swimming actions and onds per metre, which allows you to hook-up rates for all species. target squid in deeper water much Nomad Design lures can be fished more efficiently. straight out of the box with confiThey are also ideal when you have a dence. fast drift or strong current.

For more information and to buy The Shallow jigs sink at 5.5-6 sec- now, visit tacklewarehouse.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 47 YO-ZURI is excited to announce the introduction of its new SuperBraid in a vibrant blue hue that is great for visibility and designed for the angler to be able to see their line on top of the water.

This line is ideal for fishing in clear water.

SuperBraid ranges from 10-40lb test for four-strand and 50-80lb test for eight-strand.

Yo-Zuri’s specially coated braided line gives it maximum abrasion resistance, extremely low stretch and makes it super durable, giving you the best possible fishing experience.

It’s available in 150 and 300-yard spools, so be sure to re-spool your reel today!

SuperBraid is super strong and super durable with maximum abrasion resistance, easy handling and extremely low stretch.

Get into your nearest tackle shop now and check it out!

Yamashita LIVE Search 490 Glow squid jigs

Berkley PowerBait Gotam Shad TRANSPORTING fishing rods can be a challenging task.

High-quality graphite rods are susceptible to scratches, nicks and bumps, which can cause the rod to break under load.

At Rod Armour, we aim to rectify this issue with an affordable and effective solution.

We give our customers peace of mind that their quality fishing rods are protected.

We feel everyone’s rods are worth protecting.

Any angler is heartbroken with the breakage of a good rod, whether it’s in the car, bouncing along in the boat or having been previously nicked and breaking under pressure.

These things are unfortunate consequences of fishing, and they take a toll on the back pocket, making our www.bnbfishing.com. au

angler cosmetically with a custompainted VSS reel seat, gold trim detail, carbon cross-weave wrap and Samaki foiled logo.

Functionally, it offers low-rider silicone guides, a split-butt design and hardened EVA grips.

The Samaki Egi Inked has a line weight rating of PE0.5-1.2 with a cast weight of 2-3.5g, allowing you to throw a variety of squid jigs in all conditions.

Visit samaki.com.au and follow Samaki on Facebook and Instagram for more information.

THE Samaki Egi Inked stretches 8’6” in length, which is absolutely perfect for long lifts and wacky whips – the type of squid fishing action you could encounter anywhere around the world.

The length of an egi rod must be right on the money.

You want a perfectly balanced rod for casting those enticing jigs.

It must have power for distance casting, finesse for lure retrieval and sensitivity for the angler to feel the strike.

Samaki’s Egi Inked indulges the

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 49

K AYAKING & canoeing

Give squidding a go after dark along well-lit waterfront walkways.

Nick’s first attempt at squidding from a kayak.

Squidding in Moreton Bay L

IKE many, I used to think squidding was some super-special secret art reserved for cold winter nights.

Tiger squid can change colours and pattern almost instantly.

The reality is squid are a year-round target in Moreton Bay and from a kayak are a species you can target with minimal effort.

It’s no secret I like to fish shallow fringes around the bay.

If I can’t see the bottom, it’s too deep.

That means I also like to fish relatively clear water with rubbly bottom, which is perfect squid territory.

One day I was casting lures around and kept getting hits, but kept missing hook-ups on what I thought were fish.

On closer inspection, I saw a small opaque ring on one of my trebles that looked like it came from a squid tentacle.

So I backed the drag

Try to keep your squid in the water until the net is under it.

Page 50 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Kayaking for Squid

by TOM LASZLO

right off and managed to put my first squid in the net.

Over the years I have fine-tuned my method to include taking a couple of jigs with me every time I hit the bay.

If I am chasing snapper in the bay, I’m usually casting soft plastics across a shallow reef while letting the wind and current push me around.

In that situation, I will tie a 2.2 size squid jig onto a light line, cast it out behind me and park the rod in a holder.

The jig is light enough to generally not hit the bottom and snag in 3-6m of water and the waves give it enough action to attract any squid within sight.

If the tide is up and I’m fishing the rocky fringes in shallow water, small jigs up to 1.8 size are what I’ll use.

I tend to cast parallel to the shore and use an erratic retrieve.

Don’t avoid really shallow water because you might miss an opportunity.

My biggest squid was hooked in knee-deep water less than a metre off the rocks at Redcliffe on a tiny 1.5 size squid jig.

I prefer natural prawn and pilchard-coloured jigs and have seen how badly some cheap jigs perform, so stick to quality brands such as Yo-Zuri and Yamashita.

They may cost a little more but they sit tail-up in the water, look more natural and are more snag resistant.

To target squid from a kayak, you don’t need to go far off land, though you do need the water to be relatively clean.

This makes squid a great target for those who are getting used to paddling or just a bit concerned about venturing too far out.

A landing net, squid spike, 4-6lb rod and a couple of squid jigs is all you need to be in with a fair chance of landing a few.

Handling squid needs to be talked about.

They have a bitey bit in the middle under all the tentacles, so don’t allow it to attach to you and give you a nip because it does hurt.

Guide the squid into your net and avoid letting the tentacles get a hold of you.

I recommend killing the squid immediately, and be sure to do it properly.

Squid have three brains to spike and if you don’t do it properly, your Esky will slowly but surely fill with ink as the stresses cause the squid to keep producing ink.

You can find plenty of how-to videos on YouTube to learn the basics.

Eating quality also declines if not properly handled after catching.

For me, evening sessions after work seem the best time to catch a feed of squid.

Tide isn’t particularly important so long as there is some run to it.

Paddling after dusk requires an all-round white light to be visible on your kayak, though I also like to park just outside the lit area of jetties and foreshore footpaths and cast around the darkened fringes because the squid seem to actively hunt those areas.

Searching casts out into

the dark at regular intervals garner results as well.

It is worth mentioning that you will get inked, no matter how careful you are.

One day it will happen.

Squid ink stains clothes and plastic kayaks.

If you are pedantic about imperfections, don’t bring a squid anywhere near your kayak.

When reeling squid in, keep them in the water and don’t lift them out because when you do, they tend to fire ink, and in a kayak it’s likely to be right at you.

Once alongside, slide the net under the squid and point the top of the tube in your direction so any ink gets shot away from you, then rinse any residual ink away as soon as you can to minimise staining.

I’ll wrap up with some squid information.

They have a very short lifespan, breed prolifically and grow fast.

For these reasons, there are no size or bag limits for squid in Queensland, but let common sense prevail and don’t take more than you need.

Squid bite damage to a jig. Be sure to keep your hands away from the pointy bit!

The author’s first squid was a lucky catch with a loose drag.

The Ika Shime (squid spike) has a tool to fix jig hooks that get bent when snagged.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

K AYAKING & canoeing

Paddle power perfect for tight-water spots T

www.bnbfishing.com. au

HIS year is flying by.

We’ve had a few colder days to kick off the winter fishery, and hopefully anglers are reaping the rewards.

One of the keys to having a successful fishing trip in heavily fished areas such as the Gold and Sunshine coasts is to have a practical and good-quality craft to fish from.

I have both an Old Town canoe and Dragon Pro Fisher kayak.

For me, canoes and kayaks present the most convenient way to fish tighter creeks and places with thick vegetation.

I have had the Old Town canoe for about five years and would not hesitate to buy another.

Its stability and space are second to none, and it can carry three people.

I’ve travelled many kilometres in it and plan to do many more.

A real advantage with the canoe is I sit higher on the water than in a kayak, giving me a better view.

I can also stand up while fishing and then when the waterway ‘ends’ I can carry the canoe and move into a higher pool where a boat would be restricted to the lower waters.

I often fish larger expanses of water such as dams, so I added a 34lb electric motor to the back to save my arms some strain.

My kayak is a better option when I want to go for a quick paddle or am

and in the cool water began to drag my kayak upstream.

by DARREN RAMA I believe dragging the kayak up makes less commotion than paddling heading out alone. during the day with sub- against the flow.

Regardless of craft, I al- surface lures such as And at the end of the ways love fishing fresh soft plastics, deep-diving day it is easier to go down water for Australian bass. cranks, spinnerbaits and rapids than fight your way Something about natu- jig spin setups. back up them. ral flowing creeks, fallen Each lure has its time I reached my first pool timber and the sound of and place and the variety and anticipated catching birds and cicadas brings on the market is endless. the bass on little cicada me back time and time Lately I have enjoyed imitations. again. more success fishing jig Soon I picked up a As the water gets colder, spins. strange-looking bass that bass will instinctively move A jig spin is like a small- I’m sure had a story to tell downstream, making their er imitation of a spinner- because its tail was a very way to salt water to begin bait. peculiar shape. their spawning run.

It often comprises a soft It was quiet for a while However, in Queensland plastic rigged on a jig after that, so I bit the bulwe have a closed season head with a beetle spin. let to change to my jig ban on targeting bass beI use a 4” Fish Arrow spin combination of the 4” tween June 1 and August Flash-J Grub on a 1/4oz Fish Arrow grub rigged 31 in tidal waters.

3/0 TT ChinlockZ jig weedless with a beetle Before the closed sea- head and a size 2 or 3 spin. son, I headed to a few sys- beetle spin to get a good After changing lure and tems in southeast Queens- vibration with a smaller- making a few flicks into land including the upper profile lure and weedless tight structure, it didn’t reaches of the Nerang hook. take too long before I River, Coomera River and Lately this has been my pulled out another bass.

Mudgeeraba Creek, which most consistent lure for I then explored another all hold good numbers of catching bass from the pool and managed a few bass. kayak and canoe. more hook-ups.

The flows in rivers and One part of bass fishing Something I gathered creeks are slowing as the people are beginning to from the trip was I was levels decrease after the practise more frequently able to not only get some big rains, making pad- is releasing these fish not fish but also see parts of dling a little easier and just to live another day nature that would be hidmore relaxing. but for someone else to den to most people.

I have found the best experience the sort of exAll thanks to the contime to target bass is ei- citement the fish brought venience of owning a ther first or last light be- them. kayak, which is rapidly cause I have always enOn my most recent trip, I becoming recognised as joyed surface fishing and headed to the upper reach- a very productive way to that’s when they are most es of the Nerang River fish. willing to strike a bug or and I took my kayak beSo if you are hesitating small fish imitation. cause it was only a quick and unsure about whether But for those who en- dash, but any time on the or not to buy a kayak or joy a sleep-in, you can water is better than none. canoe, just do it. successfully target bass I launched at about 6am You won’t regret it.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 51 Kayaking & Canoeing

K AYAKING & canoeing Kayaking the canals for big bream

H

ELLO again!

While I haven’t written in a while, I do have quite a lot to talk about.

To start, I fished the first round of the KFT Australian Kayak Fishing Tournaments series at Hope Island.

The day started at Brisbane with an early wakeup and a stop at the servo before arriving at the Hope Island foreshore as the sun was rising.

It was a great turn-out, with a lot of quality anglers in the field.

The fish were there but they were spooky.

Kayak Fishing

by JACK BURLING

It’s in situations like this that kayaks become so important for successful canal fishing.

I managed to pull in my first fish about five minutes into the comp, with the rest of my bag coming in the next 60 minutes.

I continued to find fish thereafter but nothing big enough for an upgrade.

My fish came from the nearest canal to the launch spot and they were sitting

This bream crunched a Keitech Little Spider.

in the shadows.

I had to go down to my lightest setup to entice them to bite; a 6’ rod with 3lb straight-through fluorocarbon.

I believe this ultra-light combo was the only reason I was able to tempt the bream.

The lures I used throughout this tournament were Keitech 2” Little Spiders skipped right up between the boats and pontoons, retrieving with a hop every couple of seconds.

I was fishing these little plastics with light 1/24oz jig heads, which saw them stay in the fish’s ‘reaction’ zone for longer.

I also got quite a few fish on Jackall Chubbies by casting along the sand flats, but again nothing big enough for an upgrade.

As the day went on, the wind picked up and made the paddle back a bit of a mission.

In the end, I finished in third place.

I’d like to give a big thanks to the KFT team and all the sponsors as

well as the competitors.

