BNB Fishing mag | Dec 2019

Serious look at snapper stocks

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catch in the spawning season when they aggregate in large numbers, giving the illusion there is not a snapper problem.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy catching snapper as much as the next fisho.

However, when you drill down into the data from all available sources, it is quite obvious the bulk of our snapper catch is increasingly of the younger age group and smaller fish.

OUR COVER

STEVE WUST captured this magnificent coronation trout off the remote east coast of Cape York.

Have a look at the chunks missing from the soft plastic! Check out DAVE DONALD’s article on Page 52 for more wild Cape York action.

Ben Collins Daniel Tomlinson Kacie Hubbert Jo Hendley

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 DISTRIBUTION BY: Fairfax Max. recommended retail price $4.50 (includes GST).

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JANUARY edition will be on sale in news­agents from December 20. See subscription form on Page 64 to go in the draw to win an Evakool icebox jam packed with loads of quality fishing gear valued at over $500.

Yes, excellent big snapper are still out there, but those older fish are becoming harder to consistently find.

Recent and uninformed comments indicate a huge lack of understanding, particularly among recreational fishers and charter operators, as to the extent our snapper stocks have been depleted.

This prompted me to touch base with several industry contacts and to also have a closer look at all available data, most of which has been extensively peer reviewed.

When you look at the broader east coast stock assessment, it is obvious that Queensland stock has been subjected to localised depletion, and plenty of data supports this.

Gradual decline is the only common theme and when you consider the snapper catches of say, the mid-1980s compared to today, it is obvious how much the fishery has declined.

Interventions in catch levels among the recreational and charter sectors have not been sufficient to halt the decline and in hindsight (as much as we objected at the time), the restrictions were token and the decline was never going to be reversed.

It is easy to blame the commercial operators, but their catches have declined at an alarming rate too in recent years.

Talking around, it seems the estimated Queensland commercial catch in 2016 of 72 tonnes was overstated and last year the catch was nearer 50 tonnes.

Perhaps that’s also in part due to the accountabilities that have been placed on the operators.

Their quota has now been set at 42 tonnes and that is nowhere near enough to supply the domestic market.

ATI ON

by BILL CORTEN

CI

When we have just come out of a pretty good snapper season, many people think an unlimited resource is out there ripe for the plucking and let’s face it, snapper are easy to

Offshore

O

W

E all know snapper is a valuable species across all fishing sectors in the southern half of Queensland, and the new fisheries requirements (including the spawning closure) have been a wakeup call that has made a lot of people sit up and take notice of what is happening with the fishery.

N

FIS

AS

S

A serious look at the status of snapper stocks

PRO TE CT

A highly prized catch off the Queensland coast. If we want future generations to enjoy chasing snapper like this one, serious action is needed to help the fishery and welcomed by the author.

A look at snapper stocks.............. by Bill Corten..............................................P3 Advantage of a downrigger......by Brian Webb......................................P7 Dealing with weather.................by Sean Conlon..................................P10 Safe boating essentials................. by Sean ‘Skip’ Thompson.....................P12 Northern Moreton Bay................... by Mark Templeton................................P14 Game Fishing Story.....................by Barry Alty.......................................P16 Broadwater booming..................... by Clint Ansell..........................................P18 Popular month on the water........ by Darren Rama.......................................P19 Tweed River trevally...................by Brad Smith.....................................P20 Venturing to Vanuatu...................by Gavin Dobson................................P21 Offshore from Yamba...................... by Warren ‘Wazza’ Morgan.................P23 Christmas gifts for fishos............... by Brett Hyde............................................P24 Summer fishing at Iluka.............by Tye Porter.......................................P25 Sunny Coast holiday guide........by Grant Budd.....................................P26 Mono vs multi-hull vessels.......... by Rick Waugh.........................................P27 Salty Tribe......................................by Paul ‘Chief’ Graveson.................P28 Bundy barra and jacks...............by Brad Young....................................P29 Hervey Bay.....................................by Tri Ton..............................................P27 Fishing trip to Swain Reefs.......... by Daniel Tomlinson..............................P32 1770 BNB Trophy trip...................... by Mick Clutterbuck..............................P34 Overseas sailfishing trip............... by Des Charles.........................................P35 Readers Forum..............................................................................................P36 Puzzle page....................................................................................................P36 Charter Directory........................................................................................P38 Boating & Marine..................................................................................P40-44 Boat Review...................................... by Ben Collins..........................................P40 Insights into boat insurance.....by Nautilus Marine...........................P44 Rocky Barra Bounty round-up:

by Gary Churchward..............................P45

by John Boon............................................P46

by Keith Stratford.....................................P47 Chasing longtail tuna....................by Jason Kidd.....................................P49 Stanage Bay..................................by Pee Wee.........................................P50 Hinchinbrook News....................by Team Crackajack.........................P51 Cape York’s east coast...............by Dave Donald..................................P52 Epic Cape York.................................. by ‘Billabong’ Bazz Lyon.......................P53 The build-up to the wet..............by Matt Potter.....................................P54 Caravanning adventure..............by Todd Eveleigh...............................P55 Road Tripping NT............................. by Craig Tomkinson................................P56 Monduran barra...........................by Jamie Bein.....................................P58 Recipe.............................................by Melissa Frohloff...........................P59 Fishing with kids..........................by Neil Schultz...................................P59 Lake Wyaralong bass.................by Leeann Payne...............................P60 Glenlyon Dam................................by Brian Dare......................................P62 Trading Post..................................................................................................P63 Subscription form.......................................................................................P64

HIN G T R A D E

W

HAT a wild end to the year – drought, fires, snow down south, insane winds and oppressive heat – what’s next?

My thoughts go out to anyone who has been directly or indirectly affected by the recent spate of fires in Queensland and NSW. Some unbelievable stories and photos that defy belief continue to emerge from the fires.

Very sadly, a few deaths were directly related to the fires and it makes my blood boil to hear that some of these blazes were deliberately lit.

Hopefully some hefty punishment is swiftly inflicted upon those who are guilty of these heinous crimes.

I harp on about how awesome this country is and how lucky we are to be living here, so it is a shame some people, and it is only a few rotten eggs, can cause untold damage and destruction of property and lives.

I wish all those fighting the fires all the best and safe travels.

It is awesome to see volunteers sacrificing time with their families and friends to help people in need.

That is what I call ‘true-blue Aussie’.

Hopefully we can get some muchneeded rain and the wind will either abate or assist rather than menace the fire crews.

Time will tell.

And as a nation, I hope we can come together and help those affected to have the best Christmas possible.

As always, Christmas is a busy time on the water, with many people heading out for their ‘yearly’ trip.

As avid and often more experienced boaters, we need to be proactive and lend a helping hand where we can.

I know this is not always possible but it’s worth giving a go.

If possible, try to head to the boat ramp outside of the peak ‘Mum and Dad’ times and you’ll find less traffic.

Historically, these are also the best times to target fish because less boats are on the water.

That said, it is always great to see places like Horseshoe Bay at Peel Island and the Sandhills at Moreton Island alive with boats because it confirms this recreation we all love is still going strong.

I’d also like to thank our loyal bunch of readers who love getting the mag each month.

The magazine landscape has changed over the past few years, but we are fortunate to have plenty of readers who still want the hard copy.

However, as most know, we have diversified and have a free weekly e-news and make many Facebook and Instagram posts to keep you abreast of what’s biting.

Plus, we have a growing library of back issues available online, which are free to read.

These make a good resource when researching fishing tips and locations.

Check out issuu.com/bnbfishing and bookmark it as your new encyclopedia for fishing.

I’d also like to thank our loyal advertisers who run their ads in the mag.

Without their support, we could not bring you this magazine full of information every month.

I encourage you to support those who support us and if you are buying anything from a reel to a boat, be sure to mention you saw it or read about it in BNB Fishing.

This will let our advertisers know their ads are working!

Finally, our dedicated team of writers.

It’s their passion for fishing and willingness to pass on their wealth of knowledge that makes this mag what it is, so a big thanks from the team here at BNB HQ. We have a very diverse range of writers, each with their own distinct character and personality, which I feel comes through in their writing and makes the articles entertaining and informative.

Merry Christmas to all.

Be safe on the water.

Ben Collins

October prizewinners

Congratulations to Max Clothier, Kenmore Hills; Tudd Kloda, Ormiston; and Glen Grimes, Toowoomba who have each won a Salt-Away starter kit plus a tackle spray valued at $120!

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 3

Peter Martin of Ormiston was very pleased with his snapper of a lifetime that weighed over 9kg.

A thumping snapper on a slowly dropped back knife jig was an unexpected capture and certainly not taken for granted by Morgan Liu.

A serious look at the status of snapper stocks

Frequency (proportion)

* from P3

Age group (years) Age frequencies of snapper harvested by the Queensland commercial line sector. Notice the significant shrinkage in the average spread of fish caught over the years.

In 2016, the NSW trap and line fishery had a snapper catch of 149 tonnes, so the combined Queensland/NSW east coast commercial catch of 221 tonnes was just 10 percent of the 2199 tonnes of snapper we imported from New Zealand.

To think that much of it didn’t end up around these parts is ludicrous and anecdotally, the NZ snapper continues to be flown in quite liberally to satisfy consumer demand.

In past debates over resource allocation, the commercial sector used to rely on catch phrases along the lines of “they are supplying fish to Australians”.

Well, in the instance of snapper, that is clearly no longer the case and NZ is recognised as having far better reserves of snapper and the most ideal growing conditions for the species.

At least the NZ product is a wild-caught import without the biosecurity issues we have seen from some of the Asian imports of seafood.

My research suggests

none of the Queenslandcaught snapper was exported, which is not surprising when you consider the amount we import.

What is obvious is the overall take of this iconic species has to be slowed down to allow any rebuilding of stocks to occur and it is the extent of fishing effort reduction that will determine the extent of recovery over a given timeframe as we look ahead.

One seasoned industry participant suggested to me that achieving the goal of reaching 60 percent of the unfished biomass would require a complete shut-down of the snapper fishery for 10 years – that’s how far behind the 8 ball we are in Queensland.

How do we change this decline in snapper catches?

Well the intent of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy is to set catch limits by 2020 that would deliver 40-50 percent of the unfished biomass and 60 percent by 2027.

Of the raft of changes recently introduced, the

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spawning closure for all sectors at the critical period of aggregation will probably be the most effective starting point intervention.

Reducing the commercial quota will help, though it may not be possible to achieve the quota if commercial fishers cannot fish during the closure when fish are aggregating.

Not really a huge problem given the amount of snapper imported from NZ. Reducing the recreational bag limit will contribute something, as will the overall recreational boat limit.

Hence the changes recently introduced, with the purpose of slowing the decline in the biomass.

Good on Fisheries Queensland for finally having the gumption to make good decisions across the board that are solely in the best interests of the snapper fishery rather than pander to the poor bugger-me groups that make the loudest noise.

You know, the NIMBYS. “Yeah, yeah we support the change” but then go on to give you all the reasons why it should be ‘Not In My Back Yard’.

Governments are paid to make decisions.

In this instance they flagged it, allowed consultation and surprised everyone by making a clear decision along the lines of what they said they were going to do, with legislation in place to support it.

From my involvement in fisheries working groups in the past, considerable indecision has made me wonder whether the protected species is the fish or some sectors of fishers.

Looking at the figures, it would seem the latest Queensland changes are only the tip of the iceberg of what is really required and it is quite unlikely they will have the desired effect of noticeably rebuilding stocks in the short term.

That brings us to achieving the 2027 target.

Given the harsher extent of snapper restrictions in Western Australia implemented five years ago and the fact they are just showing some early signs of recovery now,

the Queensland authorities probably should have gone in harder in the best long-term interests of the fishery.

I would expect far more stringent limits put on all sectors over coming years and suggest the existing arrangements will be increased in the short term, rather than sitting around waiting until 2027.

Won’t that be an interesting conversation?

Probably the areas where the most boats get out the most frequently and where the larger aggregations of fishing effort are concentrated will be the areas that see the least short-term improvement.

But as we all know, several environmental factors can influence why an area has a good season while another does not.

Will the closure stop the tourists coming to the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast?

No way.

Will the southern Queensland inshore grounds become more heavily fished?

Probably, and they have been overfished for years and no one has done anything about it except reduce the minimum size of teraglin.

On a more positive note, good on the Queensland Government for its latest proposal to establish a series of FADs offshore from Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast by the end of this year to in part offset some of the pressure on snapper and pearl perch.

This article has been written to give more prominence to the seriousness of what we are facing down the track with our fisheries.

Some negative reactions won’t be a surprise and I am happy to continue to engage.

The new requirements are already in place and we are on the way with better management that can only benefit future generations of fishers.

Some recommended reading for anyone interested is the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017-2027 and ‘Stock assessment of Australian east coast snapper’. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Illegal fishing nets cause destruction of Logan wildlife

Q

U EENSLA N D Boating and Fisheries Patrol has launched an investigation after scores of native wildlife including turtles, fish and even an eagle were found dead in illegal fishing nets in the Logan River.

Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said the four nets were discovered by the QBFP in the river at Jimboomba.

“As many as 120 turtles, a water dragon, freshwater bullrout and Australian bass were found dead in these nets,” he said.

“Most of these creatures were decomposing, suggesting these nets have

been there for some time.

“Officers even found a white-bellied sea eagle that had somehow got caught in these nets and unfortunately perished.

“Fortunately our QBFP officers managed to free two turtles that were still alive.

“I am appalled and sickened by these wanton acts of destruction because they cause great damage to local native wildlife populations as well as fish stocks.”

Mr Furner said the QBFP had now launched an investigation into who left the illegal fishing nets in the river.

“The use of these types of nets is not allowed in

fresh water,” he said.

“Those found responsible for putting these types of nets in the river could face fines of up to $131,000.

“I would like to thank members of the public who reported these nets using our Fishwatch hotline.

“Queensland’s native wildlife and fisheries resources are owned by the community and everyone is responsible for ensuring they’re managed and fished sustainably for future generations.”

To report suspected illegal fishing activity, call the 24-hour, toll-free Fishwatch hotline on 1800 017 116.

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Milestone reached for Cressbrook Dam fish habitat project

A

MAJOR milestone has been reached in a project to create habitat to attract fish and improve recreational fishing in Toowoomba’s Cressbrook Dam.

Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said more than half of the 700 fish-attracting structures planned for Cressbrook Dam had been deployed.

“A total of 200 fish attractors were deployed in Cressbrook Dam recently, with an additional 30 to be installed by the end of November to complement the 274 structures already in the dam,” Mr Furner said.

“These additional attractors will bring the total number of structures placed in the dam to 504 since the first installations in September 2018.

“The different type of attractors, including PVC trees, spiders, brush bundles and georgian cubes play different roles in the type of fish they attract and work in combination to provide a realistic habitat for a variety of fish.

“Anglers are getting a real benefit from the attractors, and sounder equipment located around the installed attractors has recorded plenty of fish marks.

“Signage installed at Cressbrook Dam informs anglers where to fish and is updated regularly to reflect new installations.”

Mr Furner said an Aus-

tralian-first design for fish attractors was among the structures being installed in Cressbrook Dam. “Suspended fish attractors are purpose designed to provide fish with yearround shelter regardless of the dam water level or variations in the water’s temperature and oxygen levels,” Mr Furner said.

“Though the concept of using floating structures to provide shelter is not new, the use in freshwater dams of suspended fishattracting structures constructed from synthetic materials is a first for Australia.

“The innovative design and construction of the suspended fish attractors will mimic large branching tree trunks, which attract some species of fish.

“Marked by distinctive orange floats, the suspended fish-attracting structures are designed to sit at a fixed depth below the surface, typically between 2m and 5m, regardless of the dam water level.”

Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio said the project is a win for the region and provides a real opportunity to improve the fish habitat of Lake Cressbrook.

“This Australian-first project could benefit local anglers and provide extra incentive for visitors to travel to our region, stay in our towns and enjoy some recreational fishing,” Mayor Antonio said.

“This Habitat Enhancement Research Project is

a wonderful collaboration between the Queensland Government, Toowoomba Regional Council, the Australian Government’s Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and local angling and fish stocking groups.

“We can’t wait to see more people visiting our region and enjoying the recreation of our dams and open spaces.

“The study has hit the halfway point and the next step will be to promote our dams and encourage anglers come to our region and hopefully go home with fewer stories about the one that got away.”

Mr Furner said the fish attractors were part of a $950,000 program to improve recreational angling and regional tourism.

“The Habitat Enhancement Research Program is a series of three projects funded by contributions from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Australian Gov-

ernment’s Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, local councils and local angling and fish stocking groups,” Mr Furner said.

“Data from sonar surveys, twice-yearly electrofishing surveys, targeted angling and monthly creel surveys will help improve knowledge of which structures are working best and this knowledge will be applied to further improve recreational angling and tourism in areas where fish attractors have been installed.

“Fish-attracting structures have also been installed in Mount Morgan Dam No. 7 near Rockhampton and Mackay’s Kinchant Dam, which, like Cressbrook Dam, is part of Queensland’s Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme.

“Recreationa l a nglers wishing to fish in Queensland’s 63 stocked impoundments require a SIPS permit to

fish with a line.”

Details about SIPS can be found at qld.gov.au/ recreation/activities/boat ing-fishing/rec-fishing/ dams

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Allen’s snapper caught off a bommie near the mile marker.

The advantage of a downrigger

W

E have all tried to fish in strong current and had trouble getting down to where the fish are holding.

Well, a downrigger can eliminate that problem.

These devices are great at getting your bait or lure down to the right depth while stationary or trolling.

They give you control over how deep your bait or lure runs in the water, which allows you to set your bait or lure at the right level to tempt the fish showing on the sounder.

You’re also able to run lures at a variety of depths without having to worry about tangles from other lines.

Being able to control this aspect is highly useful, because all fish have their comfort zones in the water.

They will change the depth at which they sit depending on the water temperature and current.

Have you heard of laminar flow?

It occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers.

Fluid tends to flow without lateral mixing, and adjacent layers slide past one another like playing cards.

This means in areas like deep channels, fast water flows create friction with the bottom and sides of the channel, which in turn creates slower water flow on the bottom and sides, allowing fish to travel in these flows without

Moreton Bay

by BRIAN WEBB

exerting as much energy.

These slower-moving areas also allow the lure or bait trailing straight back from the downrigger’s weight to appear much more natural.

Fish are a lot more likely to bite when baits appear as close to the real thing as possible.

When I first started using downriggers years ago, I built my own (I have attached a rough drawing of the one I built).

This one worked a treat for a number of years until I finally purchased a cannon.

These days you can buy manual or electric downriggers, and some even have a depth reading.

The type of fish you can catch using a downrigger is extremely varied.

Some of the species to focus on include snapper, tuskfish, jewfish and other bottom feed* continued P8

A rod loaded up on the downrigger.

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A small longtail hooked while drifting near the Four Beacons.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 7

The advantage of a downrigger * from P7

A rough guide to weight and depth variations.

The design of a downrigger.

ers on bait, and use lure to troll for spanish mackerel, cobia and longtails.

Just as with any fishing method, the more you know, the better the results.

Being able to drop your bait to the right depth sets you up, but you need to make the bait or lure look more natural.

Once you’ve hooked a fish and the downrigger line has detached, reel the downrigger up to avoid tangles and cut-offs.

It’s important to minimise excessive slack while leaving enough play to ensure the line doesn’t release early.

This is where placement of the line in the release clip comes into play.

The further forward you have you line, the less tension you have, whereas placing the line further back in the clip gives better tension.

To use a downrigger, you start by letting your bait out behind the boat to the distance you want it to sit.

Once out behind the boat, place the rod in the holder and put the reel in free spool with the ratchet engaged.

If it’s a spin reel, simply back the drag off so it is nice and loose.

Take the line and snap it into the release clip.

Clips come in various forms and often have variable tension.

If trolling a lure or a rigged bait you want the fish to hook itself on, you will need a bit more tension (refer to the picture of release clips).

Once you have the line in the clip attached to the downrigger ball, you will need to let the ball down progressively while controlling the

line coming off the reel.

I apply tension to the reel with my hand.

Once the bait is at the desired depth (the downrigger wire will usually have depth markings), tension the line up so there is a bend in the rod, then set the drag.

Downriggers offer a very natural presentation and can often tempt fish into biting that would otherwise refuse a similar bait that seems unnatural.

They are ideal in areas like the Rainbow Channel, shipping channel and Brisbane River where there is structure on the bottom but you cannot get down to it without heavy weights.

You can anchor your boat upstream or down, depending on current flow against the structure, then send down the bomb with your bait and place it right on the structure where the bait is holding.

The same applies with the sides of channels.

You can normally see what depth your bait is running at as the ball will show up on the sounder.

People often think the downrigger ball is fixed to your line and you have to pull it and your fish up from the bottom.

This is not the case and the weight is only there to get your bait down to the fish.

As soon as a fish takes your bait and pulls the line from the clip, you have to wind the bomb up to get it out of the way so your line is not cut off.

If you refer to the pictures, they will explain most of your questions.

I have my downrigger wire marked at certain depths, so I know exactly where the bomb is stationed.

Mounting your downrigger at the rear of your boat, it’s best to have the arm facing out at a 45-degree angle to keep it away from the prop and other lines you could be using on the opposite side of the boat.

Bombs come in various of sizes from 3lb to 20lb and are used according to the current and depth you are fishing.

If you increase your trolling speed, you may have to let more line out to counter the blowout the bomb will get from the water resistance.

You can also overcome this by using a heavier bomb to keep the line more vertical.

Downrigging is a technique that can catch you fish when others fail to produce.

It is not the be all or end all of fishing techniques and as with everything will not always produce fish, but if you have never tried one, you may be pleasantly surprised at the results.

They are also simple to make if you’re a bit handy.

Downriggers, like all other fishing gear, should receive a freshwater rinse and a spray of corrosion inhibitor after a day of fishing to ensure smooth working for years to come.

This tuskfish was hooked using a downrigger set on the bottom.

This goldspotted cod was caught on the side of the shipping channel.

A 10lb downrigger bomb.

Page 8 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

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Dealing with weather while working for fish

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The fishing has been a bit patchy this year but a few solid fish were caught by taking advantage of the good moons and tides and using the right techniques to target certain species.

Between the dodgy weather, we’ve been able to get out on the water for a few charters, some training days and a couple of recreational days.

I had young Dan out with me after he completed one of my off-water

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Tane held one of a few jewies he picked up on a Zerek Fish Trap in a good little session around the southern bay islands.

Southern Moreton Bay

by SEAN CONLON

Between the dodgy weather, we’ve been able to get out on the water for a few charters, some training days and a couple of recreational days. training evenings.

We were able to get on the water and put what he learnt in the classroom into practice.

A lot of people who do the course work Monday to Friday and then only have the weekend to get out and do the practical on the water.

Unfortunately for Dan, when his day came the

prediction was 20-plus knots of wind from the northwest, and as we know, this is not everybody’s favourite wind.

A strong wind warning wasn’t issued, so I was legally allowed to take clients out on the water.

We had a good size high tide at 9am, so after assessing the weather and with that size tide I

thought if we could shoot over and get into the protection of the southern bay islands we could manage a four-hour flathead session.

Dan was happy with the plan, so we met at the boat ramp at 7am and after the safety brief headed over and started doing a bit of casting and trolling for flathead on the incoming tide.

The wind direction meant we had limited areas to fish but we found some protection around the islands and went through the techniques discussed in the classroom.

It wasn’t long before I picked up a nice flatty on a Zerek Tango Shad.

After a quick pic we had the lures back in the water and soon Dan got a nice whiting on a Zerek Bulldog Crank.

We kept working throughout the morning and before long Dan hooked a 62cm lizard on a Bulldog Crank.

We stayed out a bit longer checking a few areas and I got Dan up to speed with a bit of sounder work.

All in all, we had a great morning.

A few jewfish have been around, so I went for a quick session with my mate Tane.

We picked the tides and time to go and were pretty lucky as the weather played the game. * continued P11

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Matt captured a 40cm squire on a Zerek Flat Shad while learning a new technique and targeting these fish in the middle of the tide.

Dan with a 62cm lizard caught on a Zerek Bulldog Crank.