Lately I have been getting into a few solid bream in the local canals, so let’s run through how I’ve been catching them.

My favourite plastic at the moment is the Keitech 2” Little Spider in most colours.

This is a great lure for skip casting and it has all sorts of legs and bits coming off the body, which gives it a great action that is really effective for getting a reaction bite.

My favourite way of using the Little Spider is to cast it along the front of a pontoon, rigged on a 1/16oz hidden weight jig head, let it sink 2m or so and then begin a medium-speed retrieve with twitches and the occasional pause.

For my canal fishing I have been using a 6’ Nordic Stage Gunslinger rod.

Its compact size is great for canals, and its action makes any fish on the end feel at least double its actual weight.

With the cooler months upon us, considerably larger numbers of quality bream will be available in the canals.

Most fish will be up

around the pontoons early of a morning and late of an afternoon.

Key tips for finding fish are: wear a good pair of polarised sunnies; look for swirls along the side of pontoons; and listen for ‘kisses’, as when the bream feed off the pontoons they make a kissing sound.

Thanks again readers.

My next article is going to be very special!

Until then, tight lines.

Jack Bishop with a solid canal bream hooked on a Keitech Little Spider.

The author with a cracking bream taken from his kayak in the canals.

Hidden gems on Gold Coast

T

HE Gold Coast is famous for its pristine beaches, sophisticated skyscrapers and theme parks.

However, there is so much more to this bustling stretch of coastline.

From the hinterland to the waterways, it will amaze you with its breathtaking landscapes.

An excellent way to explore the Gold Coast to its fullest is by kayak.

Environmentally friendly, healthy and easy to do, kayaking will give you the benefits of exploring the Gold Coast’s hidden gems while giving you the satisfaction of reaching these secluded destinations on your own.

And best of all, you get to be in direct contact with nature throughout the journey.

Seaway Kayaking Tours offers a great variety of kayaking tours throughout the city aimed at allowing customers to explore the hidden treasures of the coast.

One such treasure is Hinze Dam. Buried in the Gold Coast Hinterland, this majestic place is a mustsee.

There is no better way to explore the city’s main drinking water supply than to paddle along and experience its peacefulness and beauty from within.

The Seaway Kayaking Tours Hinze Dam Adventure will help you explore this amazing waterway.

Running from the Springbrook Plateau all the way to the southern

Page 52 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

slopes of Burleigh Head National Park are the beautiful mangrove landscapes of Tallebudgera Creek.

Famous for its fishing, exploring this creek by kayak is a joy and made possible through Seaway Kayaking Tours’ 3 Adventures in 1 Day tour.

Further north, the Gold Coast Broadwater is a must for kayaking aficionados.

With a large resident population of dolphins, stingrays, soldier crabs, pelicans and more beautiful fauna, paddling along the Broadwater allows you to become part of nature and experience the Gold Coast from a different perspective.

About a 40-minute paddle from Marine Pde, Biggera Waters will see

you reach South Stradbroke Island.

Home to the iconic golden wallaby, South Straddie is one of the world’s purest and largest sand Islands, with 22km of pristine white sandy beaches.

Finally, Wave Break Island represents an incredible destination for first-time kayakers.

Only a 15 to 20-minute paddle, this stunning man-made island was built to protect the east-facing shore of the coast and is now home to many iconic Australian animals.

From this island you can admire a unique view of Gold Coast city.

The Quick Escape, Paradise Break and ChillOut tours provided by Seaway Kayaking Tours are designed to explore the Broadwater and its islands to their fullest.

Seaway Kayaking Tours also offers kayak rentals for the area.

In conclusion, whether you are a local or tourist, if you’re yet to kayak around the Gold Coast, do not wait any longer because it will most certainly be a thrilling and unique experience. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Johnny landed a barra.

Mark with a cracker diamond trevally hooked on a micro jig.

Brute barra and GTs B

OY have we endured trying conditions at Hinchinbrook Island of late, with gale-force wind and showers lasting all day at times.

We have been confined to the creeks quite a lot of late, but the great thing about Hinchinbrook is you’ve always got somewhere to go and catch fish, regardless of the conditions.

We have had amazing barra sessions on surface, with the Lively Lures Ziggy SD 90 being a standout.

Some of these lures have caught over 50 barra each and they’re still going strong, minus a bit of paint of course, but that seems to give them more character and the fish seem to like them even more.

Surface is a fantastic way of catching barra and our clients have been truly

Hinchinbrook News

by TODD EVELEIGH

amazed by this style of fishing.

The looks on their faces when that first barra comes and boofs their lure off the surface are priceless.

A lot have a dumbfounded look that says: “Did that really just happen?”

Mangrove jack have been getting in on the action as well, with the odd small brassy trevally smacking the Ziggy hardbodies too.

When we have had a small window to go offshore, the fishing has been insane, with stonking diamond trevally smacking micro jigs.

Jeez, do those things go.

Big spanish mackerel, longtail tuna and horse

This Hinchinbrook barra was hooked by Vince.

GTs are all hitting jigs, poppers and stickbaits.

It has been awesome fun and we’ve seen epic fights.

We are quite proud to have Zeikel come on board as one of our major sponsors this year.

We are now running Zeikel Bloodline microjigging rods and the new G2 popper and stickbait rods.

Zeikel is another great Australian company with an excellent product that is affordable and fantastic in quality, with rods built on a stunning blank with awesome componentry.

We recently had Bas and Mark fishing with us on a multi-day package.

Mark was using a little PE2 Bloodline micro-jigging rod with a Shimano Saragosa 5000-size reel and 30lb braid when he hooked a monster GT. This was one of the most epic fights I have ever witnessed, with the GT pulling extremely hard and taking off on a blistering 200m run, virtually emptying the Saragosa.

When we got to the bottom of the spool, Mark locked it up and was able to turn the fish and fight it

all the way back to the boat, getting all the line back on the spool and landing a 20kg-plus GT on a little micro jigging rod.

This fight was something everyone should see, and I managed to get good footage of it, so I will be editing it and posting a little clip on our Crackajack Sportfishing Adventures Facebook page.

The winter run of mackerel has turned up too, with a lot of 4-6kg fish around the Great Barrier Reef and the odd 20kg fish thrown in as well.

We have been catching these fish on big Raider metals jigged through the water column quickly as well as stickbaits early of a morning, which has resulted in awesome highflying strikes.

I really hope the weather comes good soon so we can get out amongst the bluewater action more often.

Until then, I guess we will just have to keep catching barra on surface lures.

It really is a tough life up here in Hinchinbrook!

Until next month, crack a GT!

This black GT was boated by Bas.

Mark thinks GT hugs are the best.

Hinchinbrook Fishing Full and half-day charters

3 to 7-day packages including accommodation Two boats available catering for groups of 2-8

Experienced local guide Come on a Hinchinbrook wilderness fishing holiday and tick some of those trophy fish off your bucket list – barra, mangrove jack, coral trout, GTs, sooty grunter, spanish mackerel, black marlin queenies, nannygai and more!

Dennis and his first barra on a topwater lure. Check out the Lively Lures Ziggy hanging out of the fish’s mouth.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Todd & Raylene Eveleigh T: 07 4777 2968 M: 0417 192 318 E: barra@crackfish.com www.crackfish.com Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 53

Don’t let the name fool you. Bludger trevally fight like hell.

Joe Latham with a Cape York spaniard trolled up on a Rapala X-Rap 30+.

Cape York firing after big wet W

E have received a heap of rain in the far north this year in what was a cracking wet season.

Large-mouth nannygai love structure. The crew stumbled across a rock that held good numbers of them.

At the time of writing, Horn Island, which is just 24km from the tip of Cape York, had so far recorded 1765.8mm of rain.

At this time last year, it had only received 750.4mm.

The local council has reported that dam capacities on most of the Torres Strait Island communities are approaching 100 percent capacity.

Most of these dams haven’t been filled since 2004.

A big wet is always welcomed in Cape York because everything springs to life, the mangrove sys-

High-speed spinning around huge schools of northern bluefin tuna gets the heart racing.

The author with the average size of red emperor for shallow Cape waters.

Page 54 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Cape York

by MATT POTTER

tems are flushed and fish species that were land locked in lagoons can move to river mouths and bays to spawn.

The flooding and large tides also allow juvenile fish to move into wetland habitats.

The water is warm, the baitfish and insects are plentiful and all forms of wildlife are making the most of the all you can eat buffet.

A mate who has lived up here for over 25 years and regularly flies over the Cape in a helicopter for work stated he hasn’t seen such a spectacular run-off for many years.

The guys managed to land the chopper in a clearing and fished a junction with several drains for just 30 minutes and landed over 20 quality barra.

This is definitely something on my bucket list.

As soon as the trade winds kick in, the west coast of the Cape will be game on because the mainland offers some protection from the strong southeasterlies.

This year, the plan is to explore the Cape more and we have already managed a couple of trips from our home base Thursday Island.

A day trip to the Jardine River mouth in a mate’s tinnie produced a handful of barra, trevally and a couple of hectic sessions on schools of queenfish.

We flicked about an assortment of our favourite hard-bodies and plastics, with the old-faithful Gold Bomber and Squidgy Slick Rigs boating the most fish.

Because the tide wasn’t in our favour, we weren’t able to head further upriver to chase barra.

However, I sent the drone up for a bird’s-eye view of the mighty Jardine, which is Queensland’s largest perennial river (which means it flows all year), with a catchment that covers over 2500sq km.

The footage is pretty spectacular.

Over the Labour Day long weekend, we headed further down the west coast with another boat crew following us.

After more than a week of heavy rainfall, it was great to finally get some sunshine and the weather couldn’t have been much better.

While we had planned to spend a bit of time chasing barra, we were somewhat limited by the 7m boat and the shallow nature of the river systems.

So, with the weather ideal, we spent most of our time fishing for reefies and pelagics.

Unlike the east coast, the western side of Cape York doesn’t really have much in the way of shallow or exposed reef, so you are really searching for isolated rocks and rubble to drop baits and plastics on.

We always pinpoint an area of interest using the Navionics app, such as promising-looking contour lines, and then troll a couple of Rapala X-Raps while looking for ground on the sounder.

With persistence, we caught a couple of spanish mackerel and lost a thumper at the side of the boat, which I am still blaming on the gaff man.

After an hour of sounding around, we had found half a dozen rocks on which to drop our fresh squid baits.

We rigged our paternosters and dropped our baits the 10m to the bottom.

Over the next few hours we picked up a mixed bag including large-mouth nannygai, blue-spot tuskfish, coral trout, grass sweetlip, black jewfish and a 62cm red emperor.

We also landed and promptly released thumping golden trevally and bludger trevally, which put up epic battles.

However, the highlight of the day was the huge schools of northern bluefin tuna.

The further south we headed, the larger the schools became and we had a heap of fun landing

these bullets on my homemade metal lures crafted from stainless steel butter knives.

We also threw out small Halco poppers and Halco Gold Twisties, which were smashed within a few quick winds of the reel.

This type of fishing certainly gets the heart racing.

We kept a few tuna for family and friends back home and released a lot more.

Generally the sharks are terrible around these schools, however we were surprised that only a couple of fish were taxed by the men in grey suits.

Because it was getting late in the afternoon, we headed back to a nearby river system to take in some Cape York serenity.

In the end, we found ourselves flicking for queenfish and trevally from the bank at a safe distance as we had spotted a respectable size croc as we entered the river.

As the sun set, we rafted the boats together in the middle of the river, cooked up a feed and reflected on the great day we had experienced with the usual banter between crews.

After an uncomfortable ☛ continued P55

The crew flicked small poppers for queenfish at the mouth of the Jardine River. Metre-plus fish are not uncommon in this area.

The mouth of the mighty Jardine River. The author snapped this pic with his DJI Phantom 3 Professional drone.

The author held one of several spanish mackerel caught in a trolling session.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Fishing Cape York estuaries T

ROPICAL estuaries – what magical places!

Fishy-looking water, dense mangrove forests with wicked-looking roots, knee-deep mud, basking crocodiles, plentiful stingrays, fiddler crabs, mudskippers and squadrons of mozzies to keep you lively.

And all with the potential for some of the best fishing you’ll ever experience.

That, however, really relies on tuning in to each individual river and learning what makes it tick because each river has its own character.

Some estuaries feature relatively clear water while others, like many of the southern Gulf of Carpentaria rivers, are fairly to seriously muddy.

A few rivers feature year-round freshwater inflows, such as the Jardine, Wenlock, Jackson and Annan.

However, in many rivers flows stop sometime during the dry season, resulting in higher salinity.

Before going on, I should mention that an estuary is the lower part of a river where it begins interacting with the sea.

Estuaries are tidal and saline to some extent, less so in upper reaches and increasingly towards the mouth.

And it’s around the mouth where you will encounter the greatest diversity of fish species, simply because of the marine species that live on the fringes and move upriver from time to time.

Cape York by ‘BILLABONG’ BAZZ LYON

Yet, because of the sheer size of river mouths, they can be fairly challenging places to fish successfully, with so much water, seemingly, between the fish.

As with anywhere in an estuary, seek out and fish any drains or creek mouths.

These areas can be gold, especially when flowing into the river on the ebb tide.

In some estuaries, it is possible to travel upstream with the flood tide, fishing along the way.

The numbers of baitfish such as mullet and mud herring that move with tidal pulses can be mind blowing.

Sometimes you can tie up or anchor adjacent to a bend, deep hole or channel edge where predatory fish just have to swim past.

Well-cast lures and baits are almost guaranteed to get results in such places, so long as fish are about.

These habitats are the realm of blue and threadfin salmon, barra, trevally, queenies and barracuda.

Any snags are of course worth a crack.

Around snags you might also score estuary cod (very underrated as a table fish, even though they fight like a bucket full of water), jacks and fingermark.

Never underestimate many of the small creek estuaries that enter along

the coastline.

Some are only accessible on high tide, but travelling further upstream may reveal very fishable water.

These areas often concentrate fish, making catching them just that much easier.

Mangrove edges in the estuary and adjacent coastlines are favourite ambush places for barra and salmon, especially around the high tide.

Be prepared to snag your lure or bait from time to time.

That’s just life, and if it wasn’t for those oftenhidden stilt roots, the fish you’re targeting wouldn’t be there.

Electric motors are great for working mangrove edges, though you can often get a good drift happening if you don’t have an electric.

Target single mangrove trees or clumps away from the main edge because these are often fish magnets.

The trick with mangrove edges is not to wait too long before leaving on the run-out tide.

These are not places where you can get out and push the boat.

Apart from the crocs, stingers and so on, the mud is usually deep beyond belief.

Later in the dry season, pelagics such as spotted and spanish mackerel

Sunset presents a great time to fish the mouths of small creek estuaries such as this one south of Weipa.

move into lower estuaries, which really spices up the fishing.

The Endeavour River mouth near Cooktown is well known for its marauding macks, as are Jacky Jacky Creek and the Escape River near the tip, and the Skardon River and Cullen Point on northwest Cape York.

Moving up an estuary can be a hit and miss affair.

You’ve just got to keep trying.

Countless times I’ve worked along a riverbank, fishing snag after snag for zilch result, then finally encountering one snag that just goes off.

If you’ve got the patience and nothing much is happening, try trolling.

This is a good way of sounding the river while fishing, and trolled lures often get down to where bigger fish are hanging out.

Again, any side creeks are worth exploring, and revisiting them on different stages of the tide is a good option.

Other features to seek out are rock bars, especially for barra and jacks, and gravelly areas, which are often favoured by grunter (javelin fish).

You’ll sometimes notice a change along the riverbanks from sand or mud to rock that signals these features, and a sounder will help suss out how extensive they are.

People often troll rock bars endlessly, however fishing from an anchored boat also works very well, and probably allows better coverage.

Further upstream, the river changes yet again, narrowing significantly, with the water becoming less salty.

Mangroves are fewer, increasingly replaced by paperbarks and sometimes a variety of palm trees.

These upper estuary reaches are personal favourites because they are usually very scenic and the fishing can be red hot.

The giant corypha palms (which grow the largest flower head of any plant on earth) that line the upper estuaries of many Cape York rivers and the superb nypa palms along the Wenlock, Jackson and McIvor rivers (amongst others) really provide dis-

tinctive, memorable riverscapes.

While many of the usual estuary fish live in these areas, barra generally predominate.

Some of our favourite upper estuary areas are Jam Tin Creek and the Normanby and North Kennedy rivers in Rinyurru National Park, and all the rivers and major creeks on the northwest Cape.

In rivers such as the Wenlock that feature tidal freshwater habitats, you’ll also find stonker sooty grunter and saratoga for extra diversity.

Estuaries – just love ‘em!

A tidy barra captured at the mouth of a small creek near Weipa.

Josh Lyon with a snodger threadfin salmon.

WEIPA

Cape York firing after big wet ☛ from P54

sleep, we woke early, dropped more fuel into the boat from the jerry cans and headed back out to find more ground.

We headed wider and although the fishing was slower we added extra fish to the Esky and found more promising bommies to fish on future trips.

Then we spent another hour or so playing with the tuna schools.

Three-way hook-ups on these speedsters were quite the spectacle as the www.bnbfishing.com. au

fish ran us around the boat and each other.

We were now buggered, so headed back into the river to relax on the beach for a few hours with the other crew.

I sent the drone up to have a look around and found these remote river systems are even more mind blowing from the air.

When viewing the footage, we soon realised we hadn’t even scratched the surface of the remote wilderness that is Cape York.

We got going early the next morning because we had a 2.5-hour run back to Thursday Island and a big clean-up ahead of us.

You can follow our remote adventures on our Fishing Missions Northern Australia Facebook page.

If you plan on visiting the Cape and don’t have a boat, it is worth spending the extra dollars to get a charter so you too can experience what the area has to offer.

Sarah Polderman landed a cracker shovelnose ray, one of the many wild creatures of tropical estuaries.

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Big golden trevally are a common capture in Cape York waters.

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The author’s first-ever barra (72cm) took a liking to a live mullet rigged on 30lb braid and 60lb leader. After a slow take, it was tail dancing and making strong runs all the way to the boat.

In only 4m of water, this beauty was a real handful. Trying to keep the 110cm black jew out of the sunken timber meant a ‘sunset’ drag setting but the Penn reel still screamed as line managed to disappear.

Trip of a lifetime I The ‘Angelina Jolie’ of the fish world succumbed to a lightly weighted 3” jerk shad and provided plenty of arm-stretching action before being safely released back into the shallow, milky-blue water of Darwin Harbour.

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Page 56 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

’VE been thirsting after barramundi and jewfish for 30 years.

Previous trips to Darwin, the Tiwi Islands and Karumba have been in winter and after drought, so not ideal.

This time I had a better chance, as a late wet in the north created good fishing conditions in late April and early May. I organised an all-day charter on Darwin Harbour with Brian Readman of Anglers Advantage, who specialises in light-tackle sportfishing using lures and plastics.

The gear was top notch, comprising Samaki Zing Xtreme 4-8lb graphite rods paired with Daiwa Caldia B2000 reels running 8lb braid, 14lb fluorocarbon and 1/6oz jig heads for the soft plastics.

The tide was full when we set out but unfortunately the wind was also blowing, so the flooded sandbanks in the open harbour were a no go.

Protected bays and rock walls around the Larrakeyah Barracks and Cullen Bay were our alternative.

Brian provided expert advice and tips on how to make the 3” jerk shads look enticing and immediately we hooked up to queenfish, estuary cod and trevally.

As the tide dropped, we moved into the West Arm inlet.

While barra proved elusive, I did succeed in landing my first-ever mangrove jack and a muscular morwong.

From Darwin, we travelled west to the Kimberley and I am now lucky to be among the privileged few to have fished the remote northeastern Kimberley courtesy of Berkeley River Lodge.

The isolation and rugged beauty of the region are unparalleled.

Enticing sandy estuaries, mangrove-lined creeks, rocky gorges and outcrops just scream fish.

The first day was spent with guide Grant in the Berkeley River, and my wife Cathy had fun catching bream and estuary cod that apparently don’t rate in the Kimberley

Reader’s Report

by LINDSAY TOMLINSON

and got thrown back!

I caught my first small black jewfish and a lovely bluenosed salmon that provided a tasty ceviche entrée for the Lodge guests.

The next day was amazing.

The live bait together with Grant’s expertise and enterprising attitude to take on 2m seas to get to a favourite estuary enabled me to catch and release a 110cm black jewfish and bring home a 72cm barramundi as well as a few more salmon.

The barra cooked expertly with a lemon butter sauce was the cleanest and tastiest we

and the other fortunate guests at the lodge had ever eaten.

You can’t beat line-caught and well-bled fish from pristine waters.

On another day, Cathy landed a very hard-pulling nervous shark that ate a live bait in an even more remote creek reached courtesy of Truenorth Helicopters.

The shark was fortunate to go back home a little warier.

We finished the day off perfectly by landing on a small rocky ledge beside a fresh waterhole and falls to enjoy lunch and a safe and refreshing dip.

Cathy Tomlinson had a ball bringing this feisty nervous shark to shore after it ate a live bait.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

4WDING & off - road Buy it once and keep it basic I

RECENTLY reflected on a camping trip we took to outback Queensland where just outside of Mount Isa we were joined by a group of young Asian travellers.

I watched as they tried in vain to pitch their tent using a packet of tent pegs you would buy as a 10-pack for $2 from one of the many dollar shops.

The pegs bent and folded like soldering iron on that hard western earth.

I grabbed a handful of heavy-duty steel pegs from the truck and offered to help and we soon had them settled for the night.

4WDing & Outdoors

by PAUL ‘CHIEF’ GRAVESON

Something so simple can leave you open to the elements and that trip of a lifetime can be tainted with disappointment.

As with most things in life, buy equipment that will perform to suit the conditions encountered.

Over the past few years I’ve really appreciated a couple of quality items I tend to carry with me 24/7.

I don’t know about you, but in my early years I

The author swears by his Ledlenser L7 hand-held torch.

Such a simple but effective piece of equipment.

was guilty of buying cheap plastic torches.

You know, the sort of product that finds the environment in a glovebox too harsh to endure and when required falls into a useless heap.

About five years ago, I acquired a small Ledlenser L7 torch and over the years I’ve been blown away by its performance and reliability.

The very fact of living on a property where any form of light apart from the house and machinery shed is nonexistent sees me using this product on a daily, or should I say nightly, basis.

So what’s so good about a simple torch and why would I recommend it?

Made in Germany, the body of this torch is manufactured from aircraftgrade aluminium and the components such as battery contacts, lenses and the durable finish are second to none.

I’ve given this torch a solid workout, and as I write I have it sitting in front of me.

Would you believe it looks the same as the day it was bought?

This torch has a focus system similar to many others on the market that allows you to use it as a spot or floodlight.

The difference being the quality of light on offer.

At flood, I can use this product as a working light

by hanging it up while preparing food at a camp, working on a vehicle and so on, but by adjusting to spot it gives off an intense directed light that pierces the darkness and is ideal for hunting or searching into the distance.

I know you’re probably thinking I’m a little overexcited by a torch but I consider it one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

It fits comfortably in my hand and even in my pocket if needed.

Looking around, I’ve seen the L7 torches priced from about $70-110.

I couldn’t see myself outdoors without this item, especially when travelling in the bush.

It’s simple, good oldfashioned quality.

And speaking of simple, another item you’ll always find in the D-MAX is a simple length of chain with a D-shackle at one end and an eye grab hook attached to the other.

I couldn’t tell you how many times I have felt blessed to have this piece of equipment with me and how easy it has made life.

I don’t consider myself old but I figure why bust your back when you can let your truck do the work.

This year alone, twice I’ve found tracks impassable due to fallen trees.

The most recent was a track in Amamoor after ex-cyclone Debbie lashed southeast Queensland.

One minute’s work had the chain shackled to the towbar and wrapped around the trunk with the grab eye hook secure on a link.

A few attempts with

the truck had the culprit moved and the track clear.

Most would say why not have a winch setup on your truck and I’d argue why muck around with good old-fashioned simplicity.