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Dealing with weather while working for fish * from P10

We left the boat ramp at 9.30am because I had to take my boy to school, so it wasn’t an early start in anyone’s language.

We started by sounding around for a while looking for a few fish to target.

Having arrived on the right part of the tide, the good-old Lowrance lit up with a nice show of fish.

We positioned the boat and tied on a couple of Zerek Fish Traps.

Soon Tane was onto a nice fish and with the Wilson Venom rod he was

Ross picked up this 60cm lizard on a Bulldog Crank on one of the author’s recent charters.

able to put a bit of hurt on the fish and avoid the sharks.

Before we knew it a nice little southern bay jew was in the net and safely in the boat.

It was a catch and release day, so after a quick pic we released the fish unharmed to fight another day.

Not too long after that I was lucky enough to hook up to a solid fish on the Fish Trap but I was using a much lighter outfit in the form of one of my flathead rods spooled with 10lb braid.

After a solid fight on the light gear, Tane netted the fish and brought it safely into the boat.

We picked up a couple more fish for the session but eventually I would regret fishing with such a

light outfit, as I hooked a very solid fish, only to have the fight go on for too long and pull the hooks.

But hey, that’s light tackle fishing and I still had a lot of fun.

I also had Matt and Steve out for a tuition session this month and we were lucky enough to have reasonable weather for a Saturday.

We started the morning trolling for a few flatties and then targeted squire by drifting over rubble ground with soft plastics.

The boys learnt a few different techniques that added to what they already knew rather than changed the whole way they fish.

Matt and Steve learnt how to target flathead on the right size high and low

The author was lucky enough to snag a 45cm cod while trolling the new FishArt Hydra lure.

tides and then squire right in the middle of the tides when it’s running nice and hard.

Usually this is the time of the tide you would try to avoid fishing.

By becoming familiar with these techniques, Matt and Steve can now utilise this part of the tide and pick up extra fish.

The boys also learnt they don’t have to use copious amounts of fuel to get a feed.

With school holidays upon us, don’t forget my charters are children friendly and I still do plenty of bait charters as well as the lure ones.

If you want to do a charter or learn a bit more about fishing the bay, get in early because these dates fill up fast.

As we all know with our jobs and lives, we are time poor, so if you can learn more to optimise your time on the water, then why not?

Remember: knowledge is the key.

If you’re interested in any off or on-water tuition classes or you just want to do a charter, don’t be afraid to give me a call on 0432 386 307 or send me an email at seanconlons fishing@hotmail.com You can also check out Sean Conlon’s Fishing Charters and Tuition Facebook page.

Until next month, stay safe on the water.

Even in a bit of northerly breeze, with the right techniques on the right tides you can manage to hook a couple of nice fish, like this one caught on a Zerek Tango Shad.

When targeting jewfish, having a good-quality sounder such as the author’s Lowrance really helps you find and catch the fish.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 11

Safe boating essentials

G

ETTING out on the water in your own boat is one of life’s simple pleasures.

Securing your trailer hitch to the tow ball with the pin and your chain to the car with a rated D shackle is critical for safe towing.

Investing in a marine radio is a must for open water boating.

Make sure both the winch strap or cable and D shackle on the safety chain are secured before retrieving your boat from the ramp.

Flushing out your engine after a day on the water is critical to ensure future smooth operation.

It can be very pleasant on calm days and is even more enjoyable when you bring home a nice catch of fish.

In some families, boating knowledge is passed down through the generations and as a result some young boaters are well prepared when they buy their first boat.

For others such as myself growing up in a country town with a dad who preferred the bush over the water, that knowledge has to be built from scratch.

I’ve therefore gone out of my way over the past 23 years or so of boating to learn as much from others as I can, be it asking questions, listening, reading or simply observing others on the water or preparing their boats.

Now I feel obliged to help others with safe boating tips.

Hopefully these will be useful either for those buying their first boat or those who might already own a boat but perhaps are not taking enough care of it, or indeed enough care on the water as they should be.

Safety essentials, preparation and boating tips The very tragic deaths of two boaters on Moreton Bay earlier this year are a stark reminder that safety must be your top priority when preparing for or getting out on the water.

Carrying the essentials It is true that each state and territory has different compulsory items that must be carried on your boat.

Quite clearly, these are must-haves unless you want to risk a fine or worse still, your own life.

But there are also a range of other bits and pieces that really every boatie should have.

These include: • All safety gear including flares, torch, V sheet, reflective mirror, whistle and emergency blanket.

These are best stored in a waterproof floating grab bag within reach of the skipper.

• An extinguisher for fuel fires.

• Quality life jackets (be

Boating Tips

by SEAN THOMPSON

sure to know their expiry dates).

• A bailing bucket.

• A set of oars.

• Positive buoyancy under the seats or floor. If the boat doesn’t have it, add it.

• A marine starter battery that can double for a few small accessories such as lights.

• If you use a sounder and electric motor, you will also need a deep-cycle battery.

• Spare fuses for lights, battery and sounder connections.

• A tool kit including pliers to cut through treble hooks and a small length of rope to pull start your motor if necessary (some motors have these under the motor cowling or top cover).

• Sufficient drinking water.

• In case of GPS/sounder failure it can pay to carry local marine charts in areas you are less familiar with.

• A suitable anchor with a ‘rated’ D shackle (the ones with coloured pins) to ensure it doesn’t fail on you under load.

• If you plan on fishing reef and sand areas, carry both types of anchors.

• Ensure you use doublebraided or twisted nylon anchor line, not just some dodgy cheap ‘rope’.

• Finally, a first-aid kit.

Apart from what I consider must-haves, boaties should also consider the following: • Marine radio (even if not compulsory in calm waters).

• Join the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard (this could save you an expensive towing bill if you ever break down).

• A fire blanket.

• A sounder with GPS. • Undertaking a skipper’s course, particularly if you are going offshore.

• A portable emergency beacon.

• A phone in a floating, waterproof mobile phone case.

Checklists and safety tips Anticipation is always high prior to a fishing trip, but before you hit the water a few basic steps should be followed to

make sure your day isn’t spoilt from lack of preparation.

Particularly when you start out, it is worth having a list to check before each trip.

After a while these checks become natural but trust me, you can and will forget things (like putting the bungs in!), so getting into a routine from the start of your boat purchase is good practice.

Before you leave home, a few things you should check include: • Battery charge – making sure it is fully charged the night before.

• Fill up your fuel tank.

Always make sure you have more fuel than you think you’ll need. Consider buying premium fuel.

It only costs a couple of dollars more for smaller tanks and the cleaning agents in the fuel will ensure you get more life out of your engine.

• Ensure nothing in your boat is unsecured or you could be fined when travelling to the ramp.

• Check the boat is secured to the trailer winch tightly with the hook, safety chain and D shackle.

• Make sure your trailer lights are connected and are working.

• Check the trailer hitch is securely fixed to your tow ball and the safety chain is connected to the car with a rated D shackle.

Once you are at the boat ramp, you need to remember a few more things.

Some are common courtesy if you want to avoid ‘ramp rage’.

These include: • Prepare your boat for launching in the ‘rigging’ area out of the way of others. Do not back down the ramp until you have done this.

• Remove the tie down, check your bungs are in but do not remove the safety chain on your boat until you have safely backed down (the next boat that ends up on the ramp due to this mistake won’t be the last).

• Do not back down the ramp with your headlights on in the dark if other boaters are trying to back

down or come up because it will temporarily blind them.

• When ready to go, never start the motor with someone in the water.

• Attach the ‘kill strap’ for the motor to your wrist (in case you are thrown from the boat or knocked unconscious).

On the water: • Never have someone ride on the bow of the boat, including short distances moving anchoring location.

• Slow down around sharp bends in rivers.

• Don’t cut the corner in rivers. Take them wide to give yourself time to see an oncoming boat.

• Evenly distribute weight through the boat, either up front and back or across both sides.

• Never impede the line of sight of the skipper.

• After heavy rain, slow down due to floating logs and debris.

• Stick to daylight hours until you’ve built up enough experience and knowledge of an area.

Post-trip maintenance: • Wash the boat and trailer after every saltwater trip to prevent rust.

• Run fresh water through the motor after every trip (where possible) to keep it

in good condition.

Some quarterly checks: • Battery water levels.

• Grease in trailer hubs.

• Check the use-by date on safety gear, life jacket and gas cylinders.

• Inspect the underside of the boat for cracks or damage, unless you hit an object when out, in which case it should be checked immediately.

Finally, as a boatie, have some respect for others: • Respect speed signs and other boaters and water users.

• Slow down when passing others, particularly those fishing, anchored or kayaking.

• Never drive over someone’s fishing lines, such as when they are trolling.

• Give people fishing space when anchoring or drifting nearby.

• Never anchor in front of where someone is already drifting.

• Never touch another person’s crab pots or floats! Never!

I hope these safety guidelines and protocols help you and your kids to be safer on the water.

For more tips and reports, please jump on and like my Ontour Fishing Australia Facebook and Instagram pages.

A quality charger with Anderson plugs allows you to change connections quickly and easily between charging a deep cycle battery (with wiring under the transom) and the starter battery.

Before you push off from the ramp, always make sure you start your motor to ensure it is working (with no one in the water around you).

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M

ERRY Fishmas everyone!

What a huge month we have, with the arrival of the jolly man in the red suit, the kids home on school holidays and everybody getting ready for the big day of heat, presents and of course the traditional food coma.

Come Christmas, we look forward to getting the crab pots out and catching our fill of sand-

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Northern Moreton Bay

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ies and muddies to garnish the Christmas feast.

Around the Shorncliffe Pier, Scarborough, Deception Bay and Pumicestone Passage are some places to start hunting for a great feed of sandies.

As always, keep an eye on your pots and brush up on the new Queensland fisheries regulations.

If you are going to be chasing a feed of fresh local prawns, support the local trawler operators and grab a kilo or three of the sweetest, best-cooked local prawns in Queensland – money well spent!

Young Maverick has been getting into his fishing a whole lot more over the past few months and I think he is going to be a keen angler from here on in.

He was so proud and excited when he was explaining (in great detail) how the battles with his stingray and stargazer took shape until he landed them.

I am not sure which story was best, but I think the stargazer took gold as a prized capture!

Well done Maverick, I look forward to your next

visit and hearing about the new adventures you have encountered.

Chloe and Laura Argus had an awesome day on Bribie Island where they cleaned up on cracker whiting.

I think these two girls are going to give dad Drew a run for the title of ‘best fisho’ in the household before long.

If you are looking to take the kids fishing over the Christmas holidays and they need a new rod and reel, consider an Alvey combo, as they are great for the kids to learn with, are very reliable and will handle just about anything the kids throw at them.

Chloe and Laura have grown up with Alvey reels and I daresay they

will still be using the same ones in 10 years’ time!

Still on the whiting theme, Martin Cowling took a trip to the lower part of Moreton Bay and came home with several feeds of stonker whiting.

Martin is a seasoned

veteran when it comes to chasing these fish, as the brag mat shows.

Martin told us this lot came in during a twohour session and the bait of choice was live bloodworms.

You can chase whiting * continued P15

Maverick’s stargazer was a prized catch.

Martin’s brag mat tells the story!

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The author enjoyed a beach break and catching a score of whiting.

Syl put her purple 60GT Alvey to good use on Bribie Island.

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Make the most of the merry Christmas period * from P14

with live or preserved yabbies, preserved beach worms and wrigglers but they find it hard to pass up a combination of live bloodworms, a 10’-12’ light surf rod and Martin’s favourite Alvey reel.

Well done Martin and thank you for stopping in to share these cracking whiting and give us the good goss on the baits to use.

Pat and Dave also landed a great feed.

Pat got a cracker bream at Sandgate and Dave landed a stonker grunter around the Newport canals (after he broke his rod), so well done guys!

I had the opportunity to hit the beach with good friend Syl. We planned to kick off at Red Beach on Bribie Island, but Mother Nature did not agree and threw everything at us.

We ended up on the surf side.

We found a great place

After breaking a rod, Dave landed a chunk of a grunter.

to park with easy access to the beach at the northern end of North St, Woorim.

However, if you have kids, they must be wearing footwear as the bitumen is scorching!

Within minutes we were getting the feet wet and soaking up the awesome views of Moreton Island and magnificent Moreton Bay. Before long we found the whiting, as did the fishos either side of us.

A good 33cm whiting on a live bloodworm, wet feet, awesome views, great company… oh and it was on a Thursday as well, how good is that!?

The weather let us know it was time for a new location, so we hit a nice beach area between Bongaree Jetty and the Bribie Island Bridge where we found more whiting in the 32-33cm range.

This looks like an ideal place to take the kids if you are worried about going into the surf conditions.

It features calm water and plenty of great views, but as always, be aware of your surroundings because we found a couple of bluebottles washed up.

Are you stuck for Christmas gift ideas?

We have a couple of stocking fillers for you.

The unique Tackle Land purple Alvey 60GT. Grab yours as a Chrissy present today!

First, the new-release Alvey spin reels.

These reels are absolute crackers.

We are so impressed that my employees will all be getting one under their tree this year!

We will have limited stocks initially, but soon they will be readily available, just like our other spin reels.

Want something truly unique?

Well only at Tackle Land you can get someone special their very own purple 60GT Alvey surf reel!

This is simply the best reel to have tagging along when you hit Bribie and Fraser islands or the open roads travelling Australia.

The Okuma LRF range of rods is well worth a look as well.

I have been testing the 702 model and it has produced well above what I expected.

Having the integrated solid tip really gives you an edge when you’re doing battle in close quarters.

We will be trading right through Christmas, including Christmas Day at this stage.

Keep an eye on the Tackle Land Facebook page for trading hours closer to Christmas.

Be safe and enjoy your break!

Maintain the passion!

The author’s easy beach access point on Bribie Island.

Pat with a bream.

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www.fishingmistress.com Page 16 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

I sold my Haines on Bougainville Island because it wouldn’t be what was required to fish in Moreton Bay. For two years I chartered Kamari, which was skippered by the late, great Geoff Ferguson.

We were very successful because by now we had quite extensive experience fishing with lures.

The locals were all accustomed to fishing for sailfish with live baits or travelling to Cairns and fishing dead baits for giant black marlin.

They were just learning how to use lures and the existence of blue and striped marlin ‘out wide’ was a recent discovery.

The boats all fished Cape Moreton for sails during summer and the charter boats went to Cairns from September to early December.

Thus, they only fished ‘wide’ during winter.

Being bait fishers, they initially used baits but not very successfully.

Then they turned to hypalon lures, also not very successfully.

We used lures that either Brett had made or that we had bought on our visits to Kona, Hawaii, and we were braining them.

I remember one day using lures where we had 17 shots, tagged six and broke off two.

Another charter boat alongside us didn’t get a touch!

At the time, this was the one day, one boat record on blues.

Anyway, after chartering in 1987 and 1988 I thought I knew enough about what boat I needed to fish these waters, so I commissioned the construction of Gold Strike, a 36’ custom-designed and built game boat by Don Senior, a highly regarded New Zealand boat designer and builder.

The boat was powered by two Cummins 6BTA 5.9M engines at 250hp each.

Refrigeration was Eutectic.

Cooking was with gas and a microwave powered through an inverter.

The boat cost just over $300,000.

It was an ideal day boat, though it could sleep five comfortably and seven in a pinch.

We based it at Marina Mirage on the Gold Coast and so began my ‘experience’ as a charter boat owner.

Why build in NZ? Kiwis are excellent boat builders.

There would be at least 25 who could build a decent timber game boat.

What’s more, you can get a fixed time, fixed cost contract.

Game Fishing Story – Part Two

by BARRY ALTY

Contrast that with Australia, where you’ve got maybe six or eight guys who could build a decent timber game boat.

And only one who is churning them out regularly.

No such thing as fixed time/price.

It is cost plus and everything seems to run at least 50 percent over both.

We fished very successfully on this boat off the Gold Coast until 1993.

The boat also did two Cairns seasons during this time, once with captain Peter Kirkby and then with Captain Hayden Bell, both highly reputed skippers.

At the time, game fishing was very different to what it is now.

Numerous people had moved from hypalonheaded lures to a locally made range of chuggers that were very easy for amateurs to use.

We had little trouble outfishing them with our SFSR lures.

Now of course, just about everyone is using the latter.

The game fishing fraternity was composed of large boats in the early ‘90s.

About the smallest you would see in any tournament was a 26’ Blackfin built by Nick Jackson, and the owners were all much older than what we see now: a fleet of trailer boats owned by young men and women.

The big boats and old men are now a minority.

I actually ‘retired’ in 1989 when Gold Strike was delivered.

I had the grand vision of doing six months of consulting to pay the bills and six months of fishing per year.

Unfortunately, the consulting, while being very lucrative, became 18 months a year and the fishing near zero.

I was on a plane every Sunday night and back on Friday too tired to fish on my one day off.

For about a year I was overseas for two to threeweek stints most of the year.

In the end, my wife said something simple.

“We hardly see you and you hardly go fishing, so why don’t you get a real job so we can all be in the same place.”

The consulting was a very interesting period of my business career.

I was generally going into companies with serious problems and fixing them.

For a lengthy period, I was also running companies in receivership as the receivership administrator for Des Nichols, at the time the senior insolvency

partner for the accounting firm Deloitte.

Des was personally handling the Fairfax receivership, which was a major political exercise and very time consuming for him.

The result of my wife’s prompting was I took a job in Perth initially as general manager and later CEO of a company called Foodland Associated Ltd. We trucked Gold Strike across to Perth and started fishing there.

We caught a lot of blue marlin and remarkably the average weight was around 200kg, much bigger than the Gold Coast where the average was about 140kg.

We didn’t know that we weren’t supposed to catch Marlin until late-December as the locals believed, and instead started fishing in mid-November.

On our first day out we caught a blue and a black!

So much for folklore and convention.

We fished out of Perth until 2000 when I properly retired, with the intention of relocating to the Gold Coast.

I had considered getting Gold Strike refurbished but my dear wife said: “Why don’t you get a bigger one.”

So we started thinking about the boat that is now Mistress in mid-1998.

We knew the features we wanted in a game boat because by now Brett and I had spent a lot of time fishing on various boats overseas.

When we saw something we liked, we photographed it.

We started talking to Don Senior and Alan Warwick (Warwick Design) about a design.

Right at the outset, we asked both who they would get to build it if they got the job.

They both said Alan Tongs.

I tracked him down and he was a few months away from finishing a 56’ boat with no confirmed contract after that.

He said he would work with either Senior or Warwick, whoever got the job, so I gave him $50,000 to hold the slot.

We decided on Don Senior as designer and the construction of Mistress commenced in late-1998.

Don obviously designed the hull and machinery layout, but Brett drew the superstructure profiles and we jointly drew the cockpit, saloon, and accommodation layouts.

We also specified many of the components and our instruction to Don was that where we hadn’t specified, then he should specify the best alternative available in terms of

construction and engineering.

I thought we would get a price on the best possible specs and then review it if it was too dear.

However, the price turned out OK, so construction commenced.

Now of course I had upped the stakes.

I had gone from a $300,000 boat that used about 300 litres a day to a boat that cost more than the 930sq m house we were having built at Sovereign Island on the Gold Coast.

The fuel usage for a day of heavy tackle fishing became 550-600 litres!

Nevertheless, I now had a state-of-the-art liveaboard boat with every comfort and some interesting features.

Mistress is constructed from gaboon timber logged in Africa and sent in log form to Israel, of all places, to a Lloydscertified lamination plant where it was turned into ply.

Gaboon is a fairly soft timber with no knots and no obvious or strong graining.

Its great advantages are it is light and it absorbs epoxy, unlike cedar or teak.

The hull was entirely vacuum bagged (no nails) which ensured great strength and a ‘fair’ hull with no glue or air pockets.

There are five diagonals on the bottom (32mm) and three on the sides (18mm).

This construction method is so strong, we can’t even get a hole saw through the sides.

It will jam and start to burn timber halfway through.

So we have to drill a pilot hole, then have a go from both sides.

There were 14,000 shipwright labour hours on the timber work alone.

Mistress also has Centaflex couplings, which weigh about 45kg each and cost $10,500.

They act as a flywheel and reputedly will take 10 percent out of engine alignment without vibration.

The boat does not have an A-frame holding up the shafts, just a single carbon fibre strut, and the shafts are enclosed in tubes to eliminate rotational drag.

Mistress runs two 3kW Furuno sounders, Furuno sonar, Furuno radar GPS using C-Map, a computer running C-Plot Pro with internet/phone/email facilities, one HF/SSB radio and two VHF radios with an inbuilt loud hailer system for the tower/flybridge and cockpit.

Screens on the tower allow reading of any of the electronics.

There are also three aircon systems, four ceramic hot plates, a convection microwave, icemaker, two electronically controlled

refrigeration compressors running six compartments that are set individually to any temperature down to -20C. We also have a water maker, underfloor live bait tank and tuna tubes, a Murray Bros chair, and 37’ strutted riggers.

Also, we don’t have a steering wheel as I do not like hydraulics on a boat for a number of reasons: 1. Enough wires and cables go up the tower legs as it is. A hydraulic line is large in diameter and hard to get to the tower.

2. If the line ruptures, there is one hell of a mess somewhere, either in the lazarette or even worse the tower leg and wherever the line is fed into the leg.

3. A hydraulic line failure can rarely be fixed at sea.

Rather, we use toggles for steering with an electric feed to the two hydraulic pumps (one autopilot and the other manual steering).

There are two 18” hydraulic lines to the steering ram and a direct feed to a hydraulic fluid reservoir.

It takes 10 minutes to change a toggle, 10 minutes to change a hydraulic line and 20 minutes to change a hydraulic pump.

Simple!

We can in fact put a toggle anywhere, so captain Brett has one on the rear tower rail to easily steer while looking backwards and he doesn’t have to be a contortionist leaning backwards to a steering wheel.

Additionally, because there is no steering wheel at the flybridge helm station and the throttles are on ‘extended’ arms, he can stand between them when going backwards and the throttles are in front not behind him.

Again, no contortions.

The boat’s trim tab rams are Lectrotab and electromechanical using a worm drive.

Again, no hydraulics.

The rams are recessed into the transom with removeable plates over them to prevent damage from marlin bills.

For entertainment, we have a Fusion stereo with 12 speakers from the tower to the saloon including a subwoofer, a Blu-ray player and three DVRs that record all day from three fixed cameras.

The DVRs can be edited at leisure.

Mistress will be 19 years old this Christmas and had done 12,500 engine hours at the time of writing.

We have enjoyed very successful fishing on my different boats and won numerous tournaments.

So much so that in any southeast Queensland tournament we are almost * continued P17

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Fishing – a personal journey * from P16

invariably the highestpriced boat in the Calcutta auction.

We have also won numerous championships for the season’s highest point scoring club boat, along with Queensland – Game Fishing Association of Australia, Game Fishing Association of Australia, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Billfish Foundation awards.

The latter for releasing the most blue and black marlin in the Pacific Ocean.

I was also lucky enough to be a recipient of the International Game Fishing Association Gil Keech Award for Outstanding Heavy Tackle Game Fishing Achievement.

Then I caught an Atlantic sailfish to complete an IGFA Billfish Royal Slam and became one of only five people in the world to have achieved the double of the Royal Slam and the Gil Keech.

Amazingly, I know and count as friends three of the other four dual recipients.

All up, we estimated I have tagged and released over 1500 billfish.

The biggest blue I have tagged was about 800lb, but unfortunately in November 2017 I lost two we thought would have been over a grand while fishing off Fraser Island.

One was simple with a pulled hook while the other bill wrapped.

Incidentally, both were on a large plunger Ken Frith of Tornado Lures had made specifically for me.

The inscription inside the head reads: Barry’s Grander Lure.

I have only deliberately killed one fish and that was to win heaviest fish and a Shimano 130 combo in a tournament.

I have only ever had one die on me and that was back in the 1990s when we weren’t as proficient as now and didn’t get them in quite as quickly.

I also managed to tag a tiger shark estimated at over 1000lb in Cairns when it ate a scad on a wire leader.

And just to cap off the granders, I tagged and released a 10`6” short length Atlantic bluefin tuna off Prince Edward Island.