That 6m piece of chain has dragged potential firewood into campsites, moved fallen trees and generally been an invaluable piece of equipment.

The best part is it’s maintenance free, never fails due to dust or moisture and is always ready to perform.

Buy a quality chain and fittings and keep them forever.

‘Keep it basic’ has become a strong personal belief, especially with the amount of time I spend in the outdoors.

Keep an eye open at markets and garage sales for heavy chains at reasonable prices.

To finish off, the Mary Valley has just had another good spell of rain and the countryside is looking picturesque.

The creek levels are up and I’ve managed to spot some of the biggest saratoga I’ve ever seen swimming in the shadows under the creekside vegetation.

Whether you’re fishing, camping or four-wheeldriving, now is the time to explore the valley.

Why not join young Jack Schneider (pictured) taking Dad’s truck through a Traveston creek crossing.

The chilly nights are ideal for a campfire cookup under the stars, so get out and enjoy.

Cheers, Chief.

Young Jack Schneider with one of his first creek crossings.

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ARB Air Lockers unbeatable at King of the Hammers

A

RGUABLY the most gruelling off-road race on the planet, King of the Hammers is a brutal concoction of desert racing, rock crawling and high-horsepower four-wheel-drive machines.

For one week every year since 2006, Johnson Valley in California is transformed into what is now the largest offroad race event in North America.

This year was no exception, boasting a record number of competitors and spectators.

ARB’s presence has been ever growing amongst the field of

www.bnbfishing.com. au

competitors, with more vehicles now relying on Air Lockers to get them to the chequered flag.

All these drivers have the option to run other differential setups, yet they choose to arm their vehicles with Air Lockers – a testament to the product’s capability.

In the main event, Shannon Campbell, a name very well known in rock sports and longtime ARB Air Locker sponsored driver, entered the 2017 KOH race in search of his third crown.

For his 2017 campaign, Shannon’s buggy was equipped with a prototype 40-spline Ford 9”

competition edition Air Locker in the rear, and a production competition 35-spline unit in the front.

Shannon was able to fight off 122 competitors, including his son Wayland Campbell, and became the first threetime King of the Hammers champion.

Not far behind, Wayland crossed the line a mere 28 seconds later to claim the second step on the podium.

This was no small achievement, considering out of all the main event competitors who left the start line, only 50 managed to make it back!

The prototype diff worked extremely well for Shannon, and due to its success, ARB will soon have it in full production and available to the public.

It is worthy to note that throughout the various events leading up to the main race, a common denominator among multiple winning vehicles was they were all fitted with ARB Air Lockers.

In a race against time and in an environment that is so punishing, the success of ARB Air Lockers at KOH is a true reflection of the extensive research, design and quality materials that go

into the product.

Each Air Locker is meticulously produced at ARB headquarters in Kilsyth, Victoria to ensure the highest manufacturing standards are maintained.

Competition drivers depend on quality and reliability to get them across the finish line, and if they can trust Air Lockers, you can be sure they’ll survive anything you throw at them off-road.

The ARB Air Locker 40-spline competition Ford 9” will be available in late 2017.

To watch it in action, visit bit.ly/ARBAir Locker www.arb.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 57

4WDING & off - road Preparing the 4WD for big trip north

I

T’S not long now before I head north to the Pennefather River on Cape York, so on my days off I have been working on my four-wheel-drive, trailer and boat.

I have been doing maintenance such as repacking the wheel bearings on the 4WD and boat trailer with grease.

I also add 30ml of 85/140 gearbox oil to help the bearings last longer.

As the oil works its way around the bearing it coats them with a thick oily layer and just that little bit of oil does not turn all the grease to oil

4WD Maintenance

by CRAIG TOMKINSON

and cause it to leak past the seals.

I also tighten them up if they need it.

The boat trailer has done three or four arduous trips north, so I also replaced the shackle rubbers in the Toyota HJ75 front springs I run under it.

I use polyurethane bushes so I can heavily grease them before I put them in.

They cost me $55.

I would buy new greaseable pins and plates but

they would set me back $180, which is too much for my liking.

I also checked the trailer’s disc brake pads and they were fairly worn out.

I only fitted new ones two trips ago but because the steel discs get rusty around salt water, they wear out the pads quicker.

So I replaced them for about $80.

I checked the pads on the front of my 4WD too and found they will need

replacing soon, so I will do that a couple of weeks before I head north.

At the same time I will drop all the oils out of the front and rear diffs, gearbox and transfer case and pump new oil back in.

I will also change the engine oil and filter and fuel filter and take spares with me.

The tyres on my 80 Series LandCruiser are in need of replacement as well.

I’ve been using the cheaper Chinese all-terrain tyres.

The first lot I bought were Evergreen ES89s in 265/75/16, which can be

Putting new shackle rubbers in the boat trailer is very important for long trips up north if you want to get there and home without a breakdown.

pumped up to 80psi, and at about $175 fitted and balanced I thought the price was right.

I run them at about 60psi when fully loaded and towing the 1.5-tonne 5m tinnie setup.

I get roughly 60,000km out of them and they are still on the back of the 4WD and on the boat.

Before I went up north last year, I had new tyres fitted to the front.

The Evergreen tyres were no longer available, so I got Suretrac A/Ts in 265/75/16 and they cost $180 fitted and balanced.

They can be pumped up to 80psi as well.

So far I have done 30,000km on them and they will do another 35,000km for sure.

I haven’t had one flat with any of my tyres in the past three years and I run around at Penny and Weipa with them at 1314psi for up to a month.

They are great on the sand as well.

They balloon out nicely and the non-aggressive tread pattern doesn’t dig into the sand.

This year I will have more solar panels and battery storage than ever.

I will have 660W of panels in the form of two 240W setups and a 180W setup.

In addition, I bought four new 120A AmpTech AGM batteries off my mate Murray to run my 100-litre Trailblazer freezer and the LED camp lights.

I can't wait!

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Learn More at FormulaSuspension.com Page 58 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Isuzu UTE pumps up its I-VENTURE Club program

I

N 2015, Isuzu UTE Australia introduced a new initiative to help its owners get the most out of their 4x4 Isuzu vehicles in a safe and structured environment under expert instruction – the I-VENTURE Club.

Primarily designed to equip Isuzu owners with the skills and techniques required to handle a variety of off-road terrains, the I-VENTURE Club has also served as an exclusive Isuzu owners’ club that brings together like-minded people and encourages them to utilise the adventure that is inherent in their Isuzu vehicles.

IUA assistant general manager marketing and PR Dave Harding said the I-VENTURE Club is all about empowering Isuzu customers to buck the perception that the majority of 4x4 vehicles never leave the tarmac.

“That may be true of owners of other brands but our vehicles are built with the ability to seek some pretty amazing places off-road – we want our customers to be able to experience that lifestyle – and enjoy the benefits owning an Isuzu offers,” he said.

“But as a novice, you can’t just charge off head first – and the I-VENTURE Club takes our customers through the basics and equips them with the right knowledge and skills in a safe and controlled environment so they can then confidently plan their own adventures with friends and family.”

Launched two years ago, the I-VENTURE Club has delivered expert 4x4 training and

knowledge to 1179 customers at 67 events across the country, in exciting and challenging off-road destinations such as Moreton Island in Queensland, the Flinders Ranges in South Australia and the Lancelin Sand Dunes in Western Australia – and even hosted a couple of marriage proposals en route!

Several of IUA’s dealers are now also conducting their own I-VENTURE Club days to help meet the demand for events from customers, with IUA planning to see almost 1000 new customers attend events in 2017.

The majority of IVENTURE Club events are conducted over the course of a day, with several longer three to four-day excursions planned in 2017 to iconic locations such as Queensland’s Fraser Island and the Margaret River in Western Australia.

At the heart of the I-VENTURE Club is Isuzu’s dedicated website where customers can find upcoming events and register for them, a library of 4x4 video tips, travel and feature articles from partners and customer magazine Max*D, and galleries of images from past events.

Equipped for the 2017 journey is a new fleet of I-VENTURE Club vehicles based on new 17MY models (both D-MAX and MU-X) that are fitted with a range of genuine Isuzu UTE accessories.

Information on the current I-VENTURE Club trips available can be found at iven tureclub.com.au www.bnbfishing.com. au

C AMPING & outdoors

John took it easy fishing from Boondooma’s foreshore.

Lovely lakeside campsites are ideal for fishers.

Fun family fishing and camping at Boondooma I

T had been a while since we Paynes had hit fresh water and when friends suggested a long weekend away at Boondooma Dam, we happily grabbed the opportunity to once again catch a bass.

Boondooma is a good 4.5-hour drive from our home on the south side of Brisbane, and with the kids’ pit stops on the way there, another hour was added to the trip.

We introduced the kids

Family Camping

by LEEANN PAYNE

to the ‘windmill’ game, which certainly passed the time.

Every time a windmill is spotted you have to yell out “Windmill!” to get a point.

Yes, it seems a bit ho hum but boy oh boy did it keep the kids quiet for ages as they concentrated

The Zerek Fish Trap proved to be the winner on a dam with a shut-down population of fish.

on spotting windmills and yes, unfortunately the boys’ team won.

We camped at Lake Boondooma Caravan & Recreation Park, which offers all styles of accommodation options from camping on the dam’s foreshores to staying in cabins/villas and bringing your own caravan/ camper to stay at either powered or unpowered sites.

Camping on the foreshores meant we could keep the boats at our doorstep, which was very handy for those early morning sessions.

On arrival, we noticed the water was very muddy looking and we hoped this didn’t mean the dam had just ‘turned over’ and the fishing

Johnny and Sienna with some of the red claw captured on rockmelon baits.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

was going to be hard.

As it was, the poor water quality was due to ex-cyclone Debbie’s deluge hitting the region and dirtying up the dam.

Setting up camp and preparing the boats and gear for the following days of fishing took up the rest of the afternoon before we all settled down for our first campfire and drinks under the stars, which was very relaxing indeed.

We had travelled to Boondooma with our friends the Morgans and Livingstones as well as good friend Gary Chambers, who we met at the Daly River back in 2009.

The first morning at the dam saw the boys venture out for an early session while we girls and the kids enjoyed a small sleep-in.

On the boys’ arrival back at camp, it was interesting that no one had caught a fish, and some good anglers were certainly in the mix.

A little later in the day, we took the kids out and trolled lures to get a feel for the dam.

The kids were keen on catching a bass after their great session at Moogerah Dam a few months ago.

Although we found a lot of fish on the sounder, they definitely had a very bad case of lockjaw and didn’t respond to trolled spinnerbaits or hardbodies.

Trolling lures opposite the dam wall and subsequent banks and points heading up to the Boyne arm produced zippo, so we tried an area loaded ☛ continued P60

Rob, John and Selina showed off a couple of fish captured on Zerek Fish Traps.

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C AMPING & outdoors Fun family fishing and camping at Boondooma ☛ from P59

Johnny helped collect firewood for the evening’s campfire.

The kids enjoyed the campfire and the marshmallows that came with it.

Recipe

with bass, once again for no result.

Feeling pretty despondent, we ventured back to camp to find no one else had captured a fish either.

Thankfully, the next day Greg Livingstone (Livo) and his family found a school of relatively active fish along the southern banks of the Boyne River arm just before the timbered section.

We had a quick troll run through the fish and captured one on an old StumpJumper lure.

While Robert was winding in that fish, we left the other lures out.

The rod with a 65mm Zerek Fish Trap soon buckled over and I let John wind in the small Australia bass.

We were certainly thankful that we had perhaps turned the tables on these fish, so I quickly cast the Fish Trap out again, let it sink to the bottom and began a slow retrieve.

Once again, a bass struck the lure and as the afternoon progressed we managed to catch a few more.

While nothing overly big, it was enough to whet the appetite for another morning session.

We collected firewood for the night’s campfire as the sun sank over the west-

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Page 60 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Cook time: 25 minutes

ern horizon, highlighting an aeroplane’s slipstream as dusk neared.

John turned four the following morning and he really wanted to have a fish with Rob and Gary, so the boys took off to the area with the active fish.

Robert reported double hook-ups were the norm as he cast out a Fish Trap and let it sink before hooking up.

Giving the rod to John-

ny, he’d then cast out another Fish Trap to catch yet another bass.

All in all, John wound 10 quality bass to the boat before he piped up that he was “buggered”.

It was a great session for the boys.

Although the fishing at the start of the trip wasn’t red hot, it certainly ended with a bang and we thoroughly enjoyed our time fishing and camping at

John showed off a couple of the fish he caught during the last session on the water.

Boondooma Dam. As well as Australian bass and yellowbelly, the species that really turned it on was red claw, with these tasty critters in abundance.

The Morgans and Livingstones baited their pots with rockmelon and caught quite a number that were readily consumed at camp.

The campgrounds and amenities were spotless

and we were surprised yet grateful that other campers kept the noise down at night, which meant a good night’s sleep.

Boondooma is popular for skiing and our kids had a ball on the tube.

Wildlife abounds and the kids enjoyed spotting lizards and cormorants on the lake as well as inspecting the birds’ nests up in the timbered section of the Boyne.

John with his birthday damper.

Rhino-Rack Pioneer Rooftop Trays

D

ESIGNED to carry loads safely and securely on your vehicle’s rooftop, the RhinoRack range of Pioneer Rooftop Trays will maximise your carrying potential, as well as freeing up space inside your vehicle for ultimate comfort on the road.

Don’t be fooled by cheap steel imitations, as the Rhino-Rack Pioneer range is built to last.

Since developing the first of its kind lightweight aluminium rooftop carrier in 2010, Rhino-Rack has year after year maintained its standing as the best in the business for wellmade, durable and userfriendly off-road vehicle products.

Constructed from aluminium and fibreglassreinforced nylon, the Pioneer range of lightweight yet strong rooftop accessories is perfect for both off-road enthusiasts and highway commuters.

With a sleek and lowprofile design, the Pioneer Platform offers minimal wind drag and noise on the road.

With a flat design and no side rails, it provides easy access to your gear from all four sides.

Loading, unloading and securing loads is made very easy.

Simply slide goods on and off the roof and secure them to the bars or utilise the C-channel rail design and additional eyebolts.

Designed for weekends and workdays, the Pioneer Tradie presents an easy solution for the transportation of ladders, construction equipment and long loads that extend beyond the base of the platform.

Fully welded rails on two sides provide rigid tie-down points, with user-friendly hand grips also built into the design.

The versatile Pioneer Tray has been built to maximise your load capability and provide added security against shifting loads while driving.

It even features a front wind fairing to facilitate a quieter drive.

These features, coupled with a fully welded, closed-rail sidewall,

make the Pioneer tray the ultimate rooftop transporter.

Thanks to built-in C-channels running along the bars of the Pioneer range, or easy to install accessory bars, hundreds of accessory options are available including fishing rod holders, jerry can holders, spare tyre mounts, bicycle carriers and more, allowing you to customise your Pioneer for any situation.

Rhino-Rack Pioneer Trays will fit your existing roof rack system as well as the RhinoRack low-profile Back-

bone System.

Finished with highquality powder coating, the Pioneer range will not rust or fade.

Backed by a five-year warranty, the RhinoRack Pioneer range is a must for any adventurer looking to take their outdoor pursuits to the next level of awesome.

Prices start from $519 for the Pioneer Platform, $819 for the Pioneer Tradie and $979 for the Pioneer Tray.

For more information on the Rhino-Rack Pioneer range of trays, visit rhinorack.com.au/ pioneer-systems

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Smaller bass in big numbers at Somerset

R

ECENT weeks at Somerset Dam have been very hit and miss.

Most of the bass have been a bit smaller than usual, hovering around the legal size mark.

The bigger models Somerset is known for are still being caught, just not that often.

We had a couple of our regular customers capture over 100 fish in a day and only five or six were legal fish.

Somerset Dam

by ANDREW MITCHELL

I haven’t heard these sorts of statistics from Somerset for quite some time.

The surface water temperature has changed quite dramatically since the Easter break.

We have recently been playing around with measuring water temperatures

at different depths and even 4-5m down the water temp has changed quite a few degrees since the inflows in early April.

I suspect the recent change in water temperature is also partly due to the quick change in air temperature.

I don’t think it is coincidence that it’s taken a few hours of the morning sun warming the water for the bigger fish to be found more regularly in shallower water.

It’s not always the case, but most reports of bigger fish have come after a couple of hours of sunlight.

Some fish have been hooked in 5m of water and deeper throughout the day, however the majority are coming from shallower water.

The fish have not yet started to school in big

numbers but several smaller schools of fish can be targeted.

These schools have usually been found near some sort of structure, whether it’s a log or stump, dropoff to the riverbed or a hump on the bottom.

These areas have produced fish on a variety of techniques but for cast and retrieve anglers, ice jigs, blades and Mask Vibes have worked best.

The flats across the dams have been a little sparse.

Some fish will always be on the flats but lately they have been spread out.

Trolling across these areas has produced decent size fish.

Trolling lets you cover a lot of water and therefore increases your chances of coming across more fish.

Hard-body lures that dive to 4-5m and tailspinners have been the lures of choice.

If casting lures, try drifting.

The flats in Somerset are quite large (acres and

acres) and when the fish are spread out they could be anywhere, so covering ground is key.

Throwing tailspinners and spoons with big long casts will allow you to cover as much water as possible.

I would expect the fishing to become more consistent over the next month as the water temp settles and schools of fish start to show up a bit more regularly.

For the bait fishers, numerous yellowbelly and the odd bass have been coming from the start of the timber on saltwater yabbies.

The top end of the dam is still a little dirty and has been hard work, though red claw have been plentiful in this area.

If heading out to Somerset, keep in mind the winter opening hours of 6.30am to 5.30pm.

Stop in and see us at Somerset Fishing Tackle for daily updates on how the dam is fishing.

Dave landed a Somerset bass typical of the common size of late.

Brett is always smiling after fishing Somerset.

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Pro winner Nigel Middleton was happy with his hauls of bass.

Tackle Tactics Glenbawn Classic

N

IGEL Middleton recently scored his maiden win against an incredibly strong NSW field.

Nigel Middleton claimed $3300 for his weekend’s effort.

Mark Ferguson is always close to a win on Glenbawn.

Dayne Taylor took out the Co-Angler Division at Glenbawn.

Page 62 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

His winning margin was just 50g over current Samurai Rods Angler of the Year Dean Silvester, with Mark Ferguson rounding out the top three in the Tackle Tactics Glenbawn Classic.

Nigel earned a nice bonus for his win in the form of a $3300 cheque.

With glorious weather greeting the anglers and a transition period that hadn’t been fished by many, it was going to come down to who could adapt, read the pattern, change with the weather and once hooked, get the quality bass into the boat through the thick-lined timbered areas of Lake Glenbawn.

Mixed reports from anglers on pre-fish day saw final weight predictions nearly 3kg apart, which told us that some anglers really hadn’t found the pattern and others were stomping them on practice day.

Middleton used a combination of techniques to claim his maiden title that included the most popular technique of the tournament: the vertical Berkley Gulp Minnow Grub technique.

The Gulp technique has proven to be one of the most popular and successful patterns for targeting bass this season, with multiple wins for anglers using Berkley Gulp Minnow Grubs.

The anglers using this technique rely heavily on their sounders and sit offshore, basically working the lure up and down through the suspended schools of bass.

Imparting different actions, fall rates, line weights, rod actions, shakes, stops, bumps and reel speeds, this technique is a very individual thing, and many only establish confidence in it after some time.

You may hear about how the anglers mention the pattern inside the pattern in relation to fishing.

Well the Gulp technique definitely has a lot of different patterns inside the pattern, and Nigel was the angler who mastered it

B.A.S.S. Australia Nation

by DREW McGRATH

best over the weekend.

Nigel’s go-to setup for the weekend consisted of a Weapons Custom Rod in 1-3kg fast action matched with a Shimano spin reel spooled with Sunline Super PE 4lb and topped off with Sunline FC Rock 6lb leader.

The standout jig head was a Berkley Dam Deep in Watermelon colour rigged with either a Berkley Gulp 3” Minnow Grub in Pumpkinseed or a Keitech 3.5” Mad Wag Mini in Gold.

Dean Silvester, who placed second in the Pro division, has some of the most amazing form in Australian bass fishing history.

Dean took home nearly $2000 in cash and prizes and has one hand on another lucrative Samurai Rods Angler of the Year title.

Pre-fishing with good friend and third placegetter Mark Ferguson, the guys soon worked out a pattern and it was very easy for them to secure a limit with 2” Keitech Easy Shiners fished through the schools.

However, they found bigger bass fell to Jackall chatterbaits on the edges.

The big edge bite felt very sporadic, and Dean wasn’t comfortable relying on it, so he moved further offshore and worked out the vertical Berkley Gulp technique could definitely give him numbers and bigger fish than what he had been getting.

His key area was located in 20-23m, with active fish sitting in the tops of the submerged trees.

Catching over 20 fish for the session on the Dobyns Champion Extreme 703 rod, Dean relied on 8lb Sunline FC Sniper to do the hard yards once the bass were hooked.

Mark Ferguson has incredible form on Glenbawn and is currently in fourth place in the AOY race and second in Rookie of the Year standings after the fourth round of the Atomic B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Series.

As mentioned, Mark

worked hard with Dean on the practice day and also felt the offshore Gulp bite was more reliable and produced larger bass than most of the other locations and techniques at Glenbawn.

Heading to the eightknot zone, Mark constantly put bass in the well through the weekend and discovered that working the Gulp faster definitely created more bites than the dead-slow technique many of the anglers used.

Sitting in 18-23m of water and dragging the bigger bass out of the trees takes some work, and to do the job Mark relied on his brand-new Abu Garcia ALX 2500 spooled with 8lb Sunline main line and leader matched to a Duffrods stick.

In the Co-Angler division, Dayne Taylor from Coffs Harbour took out

his first-ever Atomic B.A.S.S. Australia Nation event and had to come from behind to snatch the win.

Pre-fishing with friend Dale Johnson who he worked with at motackle. com.au, they found the bass in the eight-knot zone and were happy that many of the pros headed to the same location over the weekend.

Another angler who varied his techniques over the weekend, in the first session Dayne relied on the vertical Gulp method to secure his bag, in the second session he worked Jackall TN60s and then he used a Smak ice jig in the final session to finish off his tournament.

Taking home second place in the Co-Angler division was Allan Price.

With one Co-Angler win already under his belt, Allan had an amazing tournament and walked away with a swag of gear with his second-place finish. ☛ continued P63

Allan Price used three techniques over the weekend to find the bass.

James Buchner with two solid bass.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Surface lures in cloudy streams

I

F you’re not learning something new on most fishing trips, then you’re probably not fishing correctly, as the saying goes.

Just when you think you know what’s what, another ‘scratch your head’ moment arises.

I’ve been fishing intently with surface lures for about two years and living close to the Darling Downs waterways means I sometimes get to fish several times a week, if not more during the long days of the warmer months.

Diving lures and spinnerbaits have their days of glory but it was surface action that reignited my interest in freshwater angling.

My understanding of cod and yellowbelly ecology seemed to be on the mark while using sur-

Fresh Water

by NOAL KUHL

face lures, with clear shallow water giving the best results, or so I thought from countless times sticking to this theory.

Deep holes are ghettos for old sandpaper jaws and they have potential but I couldn’t get enough interest from cod to make them rise on the occasions I visited Bowenville.

After ex-cyclone Debbie passed through – a blessing to farmers on the Downs preparing winter crops – I thought the summer season of quality fishing was over.

I felt it would be a miracle if the dirty water cleared before

the winter chills set in.

Watching the waters daily, my prayers for a quick clear-up fell upon deaf ears.

Scotty Vlietstra has a habit of not believing in rules governing the catching of freshwater fish with surface lures, which is lucky for me.

His tenacity and patience has paid off countless times, and recently I was watching him cast into the deepest pools of chocolate water while getting cod to rise and smash his surface lure.