That length makes it well over 1000lb.

Thus, I have three species over a grand!

There is every chance of catching a 1000lb-plus blue marlin off Fraser Island.

Amazingly, we have never recaptured a previously tagged fish.

Also, I have never heard of a blue I have tagged recaptured and they are my predominant release.

Rather, I have had about three little blacks recovered, all by artisan fishers in New Guinea, and two yellowfin tuna, one off Sydney and the other off Fraser only a www.bnbfishing.com. au

day after its tagging.

I have also had two mako sharks recovered, one off Sydney and the other off Fraser, along with two striped marlin, both off Fraser.

Now at the outset of this article (published in the November edition) I spoke about my fishing journey costing millions.

Here is a short rundown.

• Average annual routine maintenance: $25,000.

• An upgrade of electronics from CRT to LED and the entertainment centre: $150,000.

• A full refit involving engines, genset, interior linings and some modifications including a third air-con unit and a $5000 vacuum toilet pump (no more charters clogging toilets) and exterior repaint: $580,000. This was done by Maritimo.

• New teak deck and coverboards: $60,000.

• We burn about 600 litres of fuel in an average day, so say 1000 days of fishing at $1000 per day: $1,000,000.

As a matter of interest, we flew Dale Pennington and his brother – the principals of a company called A Touch of Glass – from NZ to do everything from the undercoats through to the top coat.

These guys paint superyachts for a living.

They were not satisfied with the Maritimo paint shed at Hope Island, so hired scaffolding, plastic and extractor fans and built their own tent inside the Maritimo shed.

Each day they did prep and then started painting at around 6pm, working through to 1-2am, despite it being winter.

The sequence was: bluetinted undercoat; longboards and fill; undercoat; proving coat; and top coat.

All directly off the gun.

No buffing, grinding, cutting compound or abrasives because there were no sags, runs or orange peel.

We got the Kiwis to do the job because no one in Australia would quote to do the same.

The original paint was

still pretty good after 14 years and this repaint is just magnificent.

Now if you add all that up, we come to $2,650,000 in operating expenses just for Mistress, and I haven’t

included crew wages.

Add in the cost of operating Gold Strike for 10 years and you can certainly get to over $3 million!

Expensive business, this game fishing!

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Before sadly losing his battle with cancer on August 19, Barry Alty was busy writing articles for Bush ‘n Beach. With the consent of his son Brett, we will be publishing Barry’s final articles over the next few months.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 17

Trevally are a formidable opponent on light tackle. Kai did well to land this 68cm golden trevally using an Ecogear vibe.

Wayne landed his first-ever mangrove jack, a 53cm model, on a night charter with the author using live winter whiting as bait.

Gold Coast Broadwater booming H I everyone, I am thrilled to become a regular contributor to Bush ‘n Beach, a magazine I have been reading for a long time.

Eight-year-old Luke caught and released his first jack using mullet fillet for bait.

Ted captured a nice whiting on a Nerang River charter for his birthday. Moments after this photo was taken, the fish jumped back into the water!

Estuary cod are a common by-catch while targeting mangrove jack. This one was hooked on an Atomic Shiner Double Deep lure by Eden near Surfers Paradise and released after a quick pic.

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 18 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

I have been working in partnership with Brad Smith doing Gold Coast estuary charters for over five years.

Smithy has been guiding for over 25 years in the Tweed River and on the Gold Coast, which makes him southeast Queensland’s longest-operating fishing guide, and he’s one of the magazine’s longest-serving writers.

Mangrove jack The next five months present an exciting time in local estuaries to target one of our favourite fish, the mighty mangrove jack.

Until sustained, heavy rain breaks the prolonged drought, fishing at night will produce the best results.

The water in most places is relatively clear, making the fish wary.

If you are lure fishing during the day, you need to aim casts as close to structure as possible to entice a strike.

Focus on areas such as bridge pylons, rock walls, moored boats and pontoons.

Practice makes perfect – they’re not called ‘the fish of a thousand casts’ for nothing.

You’d be surprised how widespread big jacks are in our rivers.

The big red dogs can be holding anywhere with structure in our massive man-made waterways.

Printing and marking a map where you have caught or seen jacks is a useful exercise that can prove useful when next planning a jack trip based on tides, wind direction and water temperature (preferably 26C or above).

Jacks can be caught on lures, but for a novice angler, bait gives the best chance of snaring one.

Live bait such as mullet and silver biddies can be caught with a cast net in the Nerang River canals.

My favourite and most reliable method for enticing jacks is to catch winter whiting on blade lures in the Gold Coast Broadwater.

This type of whit-

Broadwater Guide

by CLINT ANSELL

ing has no size limit, is widespread throughout the Broadwater in depths ranging mostly from 3-8m and is an aggressive taker of lures.

Jacks love them and they stay alive well in an aerated bait tank.

Along the edges of the main channels is a great place to start when looking for winter whiting.

Search for them on your fishfinder – they show up as horizontal lines or patches just above the bottom.

Drop your lure straight to the bottom and drift at one knot or slower with continuous short, sharp lifts of the rod.

This will trigger a chase and grab instinct from the whiting as the lure gets away from them.

This tactic works brilliantly with a lot of species because fear of missing out makes them chase and compete with each other.

The added benefit is you are covering ground and finding fish with lures by imitating the natural way a baitfish or prawn would move with the tides.

Be sure to distinguish between winter and sand whiting, as sand whiting have a 23cm minimum size limit in Queensland.

The best way to tell the difference is winter whiting have a rounded dorsal fin on top, while sand whiting’s dorsal fins are concave.

Often the bigger sand whiting will be among schools of winter whiting in the deeper water, especially after heavy rain or around spring tides when they spawn in the Gold Coast Seaway.

The winter whiting usually measure between 15cm and 30 cm and if you catch enough of them they make a great feed.

Another common daily by-catch while targeting whiting on vibes is arrow squid, which are also good to eat or can be used whole as bait for jacks and other large predators.

If you can’t get live bait, try strips of mullet or bonito fillet, which also work well for mangrove jack.

The setup for live baiting jacks around heavy structure is quite simple.

For bigger jacks you’ll need a 7’, 6-10kg rod (or stronger) and 6000-8000 size reel spooled with 50lb braid.

Fill half the spool with mono line first so you’re not wasting too much expensive braid.

Then join an 80lb shock leader to the braid with an FG knot.

The length of your leader depends on where you’re fishing and how heavy and sharp the structure is.

I run anything from 2-6m long.

Use a running ball sinker with enough weight to hold the bait on the bottom, then tie a strong swivel and half a metre or more of leader to either a single Mustad Hoodlum hook or a Snell trace if using bigger baits.

We encourage catch and release of mangrove jack because they are such magnificent-looking and fighting fish.

Sand whiting Apart from jacks, sand whiting and giant trevally will be prevalent over summer.

The best baits for whiting are live yabbies and bloodworms.

Yabbies can be pumped at low tide on the banks along Southport and Labrador.

Night-time is most productive for whiting, par-

ticularly opposite the Council Chambers in the Nerang River and around the corner heading upstream.

I have also caught good numbers and sizes in the evenings along the Southport and Labrador shoreline.

Use size 4 Mustad baitholder hooks, big enough running sinkers to hold bottom (2 to 4 ball) and 2m of 6lb fluorocarbon trace with 6lb braid main line.

If you don’t get bites, keep moving and anchoring 500m elsewhere as whiting are nomadic grazers.

Remember to not strike too early.

You want to let them swallow the bait before setting the hook.

Trevally Trevally are pelagics and can bust up anywhere at any time.

I always have a rod rigged and ready with a soft plastic or metal to cast and retrieve at medium to high speed.

Trolling over shallow sand flats (1-3m depth) with hard-body minnow lures such as Pontoon21 CrackJacks and Savage Gear XDR 3D 5cm Shrimps is a great way to encounter these hardfighting brutes.

During the day we have an absolute ball using lures in the Broadwater and Nerang River.

Two go-to lures for me are Ecogear ZX40 blades and Samaki Vibelicious 70mm soft vibes.

Use natural and non-UV colours in clear water on

sunny days and flashy, darker, UV colours in dirtier, deeper water or cloudy weather.

Both are deadly lures that have caught over 30 species of fish on my charters including arrow squid, flathead, mulloway, bream, tarwhine, tarpon, tuskfish, flounder, tailor, sand whiting, squire and many others.

All you need to get among the action is a 7’, 2-4kg rod, 2500 size reel spooled with 6lb braid and a metre of 10lb fluorocarbon leader tied on with an improved Albright or FG knot.

The method is the same as I mentioned for winter whiting – drifting and tea bagging (slowly lifting the rod) in shallow or deeper water or casting and slowly hopping the lure along the bottom if the drift is slow.

To book a charter with Brad or I, or for any fishing-related questions, SMS 0432 990 302 or email fishingwithclint@ gmail.com We also post heaps of fishing tips on our Brad Smith Fishing Charters Facebook page.

Peak holiday season is starting.

It’s not easy but try to be tolerant at boat ramps, respectful of speed limits in the waterways and offer to help newbies when they need it.

We were all in their shoes once.

Have a fun, happy and safe Christmas and New Year!

Until next time, tight lines.

Giant trevally are a prized sportfish in the Gold Coast rivers. This one was caught and released in the Nerang River by Iain on 6lb line using a Savage Gear lure. The fish nearly spooled Iain on its first run.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Popular month on the water around Gold Coast

J

UST like that, we have completed another awesome year of fishing, with great captures coming through fairly consistently given the harsh weather and lack of rain.

As they say, “a drought on land is a drought at sea”.

Fishing will become more popular this month as people make the most of time off work and spend more time with family.

Just remember to be safe and look out for each other, particularly if someone you know has been drinking.

Nerang Rooster Report

by DARREN RAMA

Offshore we should see an increase in numbers of pelagics and subsequently the number of anglers trolling for fish like dolphinfish, small black marlin and hopefully wahoo and mackerel.

However, live baiting will be your best bet considering the amount of boat traffic you’ll be contending with.

Whoever has the most realistic presentation will get the bite.

Inshore, mangrove jack fishing is a hot topic.

If the conditions offshore aren’t the best, jacks will become everyone’s primary target.

Lure fishing for jacks is definitely increasing in popularity.

With water temps consistently high of an early morning, I have been catching them throwing surface poppers and walkers.

Once the sun gets high in the sky, I have used plastics down deep.

I’m getting plenty of bycatch in the form of estuary cod.

Just like with jacks, you have to turn their head quickly because they are renowned for heading into the rocks and flaring their gills to jam themselves in there, resulting in losing them.

If this season plays out in a similar way to last year, I think we’ll see fewer ‘big lures for jacks’ posts on social media.

I found I had more success throwing smaller plastics and hard-bodies generally intended for bass and flathead.

Big-eye trevally are in our rivers terrorising small schools of baitfish at night, with small surface lures a tempting bite trigger for them.

The fishing in Hinze Dam has been strange due to high water tem-

peratures for this time of year.

Bass don’t seem to be as active but early of a morning and late of an afternoon saratoga can be seen boiling.

Casting a surface lure and slowly working it has resulted in a few toga in a single trip, making for great aerial displays during a session.

At Wyaralong Dam, fly fishing has been going really well on carp and tilapia close to the edge, making for a visual feast.

With flies, I try not to use anything bigger than a dragonfly or cicada because these are the bugs that naturally hit the water to become prey items.

Have a great, safe and merry Christmas and I will see you next year.

A Wyaralong tilapia that took some convincing to eat a fly.

Christmas gift idea!

This bass was caught fishing a deep ledge.

A subscription to Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine

Graham with his first toga from Hinze Dam.

1 YEAR

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2 YEARS

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$ Nate with a small jack extracted from a rock wall.

For the fishing fanatic!

Gift certificates can be posted with the mag or emailed to you.

The gift that keeps giving!

A carp caught while searching the banks with flies.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Call 07 3286 1833 or visit www.bnbfishing.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 19

We make and repair all types of cast nets Custom-made prawn, top and bottom pocket nets, drawstrings, bait nets, leadline and chain.

Ph: 0412 122 256 A small big-eye trevally. This species will take lures day and night.

If you look closely you will see the small black specks that give this fish its tea-leaf name.

Targeting trevally in the Tweed River region

G

’DAY everyone, in this month’s article I will go through how to target one of the fastest, hardest-fighting fish in our local rivers and creeks – and that is trevally.

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Quite a variety of trevally inhabit our waterways, including golden, bluefin, tea-leaf, diamond, big-eye and giant trevally.

Big-eye and giant trevally are the most commonly found in our area and are the ones we will mainly discuss.

Giant trevally reach the largest size, as their name suggests, but the big-eye can still grow to a respectable length of 80cm and fight like trains.

OK let’s get started and briefly discuss the most uncommon species in the list.

The diamond trevally is in my mind the prettiest and most unusual of the group, with an almost mirror finish on its flanks and long trailing filaments extending from the dorsal and anal fins.

I find them to be a bit solitary and very hard to specifically target.

Rather, they come as welcome by-catch when targeting other species.

The favourite haunts of bluefin trevally are the reefs and rock walls at the entrances to our rivers.

They prefer to stay close to the ocean and not move upstream like the other trevally.

Casting and trolling lures as close as possible

GOLD ST COA

Gold Coast Guide

by BRAD SMITH

to the Gold Coast Seaway rock walls is the way to catch this species, with a spike in their feeding pattern occurring around the tide changes (as with most fish).

Tea-leaf and golden trevally will move up rivers, and I most commonly find them feeding in very shallow water that has a mixture of seagrass, sand, shell grit and even a few yabby holes.

On the big run-in tides, both these species are happy to move from the deeper channels onto the shallow flats to forage on the baitfish, prawns and crabs hiding around the seagrass.

You will often visually spot these fish marauding the flats, which makes them a target with one of my favourite techniques: casting small poppers and stickbaits.

Also keep an eye out for any surface activity on the edges of these shallow flats on the first of the run-out tide.

Trevally will patrol the edges where the banks drop into deep water for any baitfish forced to recede into the channels as the flats drain.

This leads us to our two most common species, the big-eye and giant trevally.

They thrive on patrolling the deep channels adjacent to the above flats areas on the run-out tides.

Once again, the big tides are best because the harder the tide runs back off

the flats, the more baitfish are forced into deeper water.

Trolling along the channels in this scenario is highly effective in covering water to locate them, but I always have surface lures on other rods ready to be cast if needed if the fish start busting on the surface.

Big-eye and giant trevally prefer the deep channels where they can move up and down the rivers with the tides, just like they’re following a highway, which in my mind says trolling these highways is the best way to find them.

Trevally will also hold in deep river holes.

Use your sounder to find bait schools holding close to the bottom and fish deep with a combination of vibes and plastics.

Trevally also like to feed around man-made structure such as bridges, jetties and marinas.

Once again, these spots are places where bait tries to hide from predation.

Unfortunately for the

poor old baitfish, trevally spend their whole lives in search of food and there is nowhere to run and hide when trevally make their merciless marauds on them.

Well everyone, I would like to finish by wishing you valued readers, the crew at BNB and my sponsors a very merry Christmas.

Stevo with a juvenile golden trevally showing how they get their name.

Lucas Dowling with a golden trevally that took a trolled minnow lure.

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www.bradsmithfishingcharters.com.au Page 20 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

Even small giant trevally like this one will give you a great fight on light equipment.

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Venturing back to Vanuatu

T

HE warm blue waters and tropical climate of Vanuatu called us again recently.

You might remember last year I wrote we went back for the first time since I was a young fella and like a drug I’m hooked all over again on the place.

While Vanuatu is a first-class fishing desti-

Family Holiday

by GAVIN DOBSON

nation that offers a lot for the hard-core fisho, as a family we just do the resort thing.

Last year I wasn’t going to fish at all and took no gear with me.

As I reported, however, it got the better of me and

I ended up handlining off the jetty every morning.

This year I went a little more prepared, conceding to the fact I would probably end up fishing every day.

I didn’t want the hassle of carting a heap of gear, so took a small box of hooks and lures and a handline.

At the last minute though, I ducked down to see my mate Lamby at Brunswick Beach Bait and Tackle and bought a small kid’s fishing rod that all up wasn’t even 4’

long, so when broken in two it easily fitted in my suitcase.

This set me back the bargain price of $30 and was worth every cent because while I don’t mind handlining, the small rod and reel was much easier in the wind we encountered.

The first morning I didn’t fish and headed into town after breakfast to wander the markets and look in some shops.

There is one more thing a fisher in Vanuatu must do in town and that is check out the harbour where the fish and chip shop meets the water.

This is a no fishing zone and as a result it is like a fisho’s aquarium.

The crystal blue waters here are home to an abundance of sportfishing species and I counted five types of trevally along with massive long-toms, parrotfish, triggerfish, surgeonfish and more.

It’s an awesome sight watching the big GTs fight over a chicken bone or a bit of fish thrown over the side.

Next morning I was on the jetty and keen to harass the local long-tom population.

It felt good to catch a couple of the crazy needle fish.

The following morning I was down at first light and had a good session catch* continued P22

The author and Simon with a long-tom and trevally.

Trevally are just a great species.

Keira captured her first long-tom.

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Tina got in on the act with a nice long-tom.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 21

Venturing back to Vanuatu * from P21

Bernard and a beautifully coloured triggerfish.

A trevally just before being lifted onto the jetty.

ing a few long-toms and to my excitement a trevally.

Physically it was very similar to our tea-leaf trevally but just slightly more elongated.

While not a huge fish as you can see by the pics, I was stoked because I saw a few last year but didn’t get a bite from one.

This year I ended up getting a couple.

These fish see a lot of hooks and nets and are very sensitive, but one thing I had in my favour for the week was the runout tide in the morning.

The next morning I caught a few more longtoms and a very colourful triggerfish.

After this we headed out to one of the local waterfalls for a swim and while having fun was the main agenda, I was also keen to photograph the local population of jungle perch.

What I initially thought was going to be easy because of the hundreds of fish to choose from turned out to be difficult because they are fidgety little buggers and don’t like being focused on.

I took over 100 blurry images and got three or four usable ones.

There seemed to be two types – one identical to our jungle perch, and another very similar model.

One day we went out to

the reef edge and had a snorkel and fed the local colourful reef fish.

This was a treat with even the clownfish getting in on the act.

Diving deeper, our skipper Bernard fed some bread rolls to sizeable red bass.

These brutes were a bit standoffish, but I slid down and got a few pics of them as they cruised in for a feed.

At one stage I made the silly mistake of forgetting my bearings and surfaced under the boat, jamming a couple of barnacles into my scalp.

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feeling foolish.

By this stage Keira had snorkelled and swum herself to her own satisfaction (some days we snorkelled for four hours or more), so for the last couple of days she joined me on my dawn raids to the jetty.

The first morning she was with me she enjoyed catching over 20 small reef fish including moonlighters, juvenile red bass, triggerfish and what looked exactly like our silver drummer.

She had a go for a longtom but a chunky barracuda swam in and ate her bait.

With only a small single hook on, I told her to strike quickly before the fish swallowed the bait and bit her off.

She did exactly what I said and the fish stripped 10m of line in a flash but unfortunately the hook pulled free.

I was disappointed for her but she successfully caught her own long-tom soon after.

Keira wanted to complete the whole process herself, from catching the live bait to hooking and landing the long-toms, a

feat she completed several times.

We had a great time.

On the last morning before we had to go to the airport, the whole family was on the jetty once again.

I had seen some fish the locals called red lips but hadn’t caught one.

While Keira and I were busy with long-toms, my mum fed a handline out and announced she had a fish.

Mum is no stranger to a handline, having used one since her childhood.

She swung the fish over the handrail and deposited a red lips on the boards.

I was happy for her and it was a great way to end the trip.

A subsequent internet search has revealed the fish to be lethrinus semicinctus harak, much better known as red lips.

Another great holiday was over and I was sad to leave.

A shout-out to the boys at the water sports bar – Simon, Bernard, Henry, Kenny and Simon.

What a great bunch of blokes, I hope to see you all again.

A red bass just over the reef edge.

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Page 22 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

To finish the trip Helen caught this nice red lips.

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Dodgy weather doesn’t detract from fishing success n Near miss in Clarence River Bar

F

OR a couple of months I had been trying to line up a fishing trip with Gary, the two Grafton boys Micah and Paul and of course the weather, always the weather.

A small window of opportunity opened where the weather was the best it was going to be on a Saturday morning.

We rocked up to Micah’s place on the Friday afternoon, and after lots of laughs, too many beers and lots of bragging and eating, we got to bed only to be woken at some ridiculous hour.

After a quick coffee, we set off for Yamba boat ramp an hour away, towing the three-odd tonnes of boat.

With a quick stop for 300 litres of fuel, we hit the ramp just as false dawn was cracking and what a stunning morning it was.

Birds were working everywhere, schools of baitfish were being chased by bigger things and the throb of the 250hp Suzuki four-stroke was in our ears as we headed south to the first of the snapper reefs off the Wooli/Minnie Water area.

Fishing Trip

by WARREN ‘WAZZA’ MORGAN

After a 50-minute run, we pulled up on promising ground with great shows of fish on the Simrad sounder.

The rigs of the day were droppers with about an ounce of lead as well as some lightly weighted floaters.

We were boating fish every drift but most of the snapper were just legal and the fishing was slowing due to the sun reaching full strength on the water.

Some fish fell to whole pillies hooked through the head and little jigs Gary and Paul were using.

You have to remember this is the same Micah and Paul who were in Baia, Papua New Guinea with us.

The same two who seemed to have a jinx on them, with breakdowns and fuel problems plaguing their trip.

As the morning went on, the fishing really slowed, so we decided to fish a reef about half a kilometre offshore in roughly 7m of water.

Gary hit the water first and was absolutely smoked by a thumper snapper.

Micah was second in and got smashed but stayed connected.

It was lines up because we were chasing the fish as he was fishing light.

After about 10 minutes, we had colour and it was a really nice snapper of about 6kg.

We were stoked to get this fish and we all had renewed energy.

However, we realised we had spooked the school by

chasing the fish around.

It was about 10am and we talked to the other boys on their boat and got talked into chasing kingfish.

The problem being, the kings were on a reef about 40km southeast.

Lack of live bait was another minor problem, until Gary pulled in a yakka on a three-gang rig, so it was bait jigs for everyone.

In 30 minutes we had a couple of slimies and enough yakkas to feed an army.

We headed southeast and looked forward to doing battle with the rats on Tent Hill Reef.

This is when things started going to the crapper.

After a big trip of about 90 minutes the wind had turned to the northeast and the sea started kicking and it got really messy, really quick.

The reef came up but was still in 65m of water.

We tried to do a drop but wind and tide were smashing us and I would have been happy to come home.

I’m a wimp, I know.

We ended up playing rotate the strike and had someone on the wheel to keep us in position, someone on gaff duty and two catching fish, and bugger me it worked!

It went like this: pin the livies through the bottom jaw and drop them to the * continued P24

Paul landed a good size king.

A small amberjack for Micah.

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Some nice grubs from Burleigh Beach.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 23

Christmas gifts for that special fisho

n Mahi mahi offshore n Bream and bass chewing in the river

H

ELLO and welcome to this month’s edition of BNB.

Bassman skirted jigs work a treat in rivers and dams.

The bass like those Bassman jigs for an afternoon snack.

Tracey with a surface lure-munching Richmond River bass.

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It’s nearly that time of year again and the large bloke in the red suit will be here any tick of the clock.

Before we get into fishing around the local area, I will just touch on a few items that may give you some gift ideas for the special fisher person in your life.

Hopefully this saves you some grief and heartache when it comes to finding that special present for those who are nearest and dearest.

1. Clothing – Most people are fairly sun aware these days, and plenty of plain and very bright fishing shirts are on the market. Most have a UPF rating of 30 or more and are made from quick-drying and lightweight materials, which makes them perfect for fishing for extended periods.

2. Buffs/scarves – These go hand in hand with your fishing shirt, and for those who are not fans of sunscreen, they will at least slow the rate at which you become a lobster during your day out fishing.

3. Tools – Every fisher person needs tools. It can be a simple pair of pliers for hook removal, scissors for cutting line, a knife and/or scaler for cleaning fish, lip grippers for holding toothy or large fish,

by BRETT HYDE

scales for weighing your catch and even a brag mat for taking the photo of your catch of a lifetime.