This gave me hope that I could successfully fish surface

The aftermath of cyclone Debbie gave the Downs an excellent steady drenching of over 100mm in most places, which ensured timely floods to settle the fish in for winter.

lures in dirty water, as some of the Downs creeks have become a procession of turbid flows since November.

Our best bets for enticing cod came from targeting the ends of holes with stands of drowned timber.

These are the same logs that our stocking group placed during the re-snagging program several years back.

After Debbie passed through, a lot of the furniture we knew the location of with our eyes closed had been rearranged.

This turned out to be a good thing because in most cases we could more easily place lures right in the strike zone.

A decent splash from the lure on entry garnered attention, and then as the ripples dispersed and settled, a twitching rod would prove too irresistible to the bigger cod lurking nearby.

The water has now cleared and some of the isolated stagnant pools have been covered with a green film, making them look unattractive for fishing.

Once again, this sun-blocking coating has proven to be beneficial when casting around reasonable-looking structure.

These recent events have shown me surface lure action can be enjoyed in most conditions.

All that is required is more selective pinpointing that suits the fish’s view, not the angler’s.

The rain had hardly finished and chocolate waters appeared to make surface lures a waste of time, however Scotty landed a quality cod from one of the deepest pools that usually doesn’t even produce cod on surface when the water is clear.

The author with a cod taken on a surface lure after a small flood.

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A decent cod hooked by Scotty around an algae-covered pool. Lure placement is critical in producing a strike.

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A very accomplished local who has extensive knowledge of the fishery, Allan also used three different techniques and adapted through the sessions.

His go-to lures were Keitech plastics and the popular Berkley Gulp Minnow Grubs.

Allan’s gear consisted of a G-Loomis Bronze Back 6’3” Spin matched with a Daiwa Advantage 2000 reel spooled with Sunline Super PE 6lb main line and Sunline FC Rock 6lb leader.

The third-placed CoAngler was Queenslander James Buchner who has been very consistent over www.bnbfishing.com. au

the years and is well within striking distance of the CoAngler of the Year title.

James focused his attention on the Berkley Gulp deep jigging technique and matched his black lure with a black 1/4oz TT DemonZ jig head.

James’s deep Gulp technique included using a 1-4kg Millerods spin stick matched to a Daiwa reel spooled with 12lb Toray braid and 6lb Sunline FC Rock leader.

James lived up to his reputation by holding down the Big Bass after session one, and he was towards the front of the field all tournament.

With a strong history of finishing well in the series,

James may have only just started his run at the Samurai Rods Co-Angler of the Year title and is poised to take it out if he gets a sniff.

With three rounds to go, the series is really heating up and many anglers are vying for extra points at each round.

Every bite is becoming critical and every point can be the difference between qualifying and missing out on the Atomic B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Championship to be held on Lake Boondooma in the last weekend of August.

For more on the leading bass tournaments in Australia, head to bassaustralia. com.au

DAMS

PERCENTAGE

DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY Atkinson 5 5 5 5 9 7 Awoonga 85 84 82 80 104 100 32 Bjelke-Petersen * 28 23 20 25 24 Boondooma * 41 38 36 37 54 52 Borumba * 77 72 72 67 82 82 Burdekin Falls * 83 95 101 104 105 97 Callide * 72 69 66 62 93 92 Cania * 79 77 74 70 81 99 Coolmunda * 92 81 75 84 100 98 Dyer/Bill Gunn * 7 7 7 7 20 10 Eungella * 97 100 101 100 101 100 Fairbairn * 43 46 45 43 46 44 Glenlyon * 70 70 68 63 76 75 Hinze * 96 95 93 95 105 100 Julius 100 104 99 100 97 94 77 Kinchant * 93 95 93 88 84 Leslie * 29 18 17 16 19 18 Macdonald * 71 62 56 58 101 99 Maroon * 99 99 98 97 100 99 Monduran/Fred Haigh * 90 89 85 82 104 101 Moogerah * 91 90 87 86 102 100 58 North Pine/Samsonvale * 56 54 52 73 71 Peter Faust/Proserpine * 57 60 60 58 70 75 Somerset * 77 76 75 74 76 76 Teemburra * 92 99 101 100 101 100 Tinaroo * 34 39 45 48 54 50 Toonumbar 93 88 81 79 100 100 Wivenhoe * 74 72 71 69 75 73 Wuruma * 85 81 81 77 100 99 Wyaralong * 99 99 97 98 100 100 For updates on dams, visit sunwater.com.au or seqwater.com.au *This symbol indicates that a Stocked Impoundment Permit is required to fish these dams.

www.livelyluresonline.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 63

WINNER of the Nautilus Marine game/reef fishing rod

Hi Ben, My six-year-old son Jordan captured this ripper whiting on Main Beach at Stradbroke Island while on a recent camping trip.

Tara Pocock

Hi Ben, Three young grandsons on holidays at Ballina landed this quality 89cm jewfish in the Richmond River.

It put nice smiles on their faces.

Harrison, Reave and Jaice all love the outdoor life and love to read your magazine.

Thanks, Greg Porter

Hi Ben, I caught and released this jewfish from my kayak in the Maroochy River around the Bli Bli islands.

I was using 8lb line and leader with an Atomic Hardz Shad 50mm in Ghost Gill Brown.

The fish went about 85cm (brag mat only goes to 75cm!) after a 15-minute fight.

Steve Bolin

Hi Ben, I took my daughter to Cardwell recently and we were rewarded with a 65cm grunter and 45cm salmon.

We were fishing Hecate Point on low tide with live mullet during a sudden cold snap.

Love the mag.

Richard and Charlotte Turk

Hi Ben, My son Hayden’s PB flathead was caught on a Savage vibe.

It went 83cm and was released after a quick photo.

He lives for fishing and is only 12 years old.

Don Black

Brendan Moroney boated this red emperor on a recent fishing charter.

Michael Black hooked this pan-size squire using a strip of mullet flesh dipped in Pete Stanley’s Mossops Tackle World special sauce.

Zac Charlton’s article on fishing Borumba Dam in a recent issue helped us out greatly because we had never been to Borumba before this trip.

My little brother Emanuel picked up the big saratoga on a popper and I got the bass on a spinnerbait.

Eti Alefosio

To have a photo of your catch featured in Readers Forum, simply email ben@bnbfishing. com.au with a good-quality picture, your name and details or hop onto our Facebook page and send us a message.

■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum Page 64 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

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Casey with a sizeable barra.

Fishing conditions magical at Monduran

W

ITH the cooler months upon us, catching barra in Lake Monduran will become a bit more challenging.

However, it is a great time to be on the water, with less boat traffic, light wind and milder days.

What beautiful weather we are experiencing, and hopefully it will continue and we will have another winter with ideal fishing conditions.

With the cooler nights and warm days, the fishing conditions at Monduran have been excellent and lots of barra have been boated.

We have not yet seen a rapid drop in temperature, which has kept the water quite warm and in turn the barra have been coming out and playing.

The barra are feeding hard in anticipation of

Monduran Dam

by DONNA GANE

Make sure your gear is up to the task because the barra being encountered in Lake Monduran are getting bigger, with metre-plus fish becoming more frequent. winter and are hitting the decks of keen anglers in the know.

There is no need to get out super early at present, with many barra landed during the warmer afternoons and evenings.

Ideally, you should fish where the sun is warming the backs of the bays and

where youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find some protection from the wind.

Areas with more sun and less wind will hold warmer water, and this is where barra will congregate.

If you are really keen, night sessions have been worth the effort, especially after most other anglers have gone home.

Make your way to the back of a shallow bay somewhere close to the ramp and listen for the feeding fish.

The sound of feeding barramundi is unmistakeable.

The night can be totally silent and then the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;boofingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; will begin.

Generally I hit the water on dusk and stay out until at least 9.30pm if I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen or heard any action.

If you are looking for a few spots to try your luck, try B Bay, South arm down the back, around the shallow islands and bays and in the North arm of B Bay. North arm is vast, with many prime spots, but I have hooked really solid fish by just drifting through the timber in this shallow arm of the lake and stopping at places that catch my eye.

Just one of many barra Casey boated during a recent weekend on Monduran.

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If an area looks good, be persistent because bite periods will be less frequent in the cooler conditions.

Keeping your lure in the barraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face for long enough will draw a strike sooner or later.

I have found slow and steady retrieves work best with soft plastics such as the 5â&#x20AC;? Zerek Flat Shad.

With hard-bodies, smaller profiles of 100110mm in suspending or slow-rising varieties worked slowly with pauses and twitches are doing the damage.

As far as colour goes, white has been a standout, with silver on blue accounting for a few barra as well.

This could change at any time, so donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be afraid to mix it up.

It is awesome to see the barra being landed are ranging from 40-110cm, with tales of bigger fish being hooked but not boated.

Make sure your gear is up to the task because the barra being encountered in Lake Monduran are getting bigger, with metre-plus fish becoming more frequent.

Get out there and try your luck!

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to keep your Stocked Impoundment Permit up to date because this will ensure a great fishery for years to come.

A big thankyou to Jamie Bein of Lake Monduran Barra Charters for the photos this issue.

The pictured fish were caught on his charters in the days leading up to writing this article, proof that barra are on the bite.

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to pop in to Barra Havoc at Gin Gin on the Bruce Highway and get all the local fishing news and tips.

Happy fishing.

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www.barratackle.com.au Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, June 2017 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Page 65

Big natives start to play in the South Burnett I T’S been an interesting month of fishing the South Burnett impoundments.

The author held a yellowbelly hooked on a tailspinner.

The author and Corey with the goods after a successful session in the depths of BP.

Page 66 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

The recent influx of water has meant a lack of consistent fishing as the water has settled.

The fishing has improved recently and captures of big natives in both Bjelke-Petersen and Boondooma dams are being reported.

The water temps are slowly dropping but consistent warmer afternoons have seen the fish biting well.

It’s been a very warm month, with only a few mornings cold enough to require pulling on the jumpers.

The fish have been quiet in the mornings but as the day has worn on, the fish have fired.

Boondooma Boondooma has started to pick up as the water has cleared, with bigger bass and goldens caught using a variety of techniques.

In the mornings, when it’s cooler, I like to head up the arms of the dam and fish the edges.

I cast a 3/8oz spinnerbait or a lipless crank to the edge, let it hit the bottom and slowly wind it out.

The fish tend to move up on the edge at night and will generally feed until the sun hits the water and starts to warm it.

This can be a great way to catch big fish, especially if you’re up in the timbered arms where a lot of structure sits near the edge.

Another option is fishing the many weed beds that line the edge of the dam.

Jerkbaits are a great choice here.

Cast the jerkbait up to the weed edge and crank it down a couple of winds, pause, and then begin a series of twitches as you wind.

Remember that fishing close to the weed means you will snag the weed regularly, and if so, just give the rod tip a quick flick to free your jerkbait.

Be patient with this technique because the bass sitting in the weed pockets will eventually come out and hit the jerkbait hard.

This is also a great method for catching big yellowbelly, particularly in the afternoon when the water is warm.

After the sun has been up for a while, I always move out to the deeper sections and target the schooled fish sitting on the flats.

Sound around until you’ve located a good showing of fish.

At this time of year I usually search around the 4.5-7.5m zone.

When a school is located, you have a few options to cast at the fish to entice a bite.

Half-ounce-rigged plastics, tailspinners, blades, spinnerbaits and soft vibes all have their place on the flats and it’s just a matter of trying a few baits until you have one that’s consistently catching fish.

Soft plastics fished along the bottom have been the standout of late.

The key to getting a good flats bite is having an afternoon where it’s quite hot and a slight breeze is blowing across the water, generating a current.

This combination of warmth and current tends to

Freshwater Impoundments

by MATTHEW LANGFORD

get the fish biting.

Bait fishers are catching good numbers of fish in the timbered arms by tying off to trees and fishing with live shrimp and worms.

You can buy bait at the kiosk but if you want the best bait, try catching shrimp in the weed around the dam edges by using opera house pots.

Trollers are picking up good fish along the weed edges and rock walls near the dam wall, as well as in the timbered arms, on spinnerbaits and deep-diving hard-bodies.