Fishers always need more tools and gadgets because we lose them and they rust, so they always need replacing.

4. Lures – you can have some fun with this kind of present. There are always new lures out there to try, or you can go the safe route and grab a tried and tested one that may be a favourite of your special someone. Either way, they are a present that can always be used and will always need replacing.

5. Rods and reels – These can be very personal and therefore tricky to buy for someone else.

However, if you make the right choice, it can deliver the biggest smile and best response from that loved one.

6. Lastly, if all else fails, a gift certificate to your local tackle shop and/or a subscription to Bush ‘n Beach always makes for a wonderful gift. Probably the safest bet of all.

I hope this is helpful when Christmas shopping for the special fisher in your life.

Now let’s get on to the fishing around the traps.

Offshore, the current has started to pick up, but it is

doing some funny things from day to day.

We have had a few days where the current has been heading south on the surface but down deep is running to the north.

This can make fishing incredibly difficult, and depending on the depth of water, it can be almost unfishable.

The 32-fathom line has produced good numbers of pan-sized snapper, flathead and tuskfish.

The usual baits such as mullet and pilchards have worked well, but a couple of larger snapper have taken a liking to a live bait.

You should be able to find live baits hanging around the front of Black Head and Flat Rock, so make sure you grab a few before you head out wide.

The FAD is starting to hold a few mahi mahi, but they have been a little hit and miss in recent weeks.

Mahi mahi can be fussy at times, while at others they will eat anything you throw in the water.

It pays to have a few options, so make sure you have bait, both live and dead, surface lures, skirted lures and soft plastics.

They will eat any and all of these at times, while at others they won’t touch a thing.

In the Richmond River,

Early in the morning we are seeing a pretty reasonable surface bite in most areas, but as the sun gets up, most anglers are resorting to diving hardbodies, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits.

With the clearer-thanusual water, lighter colours have worked best.

During the later parts of the morning, skirted jigs have also had great success.

Most anglers are dressing their jigs with a crawdad/yabby-style plastic to give the jig extra body movement and smell to entice the bass into a strike.

If you haven’t tried these jigs on bass yet, make sure you grab one and give it a go.

Plenty of companies make skirted jigs but I have found Bassman jigs work the best.

With two weight options and plenty of colour choices, there is bound to be one that works for you.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, our readers, for your support throughout the year.

Without you reading the articles we write, this publication would not be possible.

I would like to wish every one of you and your families a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

I look forward to seeing you all in 2020!

‘Til then, tight lines!

Dodgy weather doesn’t detract from fishing succes * from P23

bottom where kings hit would hit at about a hundred kliks trying to brick us.

There must have been two sizes: the ones we were getting and the ones we couldn’t stop.

We were fishing fairly heavy and I was using my 8000 Shimano Stradic loaded with 50lb Daiwa J-Braid and 80lb Black Magic leader and still couldn’t stop the buggers half the time.

But despite lost fish, the system worked.

The only problem was Micah, Paul and Gary are big blokes at a combined weight of about 360kg,

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things are cruising along quite nicely but some rainfall would not go astray.

The better numbers of fish are upriver, so if you are heading out over the holidays, be prepared to fish new territory further upstream.

Some flathead are starting to show in the lower reaches of the river, but the better numbers are between the Burns Point Ferry and Broadwater.

The weather has warmed, so try concentrating in the 2-5m depth range, depending on the time of day.

Brighter lures and baits such as pilchards and mullet have been good options.

Bream have been a little funny, with a number hanging around in the lower reaches of the river, while good numbers are also being taken from Pimlico Island to Woodburn.

One thing they have in common is they are hanging around the rock walls.

Prawns and cut baits such as mullet and yellowtail have been the pick of the baits, while the usual summer lures such as diving hard-bodies and lightly weighted soft plastics have been the best bet.

With the water so clear at present, try more natural-coloured soft plastics during the day and darker ones early of a morning and late of an afternoon.

We have already seen great bass taken and the season has only just begun.

and with me at 90kg, every time they moved to the same side of the boat we nearly capsized due to the conditions.

About 3.30pm we were sore and had had enough, so surrendered and headed back.

No one really noticed until we turned and headed north just how scary the sea was.

By the time we spotted the bar it was 5.30pm, we had water in the boat and couldn’t trim properly.

We waited and waited, finally getting a decent swell to go in on.

Well the fun started, and about 50m in we lost power.

I thought Micah was having a lend but no he had a rather serious look on his face like ‘I hope you boys can swim’.

With a strong run-out tide, a crap sea and the bar starting to stand up, we were in serious doo-doo.

Some quick thinking saw us whack the anchor out and lucky for us it held.

We checked everything and Gary and I came to the same conclusion, that Micah and Paul and boats don’t bloody mix.

Many radio calls to Iluka VMR, which was only about 800m away went unanswered as everyone had gone home.

Our distress call went through to Sydney but

communications were patchy and we didn’t hold much hope of getting someone out to give us a tow.

Micah and Paul started calling mates to come get us but it was a two-hour trip for anyone.

We were still trying the Coast Guard and an approaching storm was ready to grab us as well.

Next minute, over the radio came a different voice.

We looked around and there was the most beautiful sight: a half tug, half barge, salvage type boat crossing the bar to rescue us.

Old mate heard our call and decided to help us out.

Well we got under way, the only problem being he couldn’t take us to the Yamba ramp, instead dropping us at the pontoon at Sedgers Reef Hotel.

Old mate expertly nudged us into the pontoon when out of the blue we heard a siren and saw flashing lights.

Guess what, it was Coast Guard with the commander himself on board.

What a sight.

They passed a tow line and we were on our way.

A 30-minute trip across the Clarence River and we were back at the ramp.

You don’t realise the size of this river until you are in our position.

We made it back to

Micah’s and after a long goodbye said farewell to Paul.

We made it home by about 11.30pm after almost 24 hours either on the road or water.

The trip back from Tent Hill Reef saw us airborne more than in the water.

We were lucky that Micah’s boat is a 6.1m ex-croc catching boat from WA and was robust enough to take the punishment it did and we are still here to talk about it.

After 20 years in the Navy and having been through typhoons and 12m seas, this was as close as I’ve come to serious trouble at sea.

And with reference to Micah and Paul – every time they are near a boat they have dramas.

Don’t ever go fishing in the same ocean as them because they have bad mojo.

Have a great Christmas and see you next year.

Paul captured a decent snapper.

Gary with a nice rat.

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Signs of summer start to appear at Iluka

S

ANDFLIES, mosquitoes, dehydration, sunburn, sweltering heat and bushfires are the first signs that tell the average person it is December (or summer) in Australia, while later in summer we are blessed with cyclones and floods.

If you happen to be an angler, however, your tell-tale signs of summer will be catches of species such as mangrove jack, mackerel, tuna and whiting beginning to occur in good numbers and the predominant wind will become the good-old northeasterly.

Here in sunny downtown Iluka at the mouth of the mighty Clarence River, the fishing has been relatively good, with the first handful of spotted mackerel boated in the shallow waters off Woody Head during the first week of November.

The first reports of

Just Jew

by TYE PORTER

mackerel came in midweek, so naturally the following weekend saw the boat ramp at Iluka packed with trailers.

However, most boats failed to find the handful of early fish, which is quite common at this point in the season.

The good news is we are only a few weeks away from the Christmas break, which should see the mackerel run here on the far north coast of NSW in full swing.

The odd big cobia has been boated off Woody Head in recent weeks, with the area near Jackies Bommie the place to anchor.

Inside the Clarence River, flathead are in good numbers, with fish spread right throughout the system from the

mouth to up past Grafton.

You ng G r a f ton fishaholic Jake Hyatt has been casting soft plastic lures along the banks at Southgate, which is just downstream of Grafton, for nice lizards to 55cm when he is not paddling his kayak and landing bass.

Top catches of flathead are also to be had at Ulmarra, Brushgrove, Lawrence and Maclean on lures and green prawns.

Back towards the mouth at Iluka, lizards are being hooked just about anywhere you choose to cast a line.

My son Mischa and his girlfriend Rebekah have been having a ball flicking 3” paddle-tailed soft plastics at night for flathead to 60cm when everyone else is home in bed.

During the day they have landed them to 75cm.

We have also been seeing a lot of fish hooked on lures in the shallow gutters along the beaches, so there is no excuse for you not to get a feed or simply have a bit of fun this month.

Whiting were a bit slow to move into the river this year, however they are finally here in force, so that is another species to keep either yourself or the kids entertained while having a picnic and fish on the riverbank.

The Iluka and Yamba breakwalls will provide a feed of jew this month if you choose to drown a squid or live yakka at night over the high slack water, or an octopus on the big summer tides during the day.

The Iluka Bluff has

been lousy with large shoals of white pillies lately, and this in turn has seen plenty of small turrum and sizeable school jew taken during the falling tide late of an evening.

The humble tailor are back to their old tricks of being thick one day and then disappearing for a week, however, if you strike it lucky you will come home with a decent feed by using flesh strip baits off the beaches and spinning the wash around the headlands with metal slices or surface poppers at first light and late evening.

Along the beach at Shark Bay, Lismore angler Lilly Ford has landed nice bream to 1.3kg on chicken gut, while other anglers have taken bream and swallow-tailed dart on pipis and live beach worms.

I have not picked up a rod for the past month but I reckon I will be out and about this month giving the whiting a headache and chasing flathead along the beaches on soft plastics.

You never know, I might even summon the energy to have a spin for a smelly old jewfish at the Bluff for old times’ sake, but then again that may well be too strenuous for an old fart like me.

This month you really are spoilt for choice with offshore offering snapper, jew, trag and mackerel, while the shore-based fisho can choose from bass, whiting, flathead, jew, tailor and bream.

How much better does it get?

Have a safe and merry Christmas, look after each other and enjoy the holiday break.

‘Til next month, safe fishin’.

Sunshine Coast angler Justin McNab spun his local rock platforms a while back using the author’s hand-made feather lures and landed this quality cobia.

Mischa with a nice little trevally landed on a 3” Madz prawn soft plastic while chasing flathead.

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Mischa landed and released this nice estuary cod on a 6” Madz paddle-tail soft plastic lure.

Go wherever and whenever the fish are biting with confidence!

Camera-shy Grafton angler Jake Hyatt caught and released this 55cm flathead on a soft plastic lure at Southgate, just downstream from Grafton.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 25

December holiday fishing guide to Noosa and beyond

W

ELL that’s it folks!

We’re near the end of 2019 and what a year it has been.

On the Sunshine Coast, we had limited rainfall and no real winter to speak of.

This saw mild water temps and fish hanging around that usually disappear.

People were catching mackerel alongside snapper!

Catches in the estuaries also featured some big mangrove jack outside the usual summer bite.

Finally, bass and saratoga remained consistent catches and sizeable toga were caught, presumably unpaired with a mate and still feeding hard.

All up it was a good year, with the promise of a great

Sunshine Coast

by GRANT BUDD

pelagic season ahead if the weather plays ball.

December is usually the start of the pelagic period when various line burners arrive in numbers and become top of the catch list for anyone with a boat.

Without a doubt, casting metal slugs and chrome slices is about as good as it gets – after you have tried surface stickbaits of course!

This is my favoured approach if looking for a huge surface explosion from a longtail tuna, which you don’t see when casting metals.

A cracking jack for Nick Swan. Photos: fishingnoosa.com.au When pack hunting, longtails can single out your lure and become airborne, often leaping over one another before hooking up.

Lures to use include the Nomad Riptide, Shimano Coltsniper Rockslide and Rapala X-Rap Long Cast Shallow.

Be sure to rig these with inline single hooks because they are stronger, safer and allow for a quick in-water release.

Before you go casting these lures to the horizon, be sure your rod can handle the cast weights of these lures or anything else you intend on throwing.

If you are throwing bigger lures, the new range of Shimano Grappler rods is perfect for casting.

For an all-rounder, the new Terez comes in a great range of sizes with intermediate casting options available.

To find tuna and mackerel, sometimes all you need to do Mat Craig was happy with this trevally. is cross the Noosa River Bar! If this is the case, be aware of your position because an incoming tide can push you back into the impact zone.

Another option is Halls Reef, Maximum Protection which is to your left once you cross the bar and head north.

This shallow reef system is home to bigger lone spanish mackerel, schools of spotted mackerel and longtail tuna.

Another option, especially for mackerel, is Jew Shoal.

This area has a well-defined pinnacle that sits about 7m below the surface.

If there is swell, you can see Nylon collar the waves rise as they approach stays up this spot.

This is a great place to troll wet or dry the smaller Halco Laser Pros in 120-140mm sizes.

Often it is the smallest lure that gets crunched and you need not break out the heavy gear.

Sunshine Reef is the place smaller craft often head to when the wind is a little stronger or the forecast is swinging south-southeasterly.

It’s a great place to tangle with coral trout and many anglers only come home with Longer sleeves stories. for hand and wrist This ground extends far and protection while wide and is excellent for not paddling only bait anglers but also those who use soft plastics and jigs.

Slow drifting a Palms Slow 50+ UVP Built in UV protection all day Blatt Oval will see you catch Loose Fitting - Flattering Won’t cling wet or dry – great for comfort a huge array of reef species, so be sure to have one in your kit Wicking Draws moisture from skin – keeps you cool if the bait fishing is slow going.

Quick Drying Take a dip – drip dries on the body in minutes During summer on Sunshine you can expect to find tuna, Anti-chaff Seamless underarms – all day paddling mackerel, cobia, jewfish, emWet or Dry Wear in the water or in the sun perors and estuary cod to name a few.

24-7 crease free Sun, water, fishing, boating, leisure This is the prefect ground on which to send a pilchard floater out under a berley trail at anchor.

You can expect to find bigPage 26 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

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30+ upf

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40+ upf

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50+ upf

ger midwater fish that would leave traditional paternoster rigs alone.

North Reef is a popular spot for those with bigger boats and even smaller craft on a calm day.

This area is not as exciting on a sounder as Sunshine Reef, however it holds fish, and big ones at that.

You can expect to find all the previously mentioned species and if trolling can hook up to mackerel, wahoo and dolphinfish.

These fish love a jet head like the Black Magic Jetsetter run out the back at high speed.

North Reef is often the place of deep clear blue water up to 60m, so if the inshore reefs are dirty from rain, head there.

Beyond this, long-range boats have the options of Double Island Point to the north and the Barwon Banks and Hards to the southeast.

These areas hold fish not commonly found in and around Noosa.

Many people will hook red emperor, freight train amberjack and kingfish of huge sizes.

Often these fish are unstoppable and a minimum of PE6-8 gear should be used if targeting them on a jig.

The PTYD jigs from 150250g have worked well on big pelagics when coupled with a Decoy 4/0-5/0 single assist hook.

If you’re land based and wanting to surf fish, the better option is to fish light, especially during the day.

The most common species caught are whiting, bream and dart.

These fish provide a lot of fun on lighter gear and are often plentiful.

The Noosa River mouth is a great option, especially on the North Shore side.

If you can find a gutter where the waters are calmer, you can do well with a lightly weighted worm or prawn bait.

If chasing bigger fish, then fishing after dark during an evening high tide and in low moonlight is ideal.

Fresh mullet slabs, squid, pilchard and live baits are the more favoured options.

Should you have a shorter 9’ rod that has some backbone and a reel holding at least 300m of line, take a stroll to the various headlands of Noosa, Coolum and Mooloolaba.

Here you can often catch a tuna or mackerel, which provides you with serious linepulling fun!

Options to cast would be the previously mentioned tuna

stickbaits as well as 6”-7” jerk shads on 1.5-2oz jig head.

If you are sight casting, you can burn the plastic in or jerk and spin it back, which makes it swim.

Tuna will often chase and smash these offerings and run for the horizon once hooked.

Obviously it pays to have a long gaff and someone to help because rock fishing can be dangerous, especially if you have a 15kg longtail just out of reach.

Inshore, the Noosa River is a great place to target a multitude of species and many of these can be caught from the land.

The lower part of the river is the most accessible and there are many options to fish calm water during different wind directions.

If after whiting, try Gympie Terrace from the main boat ramp towards Munna Point, the dog beach, Woods Bay and the river mouth.

If in a boat, the Frying Pan, Goat Island and the flats opposite Makepeace Island are great options for anglers throwing lures like the Bassday Sugapen.

If bait fishing, simple running sinker rigs are best, comprising 6lb fluorocarbon leader and a live beach worm.

Flathead are a popular fish to target and can often be picked up where you will find whiting.

Other places to locate a big lizard include the sandbags of the dog beach and the deeper drop-offs around the Noosa River mouth.

Flatties love a soft plastic and anything in the 4”-5” size range works well, including the new Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ. Diving lures work very well for flatties and anything that dives to about 2m is a popular choice.

Look to the likes of Zerek Tango Shads and Atomic Shiners.

Work these down until they hit bottom and let them sit a while before working the lure again.

The little puffs of sand create interest to passing fish and they will often hit the lure on the pause.

Trevally are another popular target, as are mangrove jack and you will often find them together, especially at night.

To catch a mangrove jack, you had best be prepared to go to battle because these fish give no quarter once hooked.

Generally the fight is won or lost in the first second, so go heavy for line and leader and get stuck in!

Jacks respond to all methods of fishing, from dead prawns to weedless paddle-tail plastics and hard-bodies.

Having a bait out and leaving it * continued P27

Dylan Versteegen scored an 80cm amberjack.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Mono versus multi-hull fishing vessels n Reef fishing offshore from Fraser

H

I everyone, in this article I am going to cover a couple of topics and will start with monohull versus multi-hull vessels.

I have operated both in everything from calm weather through to bar crossings and open ocean swell and wave conditions, and they both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Monohull vessels can cut through a wave/swell and depending on the hull shape can be stable at rest.

The centre console vessel I started with was a great bar crossing boat.

It was a clean-cutting Sportfish 5.8m alloy rig and I would tow it up to Double Island Point and launch into the lagoon.

With twin 60hp outboards, it was very economical, using 160 litres of fuel per 100 nautical miles.

The vessel had a little swagger at rest in 15-20 knots of wind but handled itself well.

I got stuck in a 25-30-knot southwesterly once while commercial fishing well east of Double Island Point (forecast 15 knots).

It was a big surprise through

Tin Can Bay

by RICK WAUGH

that first night.

Before a big swell comes, you’ll get a blast of wind followed by the sound of the approaching swell.

The large dip before a 3m swell rolls through makes your heart sink.

You can’t do much in those conditions.

However, with 150m of anchor rope out on a plough anchor, I held in well and the Sportfish hull climbed over everything thrown at it over two nights.

Multi-hulls like my Shark Cat are a little different in the way they handle the ocean conditions.

The best angle is just off straight for big swells, which helps them climb over more cleanly.

I crossed Wide Bay Bar in the 9.9m Aurora II Cougar Cat, zig-zagging a course across with windscreen wipers on like I was in a truck in heavy rain.

Then a 3m swell lined us up

The author’s Shark Cat with new paint job. This is a great offshore ocean boat with excellent stability and ride.

Ian and James with some of the quality eating species to be caught offshore from Fraser Island.

and we went through it, losing a spotlight and aerial.

At rest, cats are very stable.

You can have four people stand on one side of my boat at sea and it is still stable.

The hull planes easily at 14 knots and fuel economy is around 180 litres per 100 nautical miles.

The first thing I noticed with the cat was a decrease in my back pain, which I associate with wave thump through the vessel.

My alloy centre console was hard on the body in some seas.

Fishing off Fraser Fishing with Ian and James, we headed off from Tin Can Bay travelling to Wide Bay Bar. The forecast was for 10-15 knots of northeasterly and a 1m sea with 1.5m swell.

Well the mad mile was mad and a couple of good 1.5m rollers were on the outer bank.

The wind was more 15 than 10 knots, so we had to keep in close, heading over about 8km out from Double Island Point.

We found the fishing a bit tough, though some nice squire and grassy sweetlip came into the mix.

The little ledges we were fishing have always got venus tuskfish, goldspotted estuary cod, pearl perch and moses perch hanging around.

Most of the fish were caught on the turn of the high tide.

The wind kept up all day, and while fishable, you had to work a little to keep in touch with the bottom.

I have not done many trips in the past few months.

The cat has had a full paint job and refit that took some time but was well worth it because the hull planes even better and smoother.

I will be doing trips right through the Christmas period into 2020, so if you’re in the Tin Can Bay/Rainbow Beach area, give me a call and come and get your arms stretched.

Pelagic species will be arriving soon and I will be watching out for them.

Until next month, enjoy your on-water time.

Guide to Noosa and beyond * from P26

until you get a big hit works well.

Live baits will do the trick and snelled rigs ensure a better hook-up rate.

As a starting point, 20lb braid and 30lb leader is the lightest I would use when fishing baits around structure.

If lure fishing, fluorocarbon leaders are a must because you will often get bricked into trees and rocks and mono leaders can suffer here.

If the bite is on, don’t be surprised if you end up using 50-60lb leader because packs of hungry jacks can take you to the cleaners.

Try around pontoons, bridges and rock walls.

Another prime option when the swell is up is to visit one of the many dams or lakes in the area.

Lake Macdonald in Cooroy and Borumba in Imbil are two of the more popular areas. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Both dams require a Stocked Impoundment Permit to fish, which gives you the chance to catch a saratoga, bass, yellowbelly and even Mary River cod.

The money generated through the sale of these permits goes towards putting more fingerlings into the waters for more chances of catching fish.

During summer when temperatures rise it pays to be on the water early.

At this time the surface bite is usually on and is the most explosive and visual method.

Casting along the lily edges and deep under overhanging trees will often see you hooking up.

Take a look at any surface lures, like the Lucky Craft Sammy 65 right up to the bigger Bassday Sugapens.

Weedless presentations also work very well, so break out the weedless worm hooks, rig your favourite soft plastic and

cast it deep into structure.

Tiemco Soft Shell Cicadas, Jackall Pompadours, Chasebaits Bobbin Frogs and Wiggle Bombs are just a few favoured lures.

Be sure you have an electric motor, which is mandatory for Lake Macdonald and just a great bit of kit to keep you moving quietly.

That’s it!

I hope you have a great time on the water this summer and hook a few memorable fish.

Log onto fishingnoosa.com. au for up-to-date bar and fishing reports.

Don’t forget to drop into Davo’s Tackle World, Davo’s Boating and Outdoors in Noosa and Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle in Marcoola for all the right equipment, bait and advice to get you catching fish.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook.

Tight lines and bent spines!

MAKING CHOPPY

FEEL LIKE GLASSOUT

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For more information contact your local Stacer dealer: Boondall | Northside Marine 2294 Sandgate Rd, Boondall Q 4034 Phone: 07 3265 8000

info@nsmarine.com.au northsidemarine.com.au Noosa | Laguna Boating Centre 16 Project Ave, Noosaville Q 4566 Phone: 07 5442 4872

info@lagunaboating.com.au lagunaboating.com.au Wynnum | Wynnum Marine 31 Fox St, Wynnum Q 4178 Phone: 07 3396 9777

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 27

Ryan gave the attentive kids a run-down on surf safety.

A last-minute brief before hitting the water.

Salty Tribe – making a difference H ERE we are at the end of another year.

Clean and simple fun.

The old boy in the red suit is just around the corner and it’s the time for sharing good will with family, friends and strangers.

This month’s story has all the above and really left me touched by the actions of a young group on the Sunshine Coast.

Several weeks back my wife and I attended the 2019 Noosa Surf Film Festival, and while listening to a local singer/ songwriter performing we noticed a stand selling

This is what it’s all about.

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Page 28 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

Outdoors

by PAUL ‘CHIEF’ GRAVESON

merchandise.

The shirts were of the highest quality with indigenous-influenced artwork and being sold under the brand name of Salty Tribe.

After checking out the shirts and having a yarn with Raynard Tippo and crew, I discovered this wasn’t an indigenous surf brand but a well-organised group striving to offer an alternative healthy lifestyle to many children around the Sunshine Coast.

The first flyer I picked up was for an upcoming event: ‘Join us for our next indigenous family and friends try surfing and cultural day at Mudjimba Beach’.

What I found on the cultural day was much more than this.

I believe the crew has created a day that brings both first nation and nonindigenous people together in a celebration of the love of the ocean.

It was a special moment to be present for the welcoming of country and then to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land the Gubbi Gubbi people who inhabited the area from Pine Rivers through to Burrum Heads.

Standing on Mudjimba Beach and staring out to Mudjimba Island while the waves crash on the sand is a timeless view.

Raynard finished the official opening and Ryan Waller began talking to the youngsters about surf safety and understanding rips.

I smiled to myself as Ryan had the kids interacting with questions and hands were held high in hope they would be called on to give the correct answers.

This young man has a presence that engages kids and delivers the important message softly but on a level every child can comprehend.

The practical side of the lesson included practising Eskimo rolls on their boards on the grassy park beside the beach.

Watching about 20 children trying their hearts out to master the technique and perform the manoeuvre to perfection was the most rewarding thing I’ve seen in years.

The volunteers who helped with the children were just so patient and

encouraging, but it was the commitment and enthusiasm of the kids that really left me speechless.

Right about now I was starting to think this was one of the best events for kids I’d seen and yet the boards were still nowhere near the water’s edge.

In saying that, you’d think taking 20 children into the surf and keeping everyone safe is quite a task.

However, with family, parents and volunteers also in the water, it was soon obvious safety was an issue well addressed and every step had been taken to keep the event to a high professional standard.

The children were all now wearing their fluoro wet shirts proudly sponsored by Mudjimba Beach Boardriders.

They soon picked up their loan boards and made their way to the ocean.

Another quick briefing and the final allocation of instructors to kids and the fun began.

Girls and boys of all ages, and even some big kids long past their school days took to the surf like ducks to water.

I had the absolute pleasure of watching one special needs teenager at the water’s edge who was so excited and calling to his carer to hurry so he could join the fun.

Here I was standing on the beach with camera in hand soaking in joy and feeling nothing less than a euphoric state of happiness.

I couldn’t really tell who

was getting the most out of the day, the kids or me.

I suppose with December upon us and Christmas a few weeks away, the whole picture of giving and joy was right there in front of me.

This brilliant idea was originally started by SevGen Indigenous Corporation CEO Terri Waller (Ryan’s mum).

Ryan, Raynard and their families have worked tirelessly to drive this project forward.

Another side of this story happens to be something you may be able to help out with.

Many of us have an old surfboard hidden away unused in our garages.

Salty Tribe has flyers circulating asking for people to donate these unwanted surfboards.

Any size, any style, any condition, as the boys wish to refurbish and give them away to underprivileged kids who can’t afford to buy them.

They wish to gift a few boards this Christmas, so if you could please have a look in your garage it would be appreciated by all concerned.

Salty Tribe is supported by Mudjimba Beach Boardriders, the Sunshine Coast Council and of course SevGen, which is the driving force behind

many Sunshine Coast indigenous projects such as a coffee and bush tucker café in Eumundi.

It’s interesting looking at the name of SevGen because it evolved from the indigenous belief that every action today will affect the next seven generations.

Running events and supplying equipment costs money, so you can help by checking out the Salty Tribe - SCIB Facebook page and buying one of the Tribe’s cool shirts.

It all helps to keep the wheels turning and may even change the direction of a youngster’s life, which is priceless.

Any donations would be graciously accepted.

To Raynard, Ryan, Ella and all volunteers – thank you for sharing an unforgettable experience.

My wife Tonia and I walked along Mudjimba Esplanade after the event and I asked her how she would sum up what we just saw.

“Beautiful young people making a difference in this world,” was her reply, and I think she was spot on.

Merry Christmas to all the readers and may you enjoy the holiday season and this time of family and joy.

Stay safe, Chief.

This event was for boys, girls and kids of all ages.

Encouragement for the youngsters was given at every opportunity.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

A great Christmas gift idea – the FG Wizz

F

ROM time to time a new product appears that can make a positive difference to your fishing and save time and effort.

It is always great to catch up with BNB readers at the boat ramp (BNB sticker obscured). The author hopes you did OK with your secret crabbing spot!

Barra and jacks feature this month

W

HILE work and family commitments have kept me off the water lately, I’ve seen continuous social media posts about mangrove jack and barra being caught in the local river and estuarine systems.

I follow the Bundaberg Fishing Group on Facebook and some very impressive fish have been ‘shared’ over recent weeks, with both barra and large jacks the highlight.

Nice flathead are being caught too, with many of the larger specimens released to breed future stocks.

Why have these species been so prevalent?

It is an interesting question, as we have had very dry conditions with little to no fresh running in any of our estuaries.

You would imagine this in turn would reduce the availability of those smaller fish that crowd the bottom of the food chain, feeding the larger predators such as mangrove jack and barramundi.

While water temperatures have been rising, I would have thought the lack of small prey such as prawns, sprat and mullet in our systems due to no good runs of fresh would have seen these species less prevalent.

I guess if their usual levels of food are not available, these fish will still look for a feed.

If you are new to jack fishing and still seeking your first specimen, remember these fish fight dirty and your first clue of their presence, apart from a possible ‘touch’ on your bait, will be the screaming of your drag as they hit your bait at pace and retreat to their rocky haven.

It is often said jacks actually swim around their prey and hit it on the way back to their lair.

If you are wanting to target these fish, use heavy line of at least 15lb and a stronger leader because they are usually situated in rough country such as rocks, oysters and mangrove roots along black banks.

As I stated earlier, they fight dirty.

The best baits would have to be mullet fillets followed by fresh live www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bundaberg Region

by BRAD YOUNG

baits such as sprat and mullet.

Jacks are also excellent night predators, so don’t be afraid to anchor over a good rocky area and fish for them at night, especially around the top and bottom of the tide.

Just one other tip: keep your drag tight because they go quickly when they hit and you need to be able to put the pressure on to prevent them from hitting their favourite oyster-covered snag.

Barra can be found in similar areas but cleaner water.

They also fight hard but are not the rough scrappers jacks are.

Both species will take a hard-bodied lure and soft plastic.

Your best bet regarding lure selection is to speak to the staff at the local tackle shops because they will know which lures have been ‘walking out the door’ due to their recent success.

The local freshwater impoundments Lake Gregory and Lake Monduran have also been producing fish, with bass and saratoga featuring at Lake Gregory and barra and eel-tailed catfish putting on a show at Lake Monduran.

Bass and barra like warmer water temperatures and also tend to fire up with a rising and high barometer.

The old saying “1020, bass aplenty” relates to high barometric pressure and sees these fish become more active and likely to take a lure.

I haven’t heard of a good run of mud crabs as yet but some pots are beginning to show up in the Burnett River.

The age-old challenge unfortunately is avoiding having your pots raided or stolen.

It is a sad state of affairs when you cannot trust other anglers sharing the waterways to not interfere with another angler’s fishing apparatus.

On a more positive note, Fisheries officers have been introducing new strategies whereby they have been able to catch pot and crab thieves redhanded.

Please take the time to check the new regulations around crab pots (daf.qld. gov.au).

Check your prop for line I recently had the misfortune of having to replace a lower prop seal because my prop had ‘picked up’ some nylon and braid line that had made its way into the seals.

Unfortunately, on this occasion the braid chewed the seal and I lost the gear oil out of the lower leg of my outboard.

Modern props and lower leg designs have reduced the incidence of this problem but the braid just didn’t let up.

I suggest it is worthwhile to pull your prop off and check it periodically, especially if you suspect some line/braid may have found its way around your prop.

As always, I can be contacted via the Bush ‘n Beach website, by email at fishnboat@bigpond. com or post at PO Box 5812 Bundaberg West Queensland 4670.

Until next month…

I have had the opportunity to test drive a fantastic Australiandesigned and manufactured product over the past month or so.

It would make an ideal Christmas gift for that special angler in your life… or if you’re like me, maybe a ‘self-gifting’ idea.

This fantastic yet simple Australian-designed and manufactured invention makes tying the FG knot a breeze.

I came across the FG Wizz when it popped up on my Facebook feed with plenty of supporting information and video demonstrations of it in use.

I emailed the designer/ manufacturer Ray to gather some more information and he offered to send me a sample to test.

For me, the interest in having the opportunity to try out the FG Wizz was the fact my favourite knot for joining main line braid to leader is the FG knot.

It is a very strong knot that slides through rod guides easily.

While I can tie the FG knot without the FG Wizz, there is no way that I can tie it as quickly, consistently, reliably and effectively as I was able to with the FG Wizz.

When I tied the FG knot previously, I sometimes had failures due to the line wraps not being even/tight as I held them or as a result of a loss of tension as I tied it with one set of fingers while wrapping the line with the others.

The unique design of the FG Wizz ensures your line wraps are even and keeps the tension on the line as you tie the knot.

I made the most of the opportunity to use the FG Wizz while at 1770 and was able to use it to tie FG knots in both heavy and light main lines to leaders.

For me, the consistency, reliability and speed with which the FG knot can be tied using the FG Wizz makes it a perfect addition to the kit of any angler who prefers to use the FG knot.

At the time I contacted Ray, he had just made further tweaks to his design, particularly in terms of improving the bobbin design to enable a full range of line sizes to be used.

An easy-to-navigate Facebook page and website ensures all the info you need is easily accessed.

The instructions that come with the FG Wizz also make tying the FG

knot a breeze.

At $44 each including tracked postage, it is a winner for anybody who prefers to use the FG knot.

If you want more details, you can contact Ray via fgwizz@ bigpond.com or simply Google FG Wizz.

Brad Young

The FG Wizz is tracked when posted and comes in a neat kit.

The FG Wizz provides a simple and effective way to tie the FG knot quickly and consistently. Clear instructions make it easy.

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Wind won’t relent in Wide Bay region n Charter vouchers a perfect present for fishos

Alex ticked longtail off his list. This was a typical late-September/early October fish.

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A

H, the wind continues!

My bank account hurts but my knees and back are laughing!

If it isn’t from the north it’s howling from the southeast.

Throw into the mix some stubborn fish and it has certainly made for tough fishing.

Heading into October, the tuna were firing and not too fussy.

Some longtails were in the fray and at times hitting topwater lures.

They gave us a basic plan to work the tours around.

But by the time of writing in early to mid-November they have been giving us some

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tough sessions.

Plenty of fish, but plenty of fussy attitude too.

Small bait is making the fish a bit lure shy, with flies the answer here.

The best strike rate for spinning anglers was definitely a heavy jig head-rigged plastic spun at high speed.

Needless to say, I am eager to see those tiny anchovies grow over the next few weeks.

A few school mackerel are about and holding deep on structure and sometimes under the schools of tuna.

Unfortunately I’ve seen no regular signs of spotty mackerel as yet.

The toothy speedsters can be handy to have around when the others are fussy.

School mackerel are easily spun up on metal lures, but if you are too lazy for that, try trolling a deep diver.

A few marlin have been about but still nothing steady.

Most fish are coming on the troll.

The most common trolling technique for inshore blacks is a pusher/skirt behind a teaser or two, but some are also being caught on dead baits and circle hooks.

I have not seen too many in the shallows to cast at yet.

It might be another quiet year for the inshore marlin fishery.

It’s hard to believe it is almost Christmas.

Please consider carefully what you choose to buy the anglers in your life.

Many of us have everything we need or have very specific requirements, so unless you are very well versed with our needs, it may pay to ask others or buy things like gift vouchers.

Even businesses like mine do gift vouchers.

The downside with buying a gift from a business like mine is being sure the recipient is into the style of fishing sold by the company.

Ask questions with the charter company about what you will catch.

The species may change with the season too, so keep that in mind.

I had clients thinking they were going to soak live baits for coral trout once.

This was just before they

boarded the vessel and after I sent my Facebook and webpage links to the party’s contact following long conversations on the phone.

Most certainly we occasionally catch coral trout, but it is not what we commonly do.

I gave them the option to opt out last minute, but much of the anxiety could have been avoided if they listened and did the research.

I will never forget their faces when they saw every rod rigged with lures.

If you are not sure, ask the recipient about their favourite tackle shop and it becomes a very simple matter after that.

Clothing is probably the most useful gift.

Clothing and gloves wear out, hats get lost and shoes lose their grip and waterproofing.

Something to check out are some of the new light hoodies, which are great for sun protection.

I have a few and so far like them very much.

Water shoes are also handy.

You can find some styles by

Shimano and Crocs but keep in mind they wear out on the sole and can be a death trap on algae-covered boat ramps and rocks.

Regular replacement is recommended once a small bald patch is detected – hint, hint.

In wet boats and conditions like what I experience all the time, I have found a soft-soled hiking boot works very well.

I’ve been running the Teva Arrowood and find them so comfy and very water repellent.

Teamed with high-quality wet pants, which I bought from Kathmandu, my gosh, I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier!

Not such a big deal when it’s warm in summer, but cold weather and heavy rain?

I only get wet from the facial opening in the hood of my rain jacket.

And for reading material to place under the tree?

A BNB subscription, perhaps?

Or for the youngsters, check out Toby’s Tackle Box on Facebook and Instagram.

An illustrated story for the bubba anglers in our lives and written by a Queensland author!

Bryce landed his first cobia. What a monster.

Callan and his resting mack face. Mack tuna are a springtime staple.

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www.escape2fish.com.au Page 30 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

Gordon with a cracker golden. What a way to tick the species off the list!

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Page 32 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

Exceptional extended trip with Carlo Fishing Charters

G

OLDEN opportunities don’t come along too often, so when they do, you’re well advised to grab them with both hands.

I was lucky enough to find myself in this situation recently when owner and operator of Carlo Fishing Charters Karl Kleimeyer invited me on a seven-day Swain Reefs fishing trip aboard the recently completed Carlo II mother ship.

Karl has been running charters for over 30 years and knows the southern expanse of the Great Barrier Reef better than most fishos know their local boat ramp.

Over the next two editions of Bush ‘n Beach I’ll walk you through my week-long experience living aboard Carlo II and fishing day in, day out.

But first, prospective Great Barrier Reef fishos may be wondering what a live-aboard charter entails.

When you book with a charter operation like Carlo, you’re essentially buying a package deal that includes a week of accommodation, three prepared meals a day, fresh water for drinking and showers, fuel and dory/tender use, fish cleaning, filleting and freezing and nightly entertainment in the form of satellite TV, depending on the boat (Carlo II has Foxtel and a DVD player).

The initial investment in booking your place aboard an extended charter can seem expensive, but factor in the above (not forgetting the copious amounts of fuel burnt getting to and from the reef) and it all starts to make sense.

And don’t forget, you won’t be fishing grounds that get hammered by thousands of recreational fishos on a daily basis.

The whole idea of an extended charter is to get off the beaten track and visit comparatively untouched locations to enjoy unreal fishing, the likes of which you likely won’t have experienced before.

Most extended charter operations prefer to take large private group bookings (usually 16-20 in the case of Carlo II) rather than mixed groups to hopefully ensure harmony and a commonality among guests to give everyone on board the best experience possible.

However, in my case, trip organiser Errol and captain Karl came to an accord that saw my dad Lindsay and I joining the pre-booked group of 15.

Lucky everyone knows we’re easy to get along with (haha).

In terms of inclusions, just about the only things you won’t find supplied

Fishing Trip – Part 1

by DANIEL TOMLINSON

on extended charters are clothing, alcohol and fishing gear (some hooks, sinkers and odds and ends are usually available).

If you’re anything like me though, this shouldn’t be a problem as you’ll have more fishing shirts than undies and enough rods and reels to stock a small tackle shop.

The Carlo II I mentioned the recently completed boat and indeed, after 30 years of faithful service the original Carlo was retired in 2018 to make way for its mighty 32m state-of-theart replacement featuring a bulbous bow for superior cruising comfort and wave-carving ability.

With a huge 7.9m beam across its steel hull and three levels of fibreglass superstructure, I never found the mother ship lacking for space.

Sleeping quarters are spread throughout the boat in the form of 12 air-conditioned ensuite cabins.

There’s loads of seating in the main saloon and around the back deck for enjoying meals and socialising over a beverage or two, a voluminous chiller for food and drinks, a well-equipped kitchen and my favourite feature of a full walkaround deck for 360-degree fishing ability.

Six Aussie Whalers make up the Carlo II’s dory fleet, all powered by Mercury two-stroke engines and running basic sounder setups.

In transit, all these dories are craned up and stored on the top deck, while each night at anchor five of the six are lifted on top to clear the back deck and duckboard for fishing.

While taking the dories out to explore more remote and shallower parts of the Great Barrier Reef is a highlight, don’t discount the epic fishing that can be enjoyed from the big boat at night on anchor and under way by trolling.

We enjoyed some fantastic times on the back deck after the sun went down.

With rods and reels stored in horizontal rod racks on the ceiling of the back deck and tackle bags and boxes tucked into a storage rack or tucked under the seats, you’ve got a clean and uncluttered workspace in which to rig up, chill out and fish.

Carlo Fishing Charters is also different to most Swain Reefs fishing operations in that it leaves from Yeppoon, rather than Bundaberg to the south.

This means a shorter steam to the Reef and easier access to the top of

the Swains region where you’re less likely to encounter other boats.

The crew Extended charters comprise a full crew to keep everything running smoothly.

On our trip we were treated to the hospitality of skipper Karl, his son Peter and deckhands Keith and Brock.

Karl is a genuine Barrier Reef veteran and knows all its ins and outs and the best places to take shelter from adverse weather while still catching plenty of fish.

His experience is obvious from the moment you meet him, and combined with the epic size of the Carlo II (which Karl had designed to his specifications) you know you’re in safe hands no matter the conditions.

Pete has been working on charters with Karl since his teen years and has an extremely good grasp of charter life.

He’s also the ship’s master chef and knows how to whip together a mean feed to keep hungry clients happy from dawn until bedtime.

If you get the privilege to have Pete on your dory for a bit of a guided fishing session, you’ll find he has the most intense pump and wind action you’ve ever seen.

I’ve never watched a rod tip move from the waterline to past vertical so quickly and with such ferocity, and my god does it work.

Pete is a fish-catching machine and wastes absolutely zero time getting the fish into the boat and another bait back in the water.

It’s an experience I won’t forget any time soon.

Deckies Keith and Brock do an awesome job working flat-out to get dories in and out of the water, cleaning decks, plates

and boats, helping prepare meals, filleting and bagging fish and generally running around to keep everything running operating as it should.

Our experience Dad and I packed his Ford Ranger the evening before the trip and left Brisbane’s southside at 4.14am on the Satur* continued P33

The Carlo II’s interior is well-lit, spacious and an enjoyable place to feast on dinner after a hard day’s fishing.

The boat is a true walk-around and allows you to fish right around it at anchor, meaning you never feel cramped and minimise tangling of lines.

The front deck is a prime spot to sunbake and relax if catching fish all becomes a bit much.

At 32m in length with a bulbous bow, the Carlo II made light work of the shocking conditions that greeted the author at Yeppoon.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

COMPETITION DATES This solid spangled emperor hammered the author’s Zerek Fish Trap on its first drop.

The little Black Jack Fish Trap was deadly, with Lindsay Tomlinson pulling in a redthroat emperor on his first cast with the lure.

Exceptional extended trip aboard Carlo Fishing Charters * from P32

day of departure, arriving at Keppel Bay Marina shortly before 2pm after a few stops along the way (much coffee was needed – I ordinarily operate on gentleman’s hours).

Along the drive we noticed the trees were barely moving, with hardly a breath of breeze about,

so we were pumped and looking forward to seeing great conditions at Yeppoon.

Yeah, nah… we were greeted by a delightful 30-knot easterly ‘breeze’ that did its best to blow the thongs off my feet.

Somewhat deflated, Dad and I met Pete and loaded our plethora of fishing gear onto the boat as more

Adam proved to be one of the more successful anglers during the week. He got off to a good start with this beautiful coral trout.

Krystle got straight into the quality fish on the first day, landing a cracking spangled emperor in short time.

cars turned up and did the same.

With everyone’s gear loaded and cars locked away in secure parking nearby, we did a bit of a meet and greet, finding we were heading to sea with a great bunch of guys and girls.

Pete gave us all a safety briefing and warned us the trip out might be a bit lumpy thanks to the less than stellar conditions.

However, we need not have worried, as the Carlo II under the guidance of Karl did an outstanding job of dealing with the conditions, and we travelled through the night without even one seasick passenger.

With Dad on the bottom bunk and me up the top in one of the forward lower-deck cabins, we even managed to get a pretty good sleep while under way.

It’s amazing how the sea can change overnight, and by the time we awoke on the Sunday the water was glassy as we neared our first anchorage.

We were stoked but knew we had to take advantage of the conditions as the forecast was for the wind to get back up to 20-25 knots from Monday and hang around until at least Thursday morning.

In our first anchorage at the northern extent of the

Arriving at the Great Barrier Reef after steaming overnight. Note the excellent rod storage up high on the back deck.

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Swain Reefs near an area known as the ‘T-Line’, the crew seamlessly unloaded the dories, briefed the group on where we should be fishing and sent everyone on their way.

Excitement was high, with surface action everywhere (mostly mack tuna and some GTs) and a really fishy feel to the place.

Dad was quickly into the redthroat emperor and coral trout using bait, while I played around throwing a 40g SureCatch Knight metal slug on my Samaki Zing Travel 9’ three-piece rod.

I caught a few mack tuna and got hammered into the reef by a couple of fish too big to stop with a 1025lb rod and 20lb braid.

Too tempted by the sight of sizeable fish cruising 15m below us, I switched the slug for a 65mm Zerek Fish Trap in Black Jack and on the first cast snagged a 65cm spangled emperor on the drop.

Too easy!

Dad quickly switched to a pre-rigged Storm soft plastic (from about 2003) and went on to catch countless more redthroat, trout and other random reefies, though many were undersized and promptly released.

The Fish Trap continued to do damage for the morning and went on to hook six fish from seven casts.

It was absolutely deadly.

Most other boats had done even better than us and cleaned up on redthroat and spangles with the odd solid trout thrown in.

This was the kind of start we’d been hoping for!

I’m running out of space in this magazine and need to wrap this up, so be sure to grab the January edition of Bush ‘n Beach just prior to Christmas to see how the rest of our trip turned out and check out the many, many awesome fish photos to come.

Stay tuned!

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May 1

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 33

Good times on 1770 BNB Trophy trip F OURTEEN boats made the annual trip north to compete for this year’s 1770 BNB Trophy.

There was the usual lastminute panic to replace a dodgy tyre or two but the actual drive up went without incident for a change.

The kick-off barbecue went off without a hitch too, and once the briefing was over most crews headed to their accommodation to get ready.

The forecast was looking favourable, so many planned for an overnighter Sunday at Fitzroy Reef.

Morning conditions on the bar were good, with just enough water to get out.

Salty and a few others headed north in reasonable seas, with a couple stopping along the way for a drop here and there.

The other boats headed outside of Boult and Fitzroy for their first drop.

Salty, Amity and Lucky Me elected to have a drop on the Outer Wides with mixed results.

Terry and Rob left the main pack of boats and headed northwest to a spot they hadn’t fished for some time.

They found decent shows on one of the four pinnacles but several drifts later they still had zip.

A further 30 minutes sounding around with the odd drop also drew a blank, so they decided to head over and annoy Helaine who was up on her red mark inside the reef.

It always pays to keep an eye on the sounder because you never know what you might stumble across.

Sure enough, while in the middle of nowhere they came across a good show worth looking at.

First drop resulted in a just-under red followed by more on every drop, just a bit frustrating.

They were confident big ones were down there but before they could find out the sharks moved in, initiating the next shift, but it was definitely a spot to check in future.

They say sharks are endangered but this doesn’t seem to be the case in lots of places these days.

Elsewhere, Pete on Amity was having a blinder

Power Boat Anglers

by MICK CLUTTERBUCK

and putting parrot and good hussar into the boat to add to the sweetlip they bagged at the Wides.

Lucky and Blackers were looking for trout at Fitzroy and putting the odd one in the box.

The radio was pretty quiet but it sounded like Ocean Pearl and Motley were doing OK outside, as were Suzi Q and Karma on its first outing, with Craig giving Dale and Brendon a lesson early in the day.