Red claw are really on the move since the influx of water, so make sure you pack the opera house pots.

Bjelke-Petersen Fishing on BP has fired up, with numerous catches of bass and yellowbelly, particularly during the warmer afternoons.

On the warmer days, the fish have generally stayed out deep in the 4.5-7.5m zone.

If it’s cool in the morning, I will target the weed edges with spinnerbaits, blades and tailspinners.

It helps if the edges have spindly timber mixed in with the weed because the fish tend to move up and feed around this structure early in the morning.

Later in the day, especially if it’s warm, I will move out deeper and target the fish sitting on the deeper flats of about 6m.

The fish have been spread out over the flats next to Lightning Ridge, Bass Point and wide of Treasure Island.

Plastics, blades, tailspinners and soft vibes present the best ways to target the fish out deep.

Sound around these areas until you find a good show of fish on the sounder, then go through the above lures un-

til you find one that gets you onto a couple of fish and stick with it.

Make long casts and ensure the lure makes regular contact with the bottom.

Use either a hopping retrieve or a dead slow roll along the bottom.

Persist long enough and you will eventually get a bite.

Trollers are picking up bass on deep divers and spinnerbaits trolled along the bottom in 3.54.5m near the above locations.

Bait fishers are picking up bass and goldens in the timber on shrimp, worms and yabbies but be wary if heading in because the water is shallow before the timber.

Red claw are still coming in, with quality hauls being taken from the rocky areas and in the bays with weed coming out from the edge.

Park news The tackle shops at both dams are fully stocked, and the Yallakool kiosk’s lure range has received a major facelift, with a great new range in stock.

All lures on the wall are just what you need to target bass and yellowbelly in BP and Boondooma.

The staff at both dams are very helpful when it comes to fishing locations on the dam and what lures to use, so please don’t hesitate to ask.

On a final note, if you’re not just staying in the parks for the great fishing, make sure you check out the tourist information centres at both dams.

You’ll find maps and brochures of all the great attractions around the South Burnett region within a short distance of the parks.

Until next month, tight lines and bent rods.

The recent influx of water has got the big red claw moving.

John Francis with a yellowbelly from the edge on a spinnerbait.

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A good haul of Maroon Dam red claw was collected by Shane Whell.

Rhyleigh loves her freshwater fishing. She picked up this solid bass using live shrimp.

Shane Whell has put in the time to earn good results.

He recently set up camp at Pointro for four weeks to take advantage of all the recent long weekends.

His final fish catch was this yellowbelly, which was a great reward for a month of camping, fishing and red clawing.

Camping at Maroon Dam a great option on winter weekends

W

INTER is almost upon us, so it’s time to start planning your winter camping escape.

Nothing is better than sitting around a campfire in the cool air of winter.

And if you opt to camp at a location on or nearby an impoundment, you have the added option of fishing and red clawing.

Freshwater Fishing

by STEVE WILKES

One of the great things about targeting freshwater species in winter is you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn.

The fish use the heat of the day to feed, so gener-

As the water clarity improved at Maroon, the larger bass started to be hooked. Wesley landed this absolute beauty.

ally the most productive times on the water are between 9am and 3pm.

I mentioned red claw too, because a lot of people think you can only catch red claw in the warmer months, but this isn’t the case and it’s still worthwhile setting a few traps throughout winter.

The impoundments of southeast Queensland are starting to fish better after all the heavy rain dumped by ex-cyclone Debbie.

Australian bass tend to thrive in constant conditions and as the weeks have progressed, the fishing has continued to get better in line with the improvement of the water clarity.

This has been particularly evident at Maroon Dam. Maroon is only a relatively small dam, located about a 90-minute drive southwest of Brisbane.

The dam is currently producing great fishing and the red claw are on the move too.

Maroon offers limited places to camp but a popular spot of late has been Pointro.

Brock with a beautiful, healthy Australian bass. Plentiful bass of this size can be found in Maroon Dam.

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It is a very basic site, but if you want to have a real camping experience, it’s got everything you need and is the cheapest option on the dam.

It has direct water access so you can launch your boat at the bottom of the campsite.

This location will also see you fishing in prime territory pretty quickly.

It’s only a short trip to the dam wall, and the banks opposite and perpendicular to the dam wall always tend to produce quality fish.

The best results have come from working along the edge of the submerged weed line and also the lily pad-lined areas.

The timber in the far upper reaches has been patchy, but it can always be relied upon to give up a few fish, particularly for the live bait anglers.

At the end of a day’s fishing you have plenty of places to explore in the Scenic Rim and there’s nothing like a cold beer to top off a day of fishing.

The closest pub is the Mt Alford.

Publican Dave gets behind local social clubs in the area and he is a keen supporter of the Fish Nutz fishing group.

The Fish Nutz group members love their fishing and camping.

Search for Fish Nutz on Facebook to become a part of the community.

Another winter impoundment camping option, but only for the kids this time, is at Moogerah Dam at the end of June.

School holidays always seem to come around quickly, and Sports Tuition is holding its holiday camps for eight to 12 year olds and 12-15 year olds from June 27-29.

The kids camp out in tents, cook meals over the open fire and participate in a range of adventure activities.

It’s back to basics camping, which is something young children really enjoy.

There aren’t too many programs like it, so check out sportstuition.com.au for all the details.

Bus transport is available to make it easy for working parents.

Jai Whell caught this bass while working the edge of the lily pads.

Bush or the beach – get your school involved.

Every camp is tailored to your needs.

Freshwater or saltwater fishing.

Other activities include:

Stand-up paddle boarding, canoeing, high ropes, abseiling, archery, boogie boarding, body surfing with hand planes, raft building and open fire cooking.

For further details visit www.sportstuition.com.au or phone 0403 154 510.

Anywhere. Anytime

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017 – Page 67

A large number of anglers turned out for round two at Cania Dam.

Dallas Harch wins at Cania Dam

Dallas Harch was the overall winner at Cania Dam.

A

GOOD number of anglers made the trip to Cania Dam on April 22 and 23 for the second round of Basstasstic qualifying tournaments.

Most anglers stayed at Camp Nowland and enjoyed the social gathering and daily barbecues that went with staying at the camp. The weather was a

Competition Report

by RUSSELL NOWLAND

little cool in the mornings but in general perfect for bass fishing.

Cania Dam was a bit dirty at the front but cleared as you neared the top of the dam.

SENIOR WINNERS Place

Jordon Riddle finished second.

Name

Points

1

Dallas Harch

2433

2

Jordon Riddle

2407

3

Leroy Finch

2373

4

Jordon Renz

2359

5

Lucas Philp

2347

6

Lachlan Achilles

2286

7

Terry Allwood

2276

8

Matt Mott

2190

9

Mitchell Renz

2169

10

Gavin Sticklen

2161

The weekend saw plenty of quality bass caught, though I would say not as many as usual, likely due to the water colour from the recent in-flows.

However, the weekend was all about Dallas Harch from Hervey Bay as he kept the pace up by continually measuring in good bass.

His plan of working the middle of the dam for big bass worked well and ensured his win with a score of 2433 points.

He took home $800 cash for his efforts.

Second place went to Jordon Riddle from Moree in NSW. Jordon worked the front of the timber and into the timber at the top of the dam to give him a great result of 2407, which saw him walk away with a cool $500 cash.

Leroy Finch from Dalby managed to claim third place and $400 cash after he too worked the timber to get a great result of 2373 points.

The rookie section winner was Dave Howard from Kingaroy who took home the Austackle prize pack with 1885 points.

Second place was taken out by Shane Howard, also from Kingaroy, who scored 1524 points to win the Sludgie Lures voucher.

Dave Howard picked up the Evakool Big Bass for the weekend and the Big Bass cash pool worth $450 thanks to his 450mm fork length bass.

The female angler prize went to Liz Johnson from Gladstone who won a $100 BCF gift voucher.

In the junior section, Aiden Whiteman from Gympie was the overall winner after scoring 1839 points.

Lane Thompson from Gladstone came in second with 969 points.

JUNIOR WINNERS Place

Name

Points

1

Aiden Whiteman

1839

2

Lane Thompson

969

3

Eathan Thompson

739

4

Jaxson Thompson

698

5

Junior winner Aiden Whiteman.

David Nowland

362

Leroy Finch finished in third place overall.

Dave Howard placed first in the rookie section and nabbed the Big Bass for the tournament.

Allwood on top at BP Dam M AY 13 and 14 saw anglers travel to Bjelke-Petersen Dam near Murgon in the South Burnett to fish the thirdround qualifier of the Basstasstic tournament series.

Anglers who pre-fished on the Friday before the tournament reported it would be a tough fish.

Saturday saw a good line-up of anglers take to the water to battle the

Competition Report

by RUSSELL NOWLAND

weekend out for a place on Sunday’s final place board.

Session one was tough for some, with only 12 anglers measuring in two out of two possible bass and two of these anglers were juniors.

Jordon Renz from Bundaberg had the most

SENIOR WINNERS Place

points on the board with two good bass totalling 846 points.

Junior David Nowland from Monto picked up two bass for a morning total of 623 points.

The weather was turning overcast and a little rain could be seen in the distance, so it was still anyone’s day to blow the score board totals out of the water.

The second session on day one saw Jordon remain in front.

David continued sitting in number-one spot as well and it really was a

Name

Points

1

Terry Allwood

2265

2

Mathew Mott

2198

3

Jordon Renz

2175

4

Jordon Riddle

2124

5

Lachlan Achilles

2043

6

Russell Nowland

2016

Place

7

Dallas Harch

2005

1

8

Bill Schloss

1874

9

Gavin Sticklen

1704

10

Lucas Philp

1696

Page 68 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

case of fending off competitors and hanging on to the lead going into the final session on day two.

Day two dawned overcast, cool and windy.

This weather meant things weren’t going to be pretty for anglers looking for big bass.

In the end, the score board in the senior section saw a shift, with local angler Terry Allwood pushing into number-one spot with a final tally of 2265 points, which earned him $600 cash.

Another local, Matt Mott, took out second place with 2198 points and went home $400 better off.

Jordon had to settle for

Winning senior angler Terry Allwood with his daughter Layla who placed second in the junior section.

☛ continued P69

JUNIOR WINNERS Name

Points

David Nowland

1923

2

Layla Allwood

1603

3

Aiden Whiteman

637

4

Kelvyn Reynolds

609

Jordon Renz brought home third place.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Allwood on top at Bjelke-Petersen Dam ☛ from P68

third place with a total score of 2175, though $300 was a decent consolation.

The Evakool Big Bass prize and cash pool of $350 was won

by Shane Howard from Kingaroy after he landed a 449mm to the fork fish.

Cindy Schloss from Dalby won the female angler prize and took home a pair of lip grips and tackle.

The ‘no fish’ Shimano reel prize went to Trevor Stead from Kingaroy.

In the junior section, it was a happy story

for David who ended up taking the win with a total score of 1923 points.

His score put him eighth overall and he won a lure pack donated by Bill and Cindy Schloss, so well done David.

His next rival was a local and newcomer to tournament fishing, Layla Allwood from Murgon, who finished with 1603 points and a $50 Sludgies Lures voucher.

Third place went to Aiden Whiteman from Gympie, with 637 points scoring him a Shimano Rack Raider rod.

The group of anglers and biologists involved in a recent Dumaresq River Murray cod research trip.

A

S you start to read this month’s run-down, remember a lot of us will be looking at frost on windscreens and might be thinking it’s too cold for fishing.

David Nowland came first in the junior division.

Lachlan Achilles and Jordon Riddle with a bag of bass of all sizes.

Rade Unipan enjoyed the fishing at BP Dam.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Some of us, but not all of us.

This is actually a good time for me because the handbrake cable gets let off a bit and I get out onto the water, either river or dam, more often.

The best time to fish the dam in winter is between 10.30am and 3.30pm – banking hours for some.

Casting or trolling lures has been working well on the dam, as have spinnerbaits.

Look for rock ledges or a group of trees standing in around 6m of water.

Troll the lure at a slow walking pace with no more than 4.5m of line out on the inside of a rock ledge.

Keep in mind big Murray cod like the warm sun rays during winter.