SiSu, Fang 3 and Summer Salt were out wider in the deep and got onto nice fish, with Bernie’s 5kg-plus goldband the standout.

Short Fuse was out there somewhere as well, but many thought he had a cloaking device because the big cat was rarely seen until it appeared in the lagoon.

With the day getting on, they decided to head closer to the lagoon for an entry just on sunset.

Salty was at Nick’s never-fail redthroat mark and getting the odd decent one until the grey suits showed up again.

Keen to get a mooring, Salty went in a bit early, only to find all the good spots taken by big cruisers.

Slowly, all the boats came into the lagoon and found a spot to drop anchor.

The lucky ones found a spot near the new ‘mother ship’ Karma and were duly rewarded with ice cream.

The addition of a Temprite has been suggested for next year.

Next morning, with breakfast out of the way most expected to be heading out into ordinary weather, particularly after the windy night they had just endured.

This wasn’t the case and the further they went, the better it got.

Salty hit Sykes and sounded around looking for trout on the bommies, but the call of the redthroat was too strong.

They hit the shallows and decided to only keep fish over 43cm.

The plan was looking good and both guys were close to bagging out on parrot and redthroat when their toothy friends again turned up.

The wind had by now picked up, so the next move for Salty was to start the trek home.

The rest of the boats were outside in deeper water looking for the big ones.

A few snapper and pearlies were caught but none of the big rosy jobfish of years past.

Yellow reds (spangled emperor) were around and a few lucky boats had found some quality ones.

Ocean Pearl and Motley bagged a couple of good spangles for their troubles, as did Karma and Amity.

Helaine even got one on a Zerek Fish Trap lure.

Astro and Bartender had stayed in closer doing day trips to Bustard Head and surrounds but headed home early after catching numerous keepers and losing some big fish to sharks including a stonker spangle.

The weather was looking dodgy for the rest of the week.

Tuesday was blown out and Wednesday’s forecast was up and down.

However, Wednesday got the nod as an official trip with forecast 10 to 15 knot winds and seas under 1.5m.

While slow going, Salty made it out to the paddock and commenced working through the marks.

Karma and crew soon joined and settled in a bit further north.

On his fifth mark, Salty found the big cat sitting right on it, so they took turns drifting across the area.

Once again, herds of undersized reds were coming up two at a time, but only one legal fish was caught between them.

Ocean Pearl was outside Boult and started calling Motley saying they needed mullet, so obviously they were onto some fish.

Salty stayed near Karma and was given a lesson on how to bag a nice 3.5kg trout and a good size red.

Salty could only reply with a parrot.

It was a slow day with a northerly wind blowing, so they moved again, heading towards the Outer Wides.

Again, good shows were found all over the place.

This country will definitely get a visit next time.

With fish in the box and the long run home ahead, most departed early to ensure some water on the bar.

A few fish were weighed but nothing of size apart from Anthony’s 15kg spanish mackerel caught on SiSu. Thursday was a blowout as predicted and Friday was fishable but not a club day.

A pack of boats headed to Bustard Head to chase spanish, with SiSu landing a couple along with a few spotties.

Summer Salt got a nice cobia and a couple of tuna with Suzi Q and Motley landing a few as well.

Terry and Rob headed to the Five Mile and loaded up on livies, then went to the Nine Mile.

A few grass sweetlip found the Esky, while Terry bagged a couple of goldspotted rock cod around 10kg and Rob missed all his hits, as usual.

Two in the afternoon was the call for all PBA boats to head in and do the last sign-off with VMR Round Hill for 2019.

Everyone returned home safely, though Ocean Pearl and Motley stayed an extra day and were rewarded with good reds and a few other fish.

The 1770 BNB Trophy champion was Helaine

Wilesmith, followed closely by Graham and Craig, with Peter and Terry rounding out the top five.

Largest of species went as follows: red emperor caught by Graham Taylor; coral trout caught

by Helaine Wilesmith; and sweetlip and pelagic caught by Anthony.

Time to get ready for next year.

Next meetings The last club meeting for the year will be held on Monday, December 2 before our Christmas break.

We’ll reconvene in 2020 on Monday, February 3.

Meetings are held at The Club Manly (bowls club) at 26 Faine St, Manly.

Until next month, safe boating and have a safe Christmas break.

Dale McClurg nailed a venus tuskfish.

Dale with a soft plastic-caught coral trout.

Craig Firman scored a red emperor.

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Stefan Slomka boated a decent red emperor.

Bruce Carrol was happy with a red emperor.

Page 34 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

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A proud author with his roughly 30kg sailfish.

The sailfish tail walking.

Sailfish of the South China Sea

R

EMEMBER me!?

A lot of young Bush ‘n Beach readers probably wouldn’t, but those who remember the Brownies Coastwatch and Hooked on Water TV fishing shows in the nineties and early noughties would remember a bearded presenter chasing bass.

Well, I’m still chasing fish in both fresh and salt on the Apple Isle, but this story is not about fishing in Australia, it actually starts in Singapore.

Like all good fishing stories, the adventure and lead-up to the catch is all part of the big picture…

A phone call from a fishing mate in Singapore saying he was getting a team together to chase sailfish in the South China Sea off the coast of Malaysia had me boarding a plane with rods and gear to chase a fish that was always on my bucket list.

Among the tackle was a 13wt fly rod and the idea was to see if I could land one of these magnificent fighting fish on fly (more about that later).

After my Singapore friends Beng, Phillip, Mr Ting, Steven, Chak and their wives gave me the tour of Singapore and its wonderful food opportunities, it was time to pack the gear for the drive from Singapore into Malaysia and on to the small town of Rompin.

Joe, our driver from DMC, a division of SureCatch, a brand I think readers would be familiar with, picked us up and with enough fishing gear to fill any tackle shop, we were off across the causeway from Singapore into Malaysia.

Easy you say?

Not so: it took us six hours to get to the village of Rompin, and one and a half hours of that was just getting across the border.

The drive took us past World War II bunkers that stood as a reminder of a bloody war fought many years ago, and unlike in Australia, we were dodging monkeys on the roadway instead of kangaroos.

Arriving at our destination, it was an early night ready for a dawn attack.

I awoke at dawn to the sound of a call to prayer.

I have woken to many sounds over my fishing life, but never to a chant that echoed over the enwww.bnbfishing.com. au

Overseas Trip

by DES CHARLES

tire countryside.

Walking past a colourful shrine for fishers to pray for a good catch and safe passage, we arrived at the restaurant for breakfast.

However, it wasn’t really a restaurant, but an outdoor kitchen with concreate floor and the local cat cleaning up what we dropped under the table.

Breakfast consisted of chicken rice porridge, salted egg and some sort of curry dish laced with chilli.

Oh my poor digestive system…

A nod from my Singaporeans gave me the courage to eat and to my surprise the food was delicious.

Our skipper Ah Pao was right on time, and we climbed down the bamboo jetty onto a typical Malaysian boat powered by two 150hp Yamaha outboards that looked pretty new, which was reassuring.

Down the river we went, past wrecks of boats stranded in the mangroves, across a badlooking bar into the South China Sea. With the outboards at full throttle, we travelled for 30 nautical miles to a location near Kneel Island (Pulau Paku), which appears out of nowhere and is the landmark to the sailfish grounds.

On the way we stopped at a FAD, I think made by the local fishers, to jig for live bait with sabiki rigs.

With live bait aboard in the form of squid (sotong) and slimy mackerel (kembong), we carried on to the strike zone.

Rods were married with surface poppers and me with my fly rod ready for action.

Sailfish were cruising with their sails waving in the 10-knot breeze, making a magnificent sight as they fed in small schools in pursuit of their quarry.

The idea was for the boys to bring the sailfish close to the boat so I could have a crack at them on fly.

After an hour of trying, it was plain to see that although the sailfish followed the poppers in close to the boat, they soon veered away, not giving me a chance to cover them with a fly.

All was not lost how-

ever, as we knew taking a sailfish on fly was going to be ridiculously hard, and no pride was lost in not being able to achieve this.

So plan B was to get one of these fish on a surface popper or live bait.

After two hours, many strikes on poppers but no hook-ups, it was decided that because it was late in the season and these fish had been targeted by an average of 20 boats a day, live bait was the only option.

Hopefully I could at least have the chance to experience the fighting qualities of these worldwide sought-after fish.

With a slimy mackerel hooked the same way we would live bait in Australia, the line was fed about 20m behind the boat and I waited.

It wasn’t long before the click, click of the overhead reel indicated a fish had taken the bait.

Looking up at the skipper for direction, he nodded and I lifted the rod for fish on.

I knew when the fish cleared the water that this was no trophy fish, but a sailfish it was, and I had come a long way for the privilege of catching one.

Bringing it alongside the boat, the skipper immediately grabbed it by the bill, released the hook and the fish was gone.

Gone!

My sailfish back in the briny without me even holding it for a photo.

Bugger me!

All this way, and all I had was a shot of the fish being released alongside the boat.

Turning to the skipper, I tried to say something, only to be told in broken English “the fish was not big enough for a photo, we will try again”.

There might not be another time, I thought, turning to my Singaporean mates for comment.

All I got was a shrug of the shoulders.

With a sigh, I took a drink of water to cool down and watched the skipper hook up another live slimy mackerel.

There was a hook-up on the boat next to us

as excited voices echoed across the water, then another boat landed what I thought was a 20kg fish.

Still no action on our boat, and the pressure was on, just like in the days of television, when you had to produce the goods no matter what.

Then it happened.

Line suddenly started to peel off the overhead reel, the skipper before I could blink an eye grabbed the rod and struck, and then excitedly passed the rod to me.

Whoa!

Immediately the fish climbed out of the South China Sea and tail danced 10m across the water, but unlike most big fish I have caught, it stayed just under the surface.

“Clear the decks!” yelled the skipper, well I think that’s what he said, as the fish took off heading to parts unknown, which had me running down the portside of the boat, around the bow and back down the starboard side.

The fish then climbed out of the water for the second time, and both our crew and the crew on the boat close to us that had landed a smaller fish gave a yell of approval.

Then it was back down the side of the boat, then back to the stern.

Finally I was in control of this splendid fighting fish and I was instructed to sit on the stern ready for the fish to be hauled up by the bill and placed on my lap for a photo.

It was good to see the skipper had the fish’s welfare in mind.

Once landed, it was released in the quickest possible time because the fight was long and hard, and the stress factor on the fish would have been huge.

Fish released, it was high fives all round and I was thanking my friends for sacrificing their fishing time for me to catch my sailfish.

One more species struck off the bucket list had me thinking how lucky I have been to fish most of Australia and halfway around the world.

With the sea rising and a long trip back to Rompin, we headed back to base.

Surprisingly, the boat rode the waves with ease, and though simple, I was impressed with its design.

Dinner at the restaurant consisted of rice and delicious fish, and it was nice but I don’t want to see another bowl of rice again for months (the first thing I had when I returned home was a plate of mashed potato).

The next day consisted of bottom fishing, which is another story, maybe for another time.

The drive back to Singapore was again interesting, as I was shown how the Malaysians harvest swift nests to be sold to high-class restaurants.

They close down the second story of factories and let the birds nest, then knock down the first nest and let the swifts build again.

The swift lays her eggs, the birds hatch and then the nest is collected again, and so on and so on.

Why, you ask?

A kilo of bird’s nest will cost you somewhere in the vicinity of $A4500.

Until the next time I get a chance to share wonderful fishing adventures, remember: we don’t stop fishing because we get old, we get old because we stop fishing.

Releasing a 10kg sailfish in quick fashion.

Dodging monkeys on the road.

A World War II bunker.

Kneel Island.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 35

Maddy caught her first mack tuna with her brand-new rod and reel off the beach at Double Island Point in pouring rain!

Michelle McDonald

Josh Mallam landed this chunky bream flicking soft plastics along bridge pylons on 4lb gear.

This awesome 30kg GT was boated around Tweed Heads by Kent Thomas using a live yakka as bait.

Charlie caught his first tailor on a soft vibe.

The fish was released after the photo.

Proud Dad moment!

Morgan Timms

Josh Horkings landed a cracking 93cm barra in the Fitzroy River, Rockhampton.

My five-year-old son Owen caught a nice summer whiting in the Pumicestone Passage.

He loves reading BNB, keep up the good work.

Anthony Ross

After years of bad luck with weather and cancelled offshore fishing charters, I finally got a chance to take Jacob (13), Anthony (11) and Will (9) on their first snapper expedition.

They are pictured with their first-ever offshore catch.

It was an awesome day thanks to Evans Head Fishing Charters.

Gary Mandelkow

Will Holt scored a cracker of a 50cm sooty grunter.

Jake with a 38cm whiting caught in Pumicestone Passage on a worm.

Whiting season is on!

Fingers crossed for a bigger one soon!

Tayler Cumes

■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum Page 36 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

www.bnbfishing.com. au

I caught these fat bass from Borumba Dam recently – it’s fishing awesome!

Jye Gilmore

I work at BCF and read your mag.

We need more chick fishing photos!

Some of us are better than the boys.

Angie Carson

A Pumicestone Passage lizard.

Things are heating up around here.

Tyler Smith

My son-in-law Cameron Lacey landed this barra in Awoonga Dam when on a charter with Gladstone Fly and Sportfishing.

It was his first-ever barra and went 83cm.

Rob Mendham

I caught this 89cm snapper while kayaking.

It was just a few centimetres short of my 92cm PB caught recently.

Luke Giovanetti

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.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 37

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 39

BOATING & marine Running with and over the swell was a breeze.

It isn’t until you see the 7.6m Ocean Craft Buccaneer in real life you understand how big it is.

Ocean Craft goes outside the box

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HILE probably better known in the commercial dive and fishing segment, Ocean Craft, a Caloundra-based boat builder, is making a few waves in the recreational sector.

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nary conditions.

After meeting Ocean Craft owner Mike at the Mooloolaba ramp, the decision was made to make a quick run offshore in the 25-knot southeasterly wind that had been increasing in strength most of the morning.

While unique in style, Ocean Craft boats have several features you don’t always find in other vessels.

Probably the best way to

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describe or fully visualise the boat is to imagine a rigid inflatable, but instead of canvas-style material for the ‘pontoons’, Ocean Craft runs a series of aluminium airtight chambers.

These airtight chambers not only make the boat virtually unsinkable (there are 13 separate chambers on the 7.6m vessel), they act as shock absorbers, providing a quieter ride.

In addition, they deflect

* continued P41

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by BEN COLLINS

Aptly named the ‘Buccaneer’, Ocean Craft’s recently redesigned 7.6m model has been purposebuilt for recreational anglers who want a vessel that can handle pretty much anything the wind and water can throw at it.

I recently tested the Beamy 7.6m Buccaneer in what could only be described as extremely ordi-

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The 140hp Suzuki was a perfect match, delivering plenty of power and good fuel figures.

Boat Review

spray down and away from the boat, giving it a drier ride.

Another advantage of these tubes is they aide in the boat’s stability at rest.

The further you try to lean the boat over, the harder they work, which means you can easily have multiple people leaning over to one side and the boat will remain quite level.

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Page 40 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

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BOATING & marine Ocean Craft goes outside the box * from P40

the waves, the hull pushed most of the spray away.

However, this is an open boat with only a centre console to protect you from any spay, which did its job, though Mike mentioned you can get clears for the sides, which would give much more protection.

Even in the tough conditions the boat felt very safe heading directly into the waves, beam on and in a following sea.

This can be attributed to the hull design, which generates lift and keeps the boat very stable and level.

In terms of capacity, the 7.6m model can carry 12 people.

There is ample room to comfortably fish six or more people if desired.

Interestingly, even though this is a big boat with a beam of 2.4m and overall length just over 7.6m, it can still be loaded on a single-axle trailer and towed by a vehicle with around a two-tonne towing capacity.

Not bad considering the 140hp Suzuki on the back and 6mm hull construction.

Again, this comes down to the hull design, which is light but strong.

As mentioned, this boat has a beam of 2.4m and it is worth noting the smaller models carry the same beam but are just shorter in length.

This allows fishos to pick a boat size that suits their budget and space constraints but still ensures they get a proven hull design and big boat for the length due to the wide beam.

In terms of storage, the Buccaneer has two massive compartments in which to keep tackle and bits and pieces.

There is also ample room to store 12 bulky lifejackets completely out of the way.

The tubes where the lifejackets are stowed also double as seats.

Additional seating is via the Esky, but you can option up a bench seat at the back if you so desire.

Another feature I liked was the large hard top.

Hard tops can sometimes get in the way but there is so much fishing room at the back of this boat it wasn’t a problem.

This package with a 140hp Suzuki outboard, Humminbird sounder, stereo, deck wash, VHF radio, battery, deck lights, anchor, 12 lifejackets, bait tank, rod holders and heaps of other standard features will set you back about $75,000.

That very sharp price gives you a large vessel that doesn’t need a specialty four-wheel-drive vehicle to tow and also offers great fuel efficiency.

Conditions did not allow for speed tests on the day, but Suzuki has run the tests and the performance

data is quite surprising.

With a top speed of about 80km/h, the 140hp (10hp shy of the maximum 150) packs plenty of punch and only uses around half a litre of fuel per kilometre of travel.

These numbers only improve when running at a more traditional cruising speed of 30-40km/h.

Here this package is using 0.4 litres per kilometre.

Some ‘fuel’ for thought, pardon the pun.

This boat is not going to suit every buyer, but for those who are after a solid bare bones boat that carries heaps of people and gear with loads of fishing room, the Ocean Craft Buccaneer would be well worth throwing into the mix.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Ocean Craft Buccaneer or a mix of the brand’s other vessels, check out ocean craft.com.au or give Mike a call on 0416 293 686.

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BOATING & marine Up ship creek without a trailer – preventing trailer theft

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EADING marine products retailer Boating and RV, which has stores at Capalaba, Slacks Creek, Tingalpa and Townsville, has joined with Bush ‘n Beach to bring you a regular column with some serious information and news about general

boating products.

Here, director Aaron Hunt looks at how to reduce the likelihood of your boat trailer being stolen.

It’s bad enough when you return to a shopping centre carpark to find your vehicle stolen – the stomach-churning turmoil

as you mentally work through the other possibilities before acknowledging that ‘yes’, this is definitely where I parked it and ‘no, it’s no longer here’.

Gone.

Stolen by some miscreant.

That feeling can be dra-

matically worse when you return to the boat ramp to see your car sitting there but now without your boat trailer behind it.

Unlike a car stolen from a shopping carpark where a few quick phone calls can bring assistance and at least get you home again, how do you load a boat onto a trailer that’s simply not there?

It’s not like you can ring a mate asking: “Can you please come down to the Wello Point boat ramp and pick me up… oh yes, and please bring a twinaxle, braked multi-roller boat trailer for a 6m half cab.”

Think about it.

How do you get your boat out of the water at a place where there’s nowhere to moor it to a pontoon?

What happens when the tide comes in, along with the strong northerly that is going to try to push your boat into the shoreline cement retaining wall?

And of course, it’s Sunday, so your favourite marine dealership is not

Merry Christmas

open to assist.

Yes, your insurance policy will go a long way towards covering the cost of replacing the trailer, but that’s not your issue right at this moment.

The question is: ‘What am I going to do right now, at this very minute?’

As with many ‘at this moment’ calamities, proper preparation might have prevented the problem from occurring in the first place.

Quick question?

Do you have a trailer lock and do you always have it fitted?

If you answered yes, step to the left with the others whose trailers and boats are less likely to be stolen.

If you answered ‘no’, step to the right and join the queue of those who very possibly will be seen one day at the ramp wondering what to do next.

If you rely on a very small padlock snapping through the retaining clip hole on the trailer’s drawbar assembly, you also might as well step to the right.

A few minutes with a screwdriver and that clip will be in several pieces.

One of the troubles with boat trailer security is thieves can ordinarily just unhitch a boat trailer from behind a vehicle, push it back a few metres and hook it up to a waiting vehicle and then drive off.

So, the key is to stop that unhitching in the first place.

A strong, horseshoe clamp with a robust padlock like the one being held in the photo is a great start towards reducing the possibility of your boat trailer being stolen.

It has two basic operating modes.

The first is to lock the boat trailer to the car’s tow ball by putting a strong crossbar into the top slot before snapping

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the padlock shut.

The horseshoe has a lower tube offering some security protection to the locking nut under the tow ball.

Its second mode is for when the boat trailer is not attached to the vehicle.

The lower tube slots into the tow ball recess on the trailer’s drawbar hitch, the cross bar is relocated into the lower slot and the trailer now cannot be dropped onto the thief’s tow vehicle.

In saying this, you also have to take care that your tow ball tongue, such as in a Hayman Reese style of towbar, cannot be withdrawn from the towbar itself.

There ordinarily is a pin that holds it in place.

That pin can be inexpensively replaced with a locking pin that needs a key to be released and for the tongue to be withdrawn.

A word of caution here: various transport authorities have various interpretations about whether or not this type of lock can be used while the vehicle is towing.

For example, one government department quotes an Australian Standard and interprets it as a ‘no’ and yet that Australian Standard was superseded by another some years later which carries no such reference claim.

So, let’s make life easy for the bureaucrats – your boat trailer has no chance of being stolen from behind your vehicle while you are motoring up the M1 at the maximum speed limit.

When you get to the boat ramp, put your gear in the boat, screw in the bungs and deck drains, unclip the safety straps, then snap on the trailer lock, drop the boat off the back and drive forward into a designated

> > > > > >

boat-trailer parking bay.

It can stay in the bay all day long with the horseshoe-shaped lock attached.

You can even up the ante a step further.

A wheel-locking device such as a Klamp It will help keep your trailer secure – whether at the boat ramp or parked at home.

Again, it’s a two-piece apparatus that locks the anti-theft device to your wheel.

You simply split the unit into two pieces, one of which forms a ‘Y’ shape and the other a ‘U’ shape.

One piece goes to the front of the wheel, the other to the rear and then they are pushed together until they lock.

To remove, simply turn with a key.

The Klamp It also has a plate that denies access to the wheel nuts in order to prevent theft by wheel removal.

Will the horseshoe lock, the locking tow ball tongue pin and the Klamp It positively guarantee that your boat trailer and/ or boat will never be stolen?

No. Will it reduce the likelihood?

Well, if the thief has a chance between taking one of several unsecured trailer in perhaps 15 seconds, or one that is going to require grinders, crowbars and other tools, a heap more time and a lot more attention-attracting noise, which option do you think the thief is more likely to take?

You also should be aware that there may be implications in your insurance policy for not having a suitable lock fitted to your boat trailer when it is unattended.

Cost – a good horseshoe style of lock is about $25, a locking pin is roughly $30 and a Klamp It around $200.

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Page 42 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

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BOATING & marine Tides now coming in for fisherfolk and beach drivers

C

OPIES of the definitive pocketbook guides for fisherfolk, fourwheel-drivers, caravanners and campers who go beachside on the eastern coastline, are now in retail outlets.

The 2020 editions of the Tide Guide and Angler’s Almanac publications cover a 14-month period from now until December 2020.

Since 1991 they have been informing people of the most likely times to catch a fish, the best times to safely traverse surf beaches, the best times to cross a bar in a boat as well as critical information relating to fish identification, fishing regulations, 4WDing tips and tying knots.

At $8.25 each, the Tide Guide and Angler’s Almanac make ideal Christmas stocking stuffers for those who like to get outdoors.

The pocketbooks are sold through retail outlets including newsagents, selected outdoor equipment and tackle

shops, marine dealerships and convenience stores in river and seaside locations along the east coast of Australia from Bundaberg to Mallacoota-Eden on the NSW-Victorian border and west to Perth.

The author of the books Mr Peter Layton is frequently sought out by specialist publishers to explain the correlations between lunar cycles and fishing success.

A keen fisher himself, Mr Layton said, “For thousands of years, those people whose lives have been dependent on fish as their staple diet have observed the behavioural cycles of marine life and established the direct links with moon phases.”

“But they do not just

affect those who go fishing.

“People whose lifestyles are focused around primary industries such as farming will be more aware of this through their everyday dealing with crops, animals and insects than city-dwellers locked into artificial daily routines.

“Once again we’ve unravelled the complexities into easy-to-understand guides.

“We’ve produced the book in a form that enables instant reference to the best dates and times for fishing and have packaged them in a convenient format so they can be kept in a car glovebox, boat, tackle bag or your pocket.”

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A 4.5-litre V6 MerCruiser ideal for Stejcraft’s astounding new US-style bowrider – the SS55 SD

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ITH his new SS55 SD bow rider, Stejcraft CEO Tim Catanese has created an outstanding all-rounder that not only looks stunning but is high performance as well.

“It’s the only thing like it being built in Australia at the moment, and there’s definitely a market for them,” he said.

“This is a high-end boat that’s still value for money.

“The SS55 is a new design that we’ve deliberately given a US look with that American-style upholstery and a really high standard of finish.

“It perfectly fills the hole in the market created by American boats becoming too expensive.

“The other key factor is we decided to make this one a sterndrive.

“I think people have a real desire for boats with sterndrives and inboards.

“They like it visually, not having the engine there.

“Sure, people buy a lot of outboards but I think some of that is because they don’t have a choice.”

At just 5.5m but capable of carrying up to seven people, the SS55 is easy to trailer and store, which

makes it even more appealing.

Of course, exciting boats like the SS55 SD require lots of muscle, and when it came to selecting which engine, Tim couldn’t go past Mercury.

“The 4.5-litre V6 MerCruiser 200hp is simply an amazing engine,” Tim said.

“It has a fantastic powerto-weight ratio, the acceleration is really impressive and it’s just great to drive.”

But the SS55 isn’t just about going fast or looking brilliant.

This boat is about performance as well.

“What we’ve done is alter the shape for the hull to make the boat more of an all-rounder,” Tim said.

“Traditionally, in the US, this type of boat is reasonably flat-bottomed because they don’t leave the lakes.

“Ours is great on rivers and lakes too, but it will also be able to go offshore if you want to go whale watching or just cruise the coast.”

Designed solely for marine use, the 4.5-litre V6 MerCruiser weighs just 345kg.

Thanks to its new longrunner scroll intake manifold that draws in more air and converts it into addi-

tional torque, the 4.5-litre delivers a ground-breaking power-to-weight ratio so boaters will enjoy V8 power in a V6 package.

The 4.5-litre comes standard with Adaptive Speed Control, which automatically maintains engine rpm regardless of load or water conditions.

The result is increased throttle response and a sporty feel.

Combining smart design, a cool look, a topnotch finish and a fantastic engine, Tim is expecting the SS55 to deliver – not just for its owners, but for Stejcraft as well.

A second-generation boat builder, Tim spent two years in the US learning their manufactur-

ing techniques, the best of which he’s applying at Stejcraft.

“We make about 150 boats a year now but are looking to expand, and selling bowriders like this one into the US can be a big part of that,” he said.

“The boats that used to come in from the US have dried up because they’re simply too expensive with the current exchange rate, so there’s a market for us here, but it also means we can realistically turn it around and start exporting to the US.” For your nearest Stejcraft dealer, go to stej craftboats.com.au and ask for a quote on the new SS55 sterndrive bowrider.

493 TERRITORY • Deluxe seats • Electric motor ready • Heavy-duty construction • Maximum 90hp

• 90-litre underfloor fuel capacity • Massive storage • Ultimate fishing platform

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 43

BOATING & marine Insights into boat insurance

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

The scenario Something a little different in this column – three special and very timely tips from marine insurer Nautilus as we head closer to the festive season break.

The first relates to entering marinas.

Holidays provide the perfect opportunity to explore new destinations on land and water.

You might fancy the idea of steaming into a

Gold Coast marina for the day or perhaps to even stay overnight.

Many marinas welcome ad-hoc visitors and it’s normally simply a case of telephoning ahead or making contact via marine radio to check whether there is a berth or pontoon available to you.

However, before you make that call, you need to be sure your boat insurance cover is in order.

Some marinas will not admit your craft unless you can tell them the policy number that provides coverage for your boat, the name of the insurer and the expiry date of the insurance cover.

The reason is pretty simple – the managers don’t want your vessel to be in ultra-close proximity to so many other craft if you don’t have insurance to cover any unforeseen mishap.

The upside is that once in and you have paid the nominated visitor berthing fee, you ordinarily get to use the marina’s facilities including toilets and showers as well as have access to restaurants and other dining facilities.

It’s a great way to travel but make sure you have your documents in order.

It’s a good idea to photocopy the documents and keep them in a plas-

tic cover or convert them to a PDF and store them on your mobile phone.

Similarly, you might be tempted to enter a holiday fishing competition – it’s a great way to have fun with a few friends, meet new people and enjoy a shared and muchloved pastime.

Once again, some event organisers will demand the boat you are using for the fishing tournament has adequate insurance cover.

And again, those photocopied insurance policy documents or PDFs should provide sufficient evidence in most cases.

The second tip relates to those policy expiry dates.

Nautilus advises to always note your insurance policy’s expiry date – perhaps make a reminder entry in your diary on a day a couple of weeks before the policy becomes due for renewal.

With the software and apps available on computers, tablets and mobile

phones, you can note the dates as a recurring entry every 12 months, which makes life simple.

Experience has shown some people only start thinking about the expiry date of their insurance policy when they start hitching up the boat ready to head off on holidays.

If that happens to be on Christmas Eve or early on a Sunday morning, you could be exposing yourself and family members to a real problem.

Unless you plan ahead, the reality is you might be trying to reinsure your boat just as the insurance office is closing or have to wait holding online while many others are also trying to secure their insurance coverage at a time of limited staff numbers.

Remember, it ordinarily takes more time to secure a new insurance policy than it does to simply renew an existing one.

Prior planning will en-

sure your boating holiday with the family is totally stress-free.

And finally, think about how long you have been with your existing insurer.

If you are a regular reader of this column, you will know some of the many advantages of being with a marine insurance specialist like Nautilus.

If you are not sure of the advantages, give them a call.

It’s not just about price, it’s about the terms of the policy that work in your favour, about dealing with people who know boats, people who know trailers and marina berths and pontoons, people who understand what you are talking about when you start putting values on your electronic equipment and entertainment systems and myriad other considerations.

Also be aware that after three years with Nautilus and not making a claim,

you become a Rating One customer for life and that brings with it certain other advantages.

As always, any special conditions and excesses should always be explained clearly in your insurance policy’s product disclosure statement.

Always check your PDS and if you have a query, ask for clarification.

If you need further information, you can contact Nautilus Marine Insurance on 1300 780 533 for any boat insurance requirements.

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Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

www.bnbfishing.com. au

2019 WRAP-UP

The author’s best threadfin salmon for the comp and new PB at 114cm was taken on a 4” Z-Man MinnowZ.

Rocky Barra Bounty round-up

T

HE Rocky Barra Bounty was held in the net-free zone of the Rockhampton region during October.

This year I fished the competition with my regular fishing partner from Gladstone, Phil, as team Happy Hookers.

We shared a house on the river with fellow BNB scribe Keith Stratford and Ben Monro from team Bush ‘n Beach.

In the past we have stayed at the Riverside Caravan Park’s cabins and these have been great, but having our own house with plenty of space and a massive outdoor area was fantastic.

Arriving the morning before the comp started, we decided to have bit of a look around at some spots we have fished in the past.

Sounding up enough fish to give us options the next day downstream into Casuarina, we headed back past Devils Elbow to sound some rock bars that can hold fish.

We typically don’t fish too much the day before a comp because nothing is worse than sinking hooks into good fish you could possibly catch the next day.

However, we found great schools of fish between Gavial Creek and Devils Elbow that we couldn’t help but have a crack at.

It didn’t take too long before we had a double hook-up on good fish pulling plenty of drag.

After about five minutes we were wondering what we had hooked.

Big threadies were the call but doubt started to cross our minds.

Eventually, Phil had his close enough to see that a school of big eagle rays had swum past and into our lines, foul hooking them.

That was enough for the day and we headed back to the house to catch up with the other crew over a few beers before briefing night.

We had a great feed and a few more beers during www.bnbfishing.com. au

Competition Report

by GARY CHURCHWARD

the briefing at the Gracemere Hotel, then it was back to the house to get the gear ready and hit the sack for an early start the next day.

With lines in the water at 5am, we were up at 3.30am and on the water by 4am heading downriver towards the spots where we had found fish the day before.

We had a plan to fish the clean water line and follow it back up the river as the tide pushed the dirty water back in.

Unfortunately, the wind blowing overnight blew the dirty water line further up the river than the day before, which had us changing our plans.

We started hitting locations that had produced fish in the past, with not much luck other than a few missed hits.

Finally we found good numbers of fish sitting behind a rock pile halfway up the river in cleaner water.

On the first drop we found out what they were, with Phil coming up tight on a mid-sized black jewfish on a Zerek Fish Trap.

Hopeful that some barra might be mixed in with them, we kept trying our luck for only another small jew I got on a 3” Berkley Gulp Shrimp.

We could still see fish but confident they were all jew, we moved on looking for barra.

By now it was lunchtime and nothing else but a small flathead had graced the deck, so we were guessing where our next option was.

We continued heading upstream towards the city, fishing the odd spot along the way when we came across a school of fish near a rock bar close to Gavial Creek.

Looking at the sounder and after the day before, we could see it was another school of eagle rays.

Usually the rock bars between Devils and Gavial will hold a few fish but we couldn’t find anything on them.

We moved on and joined the hoards in the city, hoping we could crack a couple of barra to finish the day.

Well we managed to get one, though not a big fish.

At least we had managed to catch a barra in a barra comp.

With so many boats fishing the city region, we didn’t stay too long and had a quick fish back down the river before pulling the boat out by 3pm.

A chat over a few cold drinks and a barbecue that night and we had a plan in mind for the next day to hit a couple of rock piles that showed fish in the morning, then pull out and try our luck at Coorooman Creek.

The next morning we were on our spot just as 5am ticked over and goodsized fish were moving through.

What happened in the next hour both had us full of adrenalin and disappointment at the same time.

Phil’s first cast got nailed instantly and the fish proceeded to take off and pull good drag.

Unfortunately this was short lived because the hooked pulled soon after.

It was another 10 minutes before my plastic was nailed and I loaded up on a nice fish that soon came to the surface to show itself as a good size barra around the metre mark.

After fighting this fish for a few minutes and getting it close to the boat, another saw it wear through the leader.

A bit devastated, I retied a new leader, put on another plastic and started casting at the area again.

Nearing 6am, a small bump soon turned into

a good fish as the rod loaded up strongly.

The fish surfaced to show itself to be another good barra around the 90cm mark.

With its first jump, it shook its head and the lure came flying back at us.

The fish stayed on the surface to laugh at us, then slowly kicked off.

That was it for the bite and the fish moving through dropped away as the tidal movement slowed what could have been a cracking start if we had landed even one of these fish.

We sat in our sorrow for a few minutes deciding on our next plan.

With the odd fish still moving through and the tide soon to start running again, we decided to wait it out where we were.

It took a few hours and a lot of casting to get our next bit of interest, which came while jigging over a school of big fish hugging the bottom.

Straight away I came tight, with a lot of weight as it started pulling good drag.

After the morning’s luck, saying we were a bit nervous was an understatement.

It all held together and after a few minutes a nice threadfin salmon popped up next to the boat and slid into the net.

It was great to finally get a decent fish to the boat, and after doing all the photo requirements it stretched the tape to 114cm.

Fish were still showing on the sounder, so Phil dropped a vibe and hooked up straight away.

His hopes of a good thready were soon gone as the fish quickly came to the surface to show itself as a blue salmon.

The schools stayed around for a while longer but getting a bite from them was hard, no matter what we tried to entice them with.

Eventually they moved on altogether and we went

* continued P46

Unfortunately the team’s only barra for the comp was a small one that took a slowrolled plastic next to a bridge.

Phil had no luck on the threadfin but did catch a few blue salmon.

A good fish from the last day hooked on a 4” Z-Man MinnowZ.

Phil nailed this 70cm black jewfish from a rock pile on Zerek Fish Trap.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 45

2019 WRAP-UP

Tricky conditions at the Rocky Barra Bounty

A

T the end of October, the 2019 Gracemere Hotel Rocky Barra Bounty was run and won.

Confident use of your electronics will show in your results. Fitzroy barra in bite mode.

A fallen tree and barra on the Humminbird Helix G3N.

The month leading up to the competition was mint, with nice stable conditions and clean water around the neap tides making prefishing very easy.

The Fitzroy River was alive with bulk barramundi.

I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed, but when the conditions are perfect, barra numbers dramatically increase in the areas they hang out and they are easier to get a bite from using lures.

Nice warm water temperatures are a contributing factor.

Only a few days out from the comp, the weather gods certainly didn’t

The author with an 87cm barra from the Rocky Barra Bounty.

Competition Report

by JOHN BOON

smile down upon us.

Instead of the nice, stable conditions we had been accustomed to, a 20-25 knot southeasterly change was due to come through for the first day of competition.

Switched-on anglers were well aware of this.

We spent the Saturday and Sunday pre-fishing the Fitzroy with that imminent change in the front of our minds.

Plenty of barra could be easily sounded in the pre-fish – the biggest question was what they would be doing on the Monday when the weather changed?

We woke up Monday morning to hook the boat up and lo and behold the change met us at the front door.

The wind had cooled and intensity strengthened.

We were hoping for a few hours of fishing before the wind got up, but it wasn’t to be.

We pushed the boat off the trailer and went for a look around to see what the fish numbers were like.

Yes sir, those barra had moved.

Some spots that were holding 30 barra or more were now either devoid of life or holding a few scattered fish.

It was time to put the thinking cap on and adjust.

Teammate Derek Lee and I dug deep and thrashed the water to foam on day one.

Sometimes we would

only be casting at a few fish instead of the larger numbers.

Our plan started to work, with steady numbers of barra gracing the deck.

By the end of the first day we had boated six, with the biggest only around the mid-60cm range.

We were happy with our efforts and sitting in 12th place after day one.

Craig Griffiths had found quality, with his team Edge Rods/Barra Jacks landing a 90cm and 97cm fish along with others to give them top spot.

Local lads the Archer Brothers weren’t far behind, finding numbers of hungry barra.

As expected, no big scores came in, so most of the top spots were pretty close.

The real highlight for the day came from Ben Williams who managed to land a 1.19m barra right in the middle of town – what a beast.

Day two was a mirror image of the day before, with the southeasterly wind blowing hard right from kick-off.

Our plan was fairly similar to day one because we wanted to remain consistent over the two and a half days.

Our day couldn’t have started any better with an 87.5cm barra hitting the deck early.

A fish like that settles the nerves and we slid into the groove.

We spot hopped and kept the lures in front of the barra.

Steady numbers kept our score ticking over.

I thought a 74cm barra on the deck would be a good way to end the day but Derek had other ideas.

We snuck into the town reaches for a look with only about half an hour left.

I should have taken a photo of the boats because I’m sure almost every one of the 80 teams was there.

You could have walked across the boats.

We went about scanning some areas and found a few fish sitting tight to the rocks on the Humminbird Down Imaging.

We worked these fish for a while, changing angles and lures.

With only 10 minutes to go, my vibe got a hit but no hook-up.

Then Derek hooked a quality barra a few minutes later.

I looked at the clock and we had four minutes to go.

I told Derek to go hard.

He put extreme amounts of pressure on his new Dobyns rod and had that barra in the boat quick smart.

It was on the deck for a photo on the measuring device with two minutes

to go – what a rush!

We sat down after knock-off and enjoyed a beer watching all the boats race to the ramp to pull out.

There were some big movers on day two.

Colin Brett and Mick Slade put 10 fish in the boat to shoot up to third.

Griffo found more quality but fell back to second place and the Archer Brothers had now secured top spot.

We boated six, which kept us in the hunt at 10th place.

If I was a betting man, I would have put money on the Archer Brothers to take it out with the lead they had.

They were clear by a few thousand points with only the half-dayer to go.

It was a tough finish with the way the tides lined up.

We had a high tide start and could only fish the run-out until midday.

This was the day we didn’t want to mess up.

The first few hours of day three were tough and tense.

We couldn’t buy ourselves a barra bite. * continued P47

Paul Thompson and Bryan Pisani from team Bluefin with the 2019 Rocky Barra Bounty champion team shield.

Team Happy Hookers Rocky Barra Bounty round-up stopped moving through, and it was too late for our looking for other fish to plan to pull out and head hopefully get a bite from.

Moving back to a rock to Coorooman Creek.

We moved on, looking at pile that showed fish the previous day, it was again spots while heading back showing good numbers of upriver and finding ourselves around the Devils mid-sized fish.

It wasn’t long before I Elbow area.

Again with nothing to hooked up to a decent fish show for it, we pulled out on a prawn-style plastic.

We weren’t sure what around 3pm and went and it was because it didn’t handed in our tagging make any long runs but sheets for the day.

Another barbecue and a was doing plenty of short few beers were the order hard runs.

After fighting this fish of the evening.

With lines up by midday for a while, I got a quick look at what I thought to for the final day of fishbe a decent black jewfish ing, we decided to head before it took another run. back to where we had Unfortunately, only a found fish.

It was early to bed and few metres from the boat the hooks pulled, so we we were again on the will never know exactly water by 4am heading to where we wanted to what it was.

Phil then proceeded to be and arriving with 15 catch three smaller black minutes to spare, so we jew in quick time between sounded around.

Unlike the day before, 50cm and 60cm on a 3” nothing was showing on Z-Man plastic.

By now it was past mid- the sounder and the river day, the tidal run was al- conditions were different, most done, the fish had with the tide still coming Page 46 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 * from P45

in and the water dirty.

This threw us but with only a short day we were confident that once the tide changed and the clean water pushed back in, the fish would turn up.

We fished a few other spots including shallow timber and rocks, looking for a couple of small barra with no luck.

We then decided to head back and wait out the spot to see what would happen when the conditions were right.

It took an hour after the tide turned for the cleaner water to push back down the river.

It was like a light switch was thrown, with fish quickly starting to move through.

Once they began showing up, it wasn’t long until I hooked up to decent fish on a 4” plastic.

After a quick fight, a good threadfin slid into the net.

It was tagged, measured and photographed before I

gave it a long swim to let it recover enough to kick and swim away.

A quick check of the leader and I was back in the water.

Soon I got another subtle touch and loaded up again.

This one played up a bit more but after a good fight another solid thready popped into the net to receive the treatment.

This one was the smallest we caught for the comp at 106cm and it was back in the water extremely quickly and didn’t need much swimming before it was off.

Phil was using a vibe but soon changed to the same lure that was working for me.

Only a few casts later, I hooked up again.

After a nice fight, my third good thready at 112cm slid into the net.

I had to feel sorry for Phil because his lure had been past the same spot seconds before I hooked up.

Anyway, after a bit of

trash talk this fish was soon back in the water and swimming off.

Finally, Phil hooked up on the plastic but his luck with threadies wasn’t on and another good blue salmon played up next to the boat.

He wasn’t too worried because at least he had caught a fish rather than being an outstanding net man for me.

A quick glance at the sounder and we could see a good school of blue salmon had moved in.

Phil grabbed his rod with a vibe and promptly had another blue salmon in the boat.

The bites slowed after this.

Plenty of fish were still moving through but the hits were becoming less frequent.

I changed from the plastic and started throwing a Zerek Fish Trap that was soon nailed by a good size fish.

This one had us wonder-

ing what it was, with a different fight.

It wasn’t taking long runs but changing directions quickly all the time.

As I got the fish closer it became clearer as the good thready I had hooked was being chased by a bull shark.

Unfortunately, with the fish only a few metres from netting distance, the shark won the battle and took the back third of the fish.

We were now close to midday and the fish had shut down, so we decided to hit the rock pile that had given up a few fish.

Phil soon hooked up to a cracking fish that had him running around the boat while pulling a good amount of string.

We thought he had finally started winning the battle when it decided to take off again.

Unluckily for Phil, it went around the side of the rock pile and bricked him.

I think it would had been

a quality black jew.

With that it was lines up.

We sat down after a great half-day session to finish the comp.

Team Happy Hookers didn’t fare too well on the barra leader board, but Phil and I ended up first and second in the other species category.

Dinner and presentations were held at the Gracemere Hotel, with a fantastic feed and cold drinks a great way to end the comp.

Congratulations to the winners of the all the categories, with impressive numbers and sizes caught.

A massive thankyou also to the Infofish team, Shirley and Bill Sawynok and all the volunteers who make the competition run so well.

I hope everyone has a merry Christmas.

If you’re on the water, please stay safe with the extra boat traffic around.

Cheers and happy fishing from Gladdy. www.bnbfishing.com. au

2019 WRAP-UP

Barra Bounty proves a tough nut to crack

I

WAS lucky enough to fish the Rocky Barra Bounty this year with my mate Ben Monro as team Bush ‘n Beach.

We spent countless hours sorting lures, Googling areas and buying more lures leading into the competition.

I had fished the Barra Bounty a few times previously, but it had been a few years since my last visit to the mighty Fitzroy River.

Since then, the river has become a net-free zone, which has helped the Fitzroy emerge as one of the best barramundi and threadfin salmon rivers in Queensland.

We organised an Airbnb house with fellow BNB scribe Gary Churchward and his teammate Philipp Rolli.

I’ve known Gary for a number of years now and we always have a good time catching up over a few beers.

The Barra Bounty is organised around the best tides to help anglers catch as many fish as possible.

This year the Bounty started on a Monday and finished at lunch on a Wednesday.

The long days can be really tough on the body, especially when you’re

Competition Report

by KEITH STRATFORD

not catching fish.

Benny and I decided to head up early on the Friday morning before the comp started to have a look around.

Our first stop was Port Alma, which is an enormous area that holds plenty of fish.

My mate and another BNB scribe John Boon gave us a few pointers and areas to look around to see if we could get barra to bite.

The Port barramundi are renowned for being tough fish to get on lures.

Finding the fish seems to be the easy part, but being in the area when the fish want to eat is something that can only happen by spending time on the water.

We got Benny’s 4.5m Polycraft in the water just after lunch in a howling northerly.

Conditions weren’t ideal and the tide was the complete opposite to when we wanted to be there, but we went for a look anyway.

The barra tend to school in larger numbers closer to the bottom of the tide around the Port, so we weren’t too hopeful of

finding lot of fish because the tide had just hit high.

We sounded for a while and found a couple of fish, but they were in small groups of one or two fish.

The sound of a nice cold beer got us in the end and we pulled the pin and went into Rockhampton to have a rest.

The next morning we had a look up closer to the city reaches of the Fitzroy.

Heaps of boats were on the water pre-fishing, with five boats fishing the bridge in front of the ramp where we launched at 5am.

We pushed up towards Devils Elbow for a look where I had previously caught plenty of fish, but it was all looking a bit quiet.

I scored one little barra on a plastic cast tight to some rocks and Benny got a tarpon jigging over deep rocks.

We found one section loaded with solid sharks, with about 10 showing up on the sounder at one stage.

The highlight of the morning was seeing a crocodile swimming about 30m from the boat.

It went under a few times and we followed it and ended up seeing it on the sounder.

We pulled the boat out around midmorning and went back to the Riverside Caravan Park where we were staying while waiting for the other boys to arrive to settle into the Airbnb.

The Rocky Races just happened to be on that afternoon and were a short stroll down the road, so we settled in for a few beers and lost some money while trying to come up with some sort of plan for the Bounty.

We went back to Port Alma on the last pre-fish day before the competition started.

The tide was much better and the fish a lot easier to find.

We found a couple of patches and one school had about six fish in it, but they were moving around a bit.

The other school only had two fish, but these fish were staying in the same area.

Benny got a bump after a dozen casts but the fish missed the hook.

A few casts later, I got a light bump and set the hook in a solid barra.

It put on a good show, jumping around the boat.

It ended up measuring 94cm, which gave us a good place to start in the Bounty.

We didn’t make another cast but had a good look around, sounding up a few more patches of barra.

The briefing was held that night at the Gracemere Hotel before the first day of fishing on the Monday morning.

We were in our spot at 5am ready to make our first cast for the Bounty.

I threw the same plastic into the same spot where * continued P48

The author scored this baby barra towards the city reaches while pre-fishing for the Barra Bounty.

89cm of Double Deep-munching barramundi.