In close to the shore you will sometimes come across large trees at 45-degree angles to the water.

Flog these with twinspin blades.

Speaking of blades, don’t forget to put little vibes in your tackle box for the big yellows.

I guess this covers both dam fishing and river fishing.

I still do a bit of bush bashing around the place but it is all plain and simple.

A hooch, a couple of ropes, a small stretcher, light blanket, sleeping bag, pillow, some cooking gear, a canoe, six lures, one surface lure, camera in a waterproof case, pliers, and a fish grip, all in blue waterproof drums.

With this simple setup I know I can always light a small fire to warm my baked beans.

River fishing is the best as far as I am concerned.

With a small canoe I start upstream so returning to camp late in the day is not too arduous.

Glenlyon Dam

by BRIAN DARE

I wear a pair of half waders that clip onto my jeans belt.

In my case they are ‘thigh waders’ and reach my crotch.

My boots have hard soles to make for better walking over smooth round rocks as I hang onto my canoe or kayak.

Once past the rapids, I look back and work the whirlpool flow just below the rapid with a surface lure or walk back upstream and troll with lures.

Here I let my lure drop down into the eddy before cranking it back up.

I repeat this four times and if I have no luck, switch to a small spinnerbait.

If that doesn’t work, I curse the hole and move on.

During a recent April research trip on the Dumaresq River, 116 cod were caught, tagged and released for further studies by Gavin Butler and crew.

Only six holes of water were fished on that weekend, which makes you think too many cod have been stocked and yellowbelly, silver perch and catfish are all in short supply.

A couple of blokes called Les Kowitz and Warren Steptoe were also helping with the research trip and on Saturday tagged a few Murray cod under 50cm at Zappa Wines.

Sunday saw Warren and Les back at the same location re-fishing the hole to catch even more cod on that stretch of river.

They noticed a 4x4 BT50 ute driving down to fish the river.

A little later, two people in a small tinnie with an electric motor joined them in fishing the hole.

Once the young blokes on board realised Warren and Les were interested in tagging fish, they handed over a tag from a fish they had in a keeper net.

The tag was green and

the number was 733 – nothing wrong with that except the tag revealed the cod it came from was badly undersized.

These young fellas may not have been caught keeping an undersized fish, but guess what?

Two lots of fisheries officers have information and won’t all BT-50s be getting checked in the near future around the

rivers and dams in the northern NSW region and southeast/southwest Queensland?

Some of the locals will be looking around too.

P.S. Les Kowitz retired as the CEO of the Freshwater Fish Restocking Association Queensland four years ago and Warren Steptoe is one of Australia’s better known fishing writers.

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Private lakes can be the best option for those with limited time and offer unique opportunities such as tangling with golden trout.

The view from the Waratah Hotel across the river and falls to the centre of town.

Remote Tassie touring – part two M ANY of Tasmania’s mostrenowned trout fisheries exist in the still waters of the island’s lakes.

Regular stocking of rainbow trout sees the fishery in Lake Rosebery very reliable, even when the browns are playing hard to get.

Rural townships’ water supply dams generally have easy access, with mown areas kept clipped by wallabies and most dams holding trout, some being trophy class.

The island state is blessed with countless natural and man-made lakes ranging from the staggering Lake Pedder with a surface area of 242sq km (the largest freshwater lake in Australia), to numerous remote town water supply lakes of just a hectare or so and tiny natural highland tarns (small mountain lakes).

In addition to the plethora of public waters, excellent fishing opportunities abound in large lakes that are well stocked and maintained on private property as pay-to-fish venues.

Purely by chance, the short (5km) run in which I participated on our second morning in Tassie just happened to be a short drive from one such private lake.

Don’t imagine that the trout in these lakes are going to be ridiculously easy to catch (we’re not talking about trout farm fish-out ponds here).

They behave exactly like the wild fish of the public lakes, responding to weather variations, angling pressure and so on in the same manner, particularly in the larger venues.

Lake Rosebery on the west coast is set amongst eye-catching backdrops and is fishable from the shore.

Page 70 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

Fishing Around Oz

by NEIL SCHULTZ

Note the mention of angling pressure which, at the height of the tourist season, can be significant and make these fish very hard to find, even in comparatively small waters.

In the first lake we visited were mainly rainbows because they are the most adaptable of the salmonids found in our waters, but they shared the lake with a smattering of brown, brook and golden trout.

Despite a reasonable population of fish in the lake, I made a heck of a lot of casts without success.

After changing away from the locally favoured lures, I clipped on a new version of an old favourite bass/sooty/flathead lure from home waters, a Predatek MinMin with a transparent body.

That change did the trick and the second cast resulted in a hook-up and a protracted tussle with a respectable 4lb golden trout; apparently something of a rarity.

Further casting saw another hook-up after 30 minutes or so, this time to a larger rainbow that managed to throw the lure on its third leap.

Happy with a new species ticked off the list and a feed of fresh trout in the bag, we headed back to the motel and handed the fish to the chef to prepare.

Our evening meal was excellent, with the chef grilling boneless trout fillets and serving them simply with lightly steamed vegetables – superb!

From the midlands we weaved our way around Tassie’s back roads, stopping in for a look at Lake Barrington.

This lake is managed as a trophy trout fishery by stocking its waters with mature specimens of brown and rainbow trout as well as Atlantic salmon.

Angling regulations for this lake include a combined bag limit of five fish, only two of which can exceed 50cm, to maintain the trophy size of the salmonid population.

Self-maintaining populations of the native river blackfish and giant freshwater crayfish also inhabit the lake, with the latter being totally protected.

Because Lake Barrington is only a 45-minute drive from Devonport, be prepared to share the water with scores of wake boats and ski boats during summer weekends.

Looking for a quieter venue, we headed west, over the top of the range at Cradle Mountain to the tannin-stained waters of Lake Rosebery.

Rosebery is a hydro lake, like many in Tassie, and supports a selfmaintaining population of big brown trout.

Tasmanian fisheries also stocks rainbow trout annually to provide variety for anglers.

Lake Rosebery provided good opportunities for land-based angling along the eastern side.

Sight casting to rising fish of an early morn-

ing produced a couple of quality rainbows in the 40cm class.

Later during the week, while staying in the historic township of Zeehan, we visited Lake Pieman, which is in the same catchment as Rosebery but further downstream.

Pieman has an excellent boat ramp but very limited shoreline access for land-based fishing.

Brown trout are the only angling species in the lake, maintained by natural recruitment, hence the lake is only open to angling during the trout season (August to April).

From Zeehan we ventured north, crossing the Pieman River by ferry at Corinna to check out the scenery of the far northwestern districts.

After visiting a few of the larger out of the way lakes of the west coast, we headed off the beaten track to explore the lesser-travelled roads (and you thought Zeehan and Corinna were remote).

Following something of a gravel goat track north from the Pieman River ferry, we checked out a couple of uninviting-looking bodies of water before crossing the Savage River and then winding our way through the hills to the tiny township of Waratah, our base for a couple of days.

Waratah is unique in a

few ways, one of which is having quite a large natural waterfall in the centre of town, visible from several vantage points including a lookout in front of the pub.

The Waratah River, on which the falls are situated, flows through town and is ponded and surrounded by parks, creating a fishing spot with a decent population of trout almost within casting distance of the CBD (one shop, a post office and a pub).

Like many country towns in Tassie, Waratah has a small lake built to provide a domestic water supply.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the lake servicing this tiny town (population 250) is home to good numbers of brown trout, including some cracker specimens.

We intentionally stayed away from the legendary trout lakes such as Pedder, Arthurs, Great, Penstock and Little Pine, to name just a few.

Instead we sought out the lesser-known and often quite small lakes of which there are plenty (3000 or so).

We learnt quite a lot about freshwater fishing options in the Apple Isle and may very well return when the season opens again.

Lake Barrington, which is close to Devonport and carries large fish, boasts good facilities including two boat ramps.

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CAROLINA SKIFF SEA CHASER 190 (2006) 19’ centre console powered by Honda 90hp four-stroke.

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EXTREME 570 GAME KING (2014). This boat is the same size as a current 605 Game King and presents as new but will save you thousands on a new one. Features include 5mm bottom, 4mm sides, flood keel, electric anchor, bunk cushions and infill, windscreen wiper, Fusion stereo, VHF radio, dual batteries, slide-out bimini, removable rear seat, bait board, Mercury 150hp four-stroke with only 37 hours, Dunbier dual-axle trailer, long rego and the list goes on. Don’t let this one slip by at $73,990 drive away. We have Mercury Finance waiting for you. Call Trevor at Karee Marine today on 07 3875 1600.

FIBREGLASS HALF CABIN BOATS – Baysport - Cruise Craft – Signature – Whittley WANTED CASH or CONSIGN (post 2007) at John Crawford Marine - Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists and trusted for over 50 years – make selling your boat simple and hassle free. Have your boat put in front of buyers’ eyes via our industry leading reputation and online marketing along with our strategic and easy to “pull into” location. - call today (07) 3890 2322. www.johncrawfordmarine.com.au HAINES HUNTER 520 PROWLER CENTRE CONSOLE, 2016 Yamaha 100Hp 4 Stroke with 26 hours, Tinka Classic trailer, Lowrance HDS 7, VHF radio, plumbed live bait tank, safety kit inc. EPIRB, custom stainless steel bar work, Bimini, approx. 125l fuel tank. Simply stunning condition, genuine boat ramp head turner package and at $33,495 one of JCM’s boats of the year! call today (07) 3890 2322. Or see online at www.johncrawfordmarine.com.au LIFESTYLE 6700 ALLROUNDER FIBREGLASS TRI HULL, Volvo 5 cylinder turbo diesel stern drive, Tandem axle RWC trailer, huge cockpit, full tropical SS framed canopy, large lock up cabin, safety gear and so much more. Ideal rig for the extended fish-

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Bar crossing courses: • Hands-on experience crossing ossing sing coastal bars safely • Direct supervision p masterin mastering all bar crossing skills • Fine-tuning of skills in bbreaking swells wells an and white water • On-water training in the safety of a Cruise Craft Explorer 685 filled with upright buoyancy to naval architects’ specifications • Overcome your fears and learn vital skills as part of an onwater course

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ISHING for impoundment barramundi can be extremely frustrating at times, especially when you can see the fish on the side scan and can’t get them to bite.

Here’s a few tips about where to look and at what times.

In this write up I’ll focus on rain periods.

We recently had cyclone Debbie cross our coastline, and with her came a lot of rain.

What this means for an impoundment is the fish school up in the basin because they feel they may have an opportunity to go over the wall and get to the salt to breed.

You will see the barra school around the wall and they can be caught by slow trolling hard-bodies.

If you can find a decent school of fish, you can also jig them up on vibes and soft plastics.

So where do you go when the fish leave the basin after all that rain?

This is where it gets interesting.

After rain periods, bony bream breed, producing more food for the impoundment-dwelling

dronefishing.com.au monster barramundi.

A good place to look for these extra baitfish is the rivers at the back of the impoundment around weedy edges and points.

Having timber close by will also be an advantage.

Finding the best weed points and weed beds to fish can be daunting at times.

This is where I’d like to thank Brendan Archie from Drone Fishing for helping me in this department.

Drones make life a whole lot easier when trying to find the right ground to fish thanks to the bird’s-eye view they provide.

Drones really are becoming a must-have tool in all fishing applications.

So once you have used your drone to find a likely spot, what lures do you start flicking?

It comes back to the old

adage of match the hatch.

Bony bream are quite small in the early days of their lives, and therefore small weedless plastics are my go-to.

Z-Man 4” PaddlerZ have served me well in the white and Gold Rush colours.

Slow roll these weedlessrigged plastics across the weed to excite the barra.

Barra will sit up in extremely shallow water, so don’t shy away from casting into just 30cm of water.

When fishing weedless, you really have to set the hook once you have enticed the bite.

I hope this article has put one piece of the puzzle together for you.

Put in the time and get the results.

Billy Gibbons Drone Fishing team angler

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Barramundi can be elusive after periods of heavy rain. Drones make the task of locating them much easier.

Page 72 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, June 2017

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