Tricky conditions at the Rocky Barra Bounty * from P46

Ben Williams with the biggest barra for the comp at 1.19m.

The author’s teammate Derek Lee with an impressive 84cm barra landed two minutes before knock-off on day two.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

The only thing we could land were small threadfin salmon and catfish.

A few mates were close enough to give me a ribbing about being the catfish king.

I admit I was super frustrated, especially when the boat behind us landed a quality barra.

We left our spot and went on the hunt working likely areas.

We were trolling when good barra showed on the Mega Down Imaging.

We spot locked and started to flick.

After about 15 minutes Derek’s plastic got picked up off the bottom on the pause and we were on.

We were relieved when the fish was on the deck and at 77cm it was the start we were hoping for.

I was up next after spotting likely suspects on the Side Imaging and casting in that direction.

I must have thrown it straight down the throat of a fish because the lure didn’t get to the bottom.

It was a solid fish at 87cm and we were flying high.

The next fish was a little rat of about 40cm that got winched straight into the boat.

Three fish in a 20-min-

ute period had our tails up.

The wheels fell off a bit after this and we dropped the next two at a different location.

One looked over 70cm, which hurt really badly, but that’s comp fishing.

Then right at the death Derek once again boated a barra with only two minutes to go!

It was only a rat but those rats can make all the difference on the scoreboard, so any barra is welcomed.

One of the best things about the Bounty is the scoreboard blackout on day three, with no scores updated to add to the suspense.

I’m pleased to announce our team Humminbird/Minn Kota finished in fourth place with 16 fish for 14,865 points and I wound up sixth on the individual list.

These are our best-ever results, so we were stoked with our efforts, especially in the trying conditions.

Past Bounty winners Craig Griffiths and Steve Pill of Barra Jacks/Edge Rods had been run down and took home third place with 14 barra for 17,610 points.

The Archer Brothers got runner-up with 14 barra for 18,800 points, which made it confusing

as to who had taken out the crown.

Paul Thompson and Bryan Pisani from Team Bluefin had been chipping away at the barra throughout the comp and then had a cracker last day that saw them grab the title.

The boys managed 19 barra boated for 18,905 points.

It was the first time they had won the Bounty and they were both in shock when it came time to give the winning speech.

Good on the lads – a great win in testing conditions.

Bryan came runner-up champion angler with 10 barra for 10,225 points, while Craig Griffiths took the top spot with 10 barra for 12,790 points.

Ben Williams took out biggest barra with his 1.19m beast from day one and also won the combined three biggest barra at 3120mm.

Fellow BNB scribe Gary Churchward won the other species category with six fish measuring 5225mm and Alex Raguse took out largest threadfin with a 1300mm cracker.

Infofish had predicted 520 barra for the comp and the final number came in at 372.

The weather was to

blame for the prediction being out.

If we had good conditions I feel we would have done even better than the prediction.

The presentation dinner at the Gracemere Hotel was once again a ripper.

Gavin Pits, take a bow for all the support you’ve shown the Barra Bounty over the years.

There are so many great sponsors it would take a full page to name them all, so a big thankyou to them all and everyone else who makes the Bounty what it is today.

Our MC for the event was a bloke by the name of Ben Jones, better known as GT Buster.

This guy had the crowd in stitches with many jokes and a great sense of humour.

So what are you waiting for?

Make sure you nominate for the 2020 Rocky Barra Bounty as soon as it becomes available.

Keep an eye on the Rocky Barra Bounty Facebook page for more information.

Is it February yet?

I’m hanging out to chase those salty silver slabs once again.

They are just so bloody addictive.

Catch ya next month.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 47

2019 WRAP-UP

Benny’s best barra for the Bounty came in at 88.5cm.

The author got this 94cm barra casting a 4.5” Molix RT Shad during pre-fishing at Port Alma.

Barra Bounty proves a tough nut to crack * from P47

The author hooked this barra with a minute to go in the 2019 Barra Bounty.

I had caught the barra on the previous day.

On the first hop I came up solid on something pulling a lot of drag.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t fighting like a barra and it turned out to be a dirty stingray.

We pestered three different schools of fish for the next six hours without getting a touch.

Feeling a bit disheartened, we went to another spot where there was a bit of rough structure.

On our first drift, Benny’s Zerek Live Cherabin got belted and he set the hook in a nice barra.

This 96cm black jew was a welcome surprise for the author. It was caught deep trolling a Killalure River Rat.

Benny’s first Rockhampton barra measured in at 82cm. It ate a Zerek Live Cherabin jigged among structure.

Page 48 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

It measured 82cm and got us on the board for the first day.

A couple of small bumps was all we could manage after that and we finished the first day with just the one barramundi.

Another 3am start saw us at the spot where Benny had caught the barra on the first day of competition.

It was looking a lot livelier around the low tide, with plenty of fish showing on the sounder.

We started jigging and casting a variety of plastics around the area.

The barra were more interested in prawn imitations then fish-shaped plastics.

We got plenty of bites early but couldn’t keep a hook in any of them.

Once the tide turned, the fish slowed, so we decided to troll deep divers over the rocks.

We chose a couple of Atomic Shiners in 85 Double Deep spec.

These are great lures that can get down to 6-7m in the right conditions.

Fellow BNB scribe Brad Smith uses these lures a lot on his mangrove jack charters on the Gold Coast and Tweed River.

It didn’t take long to get attention from the barra on the Double Deeps.

The hardest part was dragging them out of the structure.

We lost a few lures to bust-offs before one of them played nice for me and slid into the net.

It measured 83cm and got us on the board for day two.

We lost more fish that afternoon, I landed a couple of nice fingermark and Benny got a goldspotted estuary cod.

That night we rigged all my Double Deeps up with new trebles ready for a rematch on the last morning.

We had worked out there were two bite periods we needed to target.

One was first thing in the morning until about

7am, then another from at 11am-1pm.

The final day of the Bounty wraps up at midday, so we weren’t going to get the whole lunchtime bite.

The day started well, with plenty of barra showing up and eating our Double Deeps.

We had two fish in the boat early, both measuring just under 90cm.

We lost some really good fish to structure and straightened trebles.

The 89cm fish I landed had one of Benny’s Double Deeps on the side of its head when we landed it.

As the tide got up, we put some deeper diving lures on.

Killalure River Rats and Classic Dr Evils were sent down to the danger zone.

Benny missed a barra on a Dr Evil before my River Rat got smashed.

This fish played a bit nicer and swam out in the open.

We were a little surprised to see a solid black jewfish pop up.

We thought it was a barra for the whole fight, as none of the barra we had hooked had jumped.

As we expected, the fish started to feed about half an hour before the competition ended and we hooked five in six trolls.

We got busted off, straightened trebles and pulled hooks.

With two minutes to go, we had our last troll and I hooked a good size fish.

This time I gave it plenty and tried towing it out to avoid getting busted off again.

The fish jumped straight away, which got it out of the structure and made it easier to tow into the open.

The only problem with going hard on a barra is straightening trebles.

Thankfully this one held on and it gave us three barra for the day.

We learnt a lot over the week of fishing.

Unfortunately, we worked it out a bit too late to do any good in the Bounty this year.

Next year we’ll be tak-

ing 100 Double Deeps ready to go to war again.

The Barra Bounty is a great competition and always well run.

The Fitzroy River is a massive system that holds some of the biggest barra and threadfin salmon in the country.

The winning team landed 19 barra to take it out.

A total of 372 barra were captured during the comp, with seven measuring over a metre.

The biggest fish went 119cm and was caught in the city reaches of the Fitzroy.

Thanks to Ben Collins and the crew at Bush ‘n Beach for helping us to fish the 2019 Barra Bounty.

Hopefully we will get up there next year for a bit of revenge!

This 83cm barra was trolled up on an Atomic Shiner 85DD. It was the standout lure for team Bush ‘n Beach during the Bounty.

The author scored two fingermark this size while trolling Killalure River Rats.

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A double hook-up for Fiona and Reece with a good size fingermark and grunter.

One of many longtail tuna hooked by casting slices at bait balls.

Chasing longtail tuna on the central coast

A

S we move into summer, the warmer northerly wind becomes more prevalent in the Mackay region.

This is the time to get out on the water and chase pelagics such as longtail tuna.

The wind blowing from the north and anywhere to the east triggers these tackle busters into feeding mode.

An even better scenario is a few days of easterly wind to push all the bait schools up against the coast before the wind turns to blow from the north.

When anglers line up

Fishing Mackay

by JASON KIDD

these conditions, their probability of a successful venture increases infinitely.

Locate the bait and that is where the fish will be.

The bait schools can be easily spotted on most quality sounders and in the right conditions can gather in massive schools covering hundreds of square metres.

These schools will become very dense as they are pushed closer and closer together by predators.

They can be spotted by eye and appear as dark patches in the water, looking like a cloudâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shadow on the surface.

When these schools are herded against the coast with nowhere to go, things can really start firing up.

Many predators will take advantage of this from both below and above the water.

As the fish start feeding on the large bait schools, they break up into small bait balls and then as they are pushed up to the sur-

face they are exposed to aerial attacks from birds.

Birds working the surface is like a beacon to an angler looking for these fish, and this sight can really get your heart and adrenalin pumping when it happens on a big scale.

The temptation is to race over to the feeding frenzy and start throwing lures or trolling straight through them.

This can occasionally result in a hook-up but nine times out of 10 it just pushes the predators down, scatters the bait and turns the whole event off.

Often the better method of attack is to watch * continued P50

Paige and JJ hooked a couple of good spotty mackerel while trolling lures along bait schools.

Offshore Great Barrier Reef fishing

Inshore

Net-Fre

e Zone

Land-based beache

s and creeks

Stocked impoundments

Something for everyone www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, December 2019 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Page 49

Mud crabs finally moving at Stanage

‘T

IS the season to be jolly!

Not just because Christmas is upon us but for the rain, muddies and fish!

Showers and storms have stirred up our mud crabs and they’re wandering out of hiding for the first time in what seems an eternity, just in time for a Christmas feast.

If you don’t have a boat, you can place pots on the banks off Porters Creek, or if you’re out boating, head for the creeks within Quail Island.

Saltwater barramundi season is currently closed, so you can remove this species from your target list and focus on a selection of other great fish in the area.

Usually jewfish are a great source of entertainment but these are also off-limits due to recent changes introduced by Fisheries Queensland.

The quota of fish allowed to be taken has now been met, so black jew are on the no-take list until the new year.

This quota rolls over from the commercial fish-

An exceptional coral trout.

Stanage Bay

by PEE WEE

ing industry, so once they reach their quota numbers, recreational fishers can no longer catch the species either.

Notices are regularly posted to the Fisheries Queensland Facebook page, but if you’re not tech savvy it may pay to give the department a call on 13 25 23 to confirm and save a world of hurt in fines on the water.

Bream, salmon, cod and whiting are all easily accessible within Stanage Bay and taste great.

Calm weather hot spots have brought out beautiful coral trout around the Percy Isles.

Hexham Island has produced a few smaller species including stripies, rockcod, small trout and baitfish to keep you occupied.

The Marbles always present good opportunities for catching all these species.

With so many places

to choose from, you’re bound to get enough for a decent feed.

The dirt road is in pretty good nick.

The first half from the highway is pristine and the second half slightly corrugated but still on the good end of the scale.

Camping spots and housing accommodation are still available across varied dates of the holidays, so start planning your trip today.

The Stanage Bay boat ramp project is now complete and looks amazing.

A big thankyou to all involved for making this place just that bit more spectacular.

Summertime storms are rolling in and are welcomed.

Please be ready for these if camping, so your belongings and family are kept safe and sound.

It’s time to start writing out those Christmas wish lists.

Whether it be a new boat, rod, reel or a few new pots, I hope you make Stanage Bay the place to test them out.

You will not be disappointed.

Enjoy your holidays, stay safe and be sure to have a very merry Christmas!

Stanage Bay Marine

oAccommodationoBaitoIce oTackle

Aparadise fisho's

Monster crabs

Awesome fishing

stanagebay.com Call 07 4937 3145

The Stanage boat ramp upon completion.

Stocking fillers available from Stanage Bay Marine and Accommodation.

Chasing longtail tuna on the central coast * from P49

f

Jason Kidd

0457 254 740

Page 50 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

the action for a few minutes and try to determine which way the fish are feeding: into the current or the wind.

Then using this knowledge, position yourself in front of the direction they are working and let the fish come to you.

Turn your engine off or drop the electric motor to allow minor adjustments to position to line up that collision course and be ready.

As the saying goes, matching the hatch is the best way to go when selecting a lure.

Tuna usually feed on small bait only 50-60mm long.

A small metal slice or slug about the same length is a good place to start if you can put the lure in front of the fish.

These smaller lures can be difficult to get into casting range to tempt a fish.

The right rod and reel can extend your casting distance and help increase your catch rate.

A 6-10kg stick matched

with a quality 4000-5000 spin reel, 20-25lb braid and 40lb fluorocarbon leader will allow a decent casting range and give you enough muscle to get these fish back to the boat.

Casting your lure so as it lands within feet of busting fish can be the challenge.

It requires the angler to anticipate which way the fish will move and a great deal of timing.

Often they can change direction while your cast is still in the air, resulting in your lure landing in no man’s land.

When you do get it all lined up, the take is usually instantaneous and happens within the first few metres of the retrieve or the lure impacting on the water.

Then it’s hold on time.

A longtail tuna’s first run is an explosive and awesome thing to be connected to.

Generally they will do four or five blistering runs on the surface, sometimes with a few mates following, before diving deep to battle it out.

This is when they really work the angler, often hav-

ing you running around the boat in circles for the next 15 minutes before you get a landing shot.

They are truly one of the

great sportfish to target and pose a serious challenge to anglers and their tackle, so make sure you are prepared.

James with a queenfish caught throwing lures at bait schools.

James with a solid golden trevally caught on a micro jig.

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Luke enjoyed an offshore day with Barry and Shane, catching great fish including this turrum.

Big coral trout have been about.

Fishing getting better and better at Hinchy

F

IRST, a big g’day to everyone and I hope this finds you all well.

I can’t believe December is here already.

It’s been a whirlwind year, with highs and lows on the fishing front as well as the weather.

The fishing has been good of late but a little patchy in places.

Both inshore and offshore charters are seeing better catches and only on the odd day here and there are the fish off doing their own thing.

For something a little different, we will have a look at the offshore fishing first.

This month we managed numerous trips out to the reefs, with several absolutely glassed-out days and a few bumpy rides thrown in for good measure.

On a few trips we were restricted to the islands due to the wind, which saw us chasing GTs, and as usual they mostly played their part by hitting lures with gusto.

Hinchinbook News

by TEAM CRACKAJACK

Some extra-large units made off with some poppers and had us scratching our heads as to how we were going to stop them, while others gave us a solid workout when they broke cover and the hooks set.

The better days saw us visiting various reefs and netting some good results, with nice catches of coral trout, redthroat emperor, coronation trout, spangled emperor, hussar and stripy sea perch, as well as small and large-mouth nannygai making an appearance.

Sharks are still prolific and a pain in the proverbial, but more so on certain reefs like the inner grounds and those areas fished heavily.

They are there for an easy meal and have learnt a hooked fish is just that.

The only way past them

is getting the fish up fast, which is difficult when a quality fish is hooked.

Trying to get a good size fish turned off the bottom and to the top is almost impossible and any pause to readjust your grip or reposition the rod will result in an extra weight added to your catch until the taxman has taken his cut or the line ultimately gives out.

We no longer fish certain productive spots due to the sheer number of large sharks present, which is unfortunate but necessary.

On to the inshore days.

The Hinchinbrook Channel and various waterways running off it have produced better numbers of mangrove jack and bigger units at that.

Using live baits and lures has seen the best

results for these hardfighting fish.

At this time of year we have a closed season on saltwater barra, so they are strictly off-limits and we have ceased targeting them but they still turn up while we are chasing other species.

A couple of nice fish have hesitantly smacked lures and livies on certain days.

Some good catches of estuary cod, striped grunter (some up around 60cm), fingermark, mangrove jack, juvenile GTs and trevally were also thrown into the mix.

With the weather starting to warm, it makes sense to stock your Esky with plenty of water to stay hydrated.

Sunscreen applied regularly will ensure your trip out chasing fish is a good one.

We still have some days open for fishing during December, so if you are thinking of booking a trip, you should inquire now to ensure a seat.

We have had a ball fishing throughout the year and have met some dead set characters and wonderful people from all walks of life, with some

visiting us locally while others have been from further afield.

We look forward to fishing with you all again.

From all of us here at Crackajack Sportfishing Adventures, we would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and safe and prosperous New Year.

Until next time, may the winds stay low and the fish count high.

Crackajack guide Damien enjoyed a day fishing and caught a cracker grunter.

Two mates Tom and Matt enjoyed some R&R with a multi-day fishing package and had fun chasing mangrove jack.

Two full-time local guides!

Full-day inshore or offshore charters 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!

• Two boats available catering for groups of 2-8 • 3 to 7-day packages including accommodation T: 07 4777 2968 M: 0417 192 318 E: barra@crackfish.com The crew enjoyed the company of Michael, Caleb and Garry. Some quality fish were caught offshore including coral trout and emperor.

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CheCk out our website >>> CraCkfish.Com Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 51

Exploring Cape York’s east coast I BET a host of Queenslanders don’t realise our state actually has a west coast – and it stretches along a coastline equivalent to the distance from the Gold Coast to the Whitsundays!

An average-sized GT taken while trolling one of the reef passages. Josh and Tracey were the lucky fishers.

That coastline has only three towns along its length – Karumba, Weipa and the five communities that make up the Northern Peninsula Area, as well as three indigenous settlements at Kowanyama, Pormpuraaw and Aurukun – all up housing

A magnificent coronation trout! Have a look at those chunks missing from the soft plastic. Steve Wust with another hot-running reefy.

The author with a typical east coast coral trout. This one was taken on a Halco Madeyes Paddle Prawn, a personal favourite for this style of fishing.

Steve with a ripper red bass that grabbed a Berkley Gulp Jerk Shad. These beauties go back due to their reputation as a carrier of ciguatera.

Page 52 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

The Remote North

by DAVE DONALD

fewer voters than the average Brisvegas suburb.

That’s probably the reason why permanent residents up this way often have the feeling they’ve been largely forgotten on the political front!

But there’s a similar stretch on the eastern side that is even less populated.

North of Cooktown (and Hopevale) an almost equivalent length of coastline to the Gulf of Carpentaria side contains only a single small indigenous community: Lockhart River.

The airstrip here was once part of a large military base during World War II where US and Australian bombers flew hundreds of missions to New Guinea and the Pacific Islands, their actions contributing considerably to the turning back of Japanese forces at that critical stage of the fighting.

That original airbase was established using an existing jetty at nearby Portland Roads via a road through what is now the rainforest of the Iron Range National Park.

These port facilities were established in the early part of the 20th century to serve the productive Wenlock Goldfield, whose shafts were flooded during the hiatus that occurred during the War and were subsequently abandoned.

Unfortunately, the remains of that jetty were demolished in the 1990s.

These days, a small settlement at Portland Roads sits on the only freehold land along that entire coast.

It’s a steep, well protected little bay that overlooks the waters of the Coral Sea and the Great Dividing Range to the north.

A couple of accommodation venues are available here but they are almost always heavily booked.

A short distance south, limited camping sites are offered within the national park at nearby Chilli Beach.

Chilli is a popular destination with Cape travellers during the tourist season but its beachfront is wide open to the trade winds that blow during the dry season.

You’ve probably heard about wind strong enough to ‘blow a dog off its chain’.

Well, that describes conditions at Chilli perfectly for most of the months between June and October each year.

It’s the foulest of fishing conditions you can possibly experience.

Luckily, some very wellprotected camping sites lie among the coconut trees and rainforest.

All that changes when the visitors have disappeared south and the

build-up to the wet season arrives.

Known as the ‘doldrums’, the wind drops, the sea glasses out and the water clears – perfect fishing conditions.

But there’s a downside!

The humidity goes through the roof, making it very bloody hot and oppressive, a sure sign the storms that herald the wet are not too far away.

Of course, if the storms get too heavy or the wet sets in, road travel can be very, very treacherous indeed.

However, the physical discomfort and need to drive for four to five hours over mostly unsealed roads is, for many of Weipa’s keen fishers, a small price to pay for the opportunity to fish the almost pristine waters of the nearby Great Barrier Reef.

The Chilli Beach campsites tend to become a ‘little Weipa’ enclave during November, chock full of dusty tinnies and four-wheel-drives as soon as the forecast mentions ‘light winds’.

On a good day, in the average 4-5m craft, the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef is just over an hour from the Portland Roads boat ramp.

The ramp is a fairly rudimentary affair, accessible only from half tide up.

Some campers opt to launch their vessel and bring it around to Chilli Beach where it can be moored overnight as long as the weather holds.

The state of the tide here must also be taken into consideration because wading or swimming can offer exposure to box jellyfish and crocodiles, both hazards the Weipa locals consider an acceptable part of their outback lifestyle.

I’ve managed to line up two trips to the ‘east coast’ in the past couple of years and they’ve been memorable experiences.

Quite a few years back, I decided to exclude bait from all my reef fishing ventures, preferring to use soft plastics and various jigs instead.

That approach might not get the number of bites good bait generally produces but when a fish does come along, it’s commonly of decent size.

Fishing soft plastics re-

quires a change in mindset to get good results.

If you remember that the lure generally has an action even with the slightest rod movement or current flow, then factor that into your fishing technique and the results will flow.

Most softies require nothing more than a slow lift of the rod tip or a slight jiggling action to make them appealing to a predator.

They do not need to be jerked madly or quickly like a metal lure.

If you’re drifting under the influence of a light wind or current, then the typical soft plastic will be moving enough to get a bite, even when holding the rod stationary.

I’ve hooked quite a few inquirers with the rod in a holder while helping a hooked-up companion land a fish.

Treat a soft plastic ‘almost like a bait’ and the results will come.

When a touch is felt, resist the urge to strike straight away.

Instead, drop the rod tip slowly towards the fish and wait for weight to come on the line – that usually only takes a couple of seconds, at most.

When that weight is felt, lift the rod firmly to set the hook and be ready for the surge that follows.

Those first 20 seconds of a fight are really critical if it’s a decent fish and you must use maximum pressure to steer it away from the reef.

Bites don’t happen like that all the time, sometimes the rod just smashes down and you’re on.

As far as hardware is concerned, jig heads from 1-2oz fitted with heavy hooks will generally handle the necessary water depth and current where fish are located.

Soft plastics such as the Halco Madeyes Paddle Prawns in 5” and 7” and Berkley Gulp Jerk Shads and Nemesis in similar

sizes are a couple of favourites.

My favourite reef outfit consists of a Banax Kingpin 5000 reel loaded with 50lb Platypus braid mounted on an LJ Custom Xyoga short-stroker jig rod.

Leader is 80lb Platypus Hard Alloy mono.

The majority of the Barrier reefs open to fishing have been worked over by the live trout boats, including those off Portland Roads.

However, these commercial fishers are only interested in smaller justlegal coral trout for live fish exports, not the larger models that generally live in deeper water.

This means 4-5kg coral trout of several varieties are still very abundant along the wider reefs in this area.

Along with the trout, you can encounter plenty of the other reef regulars including sweetlip, tuskfish, cod, red bass, jobfish and trevally as well as nannygai and red emperor in the really deep stuff.

Mackerel and barracuda also haunt the reef edges, while yellowfin tuna, wahoo and dogtooth tuna can be found a little wider.

The water clarity over the shallow reefs is generally exceptional, so it’s difficult not to want to get in the water and have a look around via mask, snorkel and flippers.

Many boats carry spear guns in the hope of coming face to face with a big trout or similar.

It’s important to wear a stingersuit or wetsuit before jumping over the side because medical help is a long way away if an Irukandji spoils the party.

The east coast reefs off Lockhart River are a long way from anywhere but they are definitely worth the trip when the weather comes good.

It’s a tiny haven in a very remote coastline that few get to experience – and long may it remain that way!

Loading the boats off Chilli Beach for a day on the reef. Look at that water clarity!

Getting ready to launch at the Portland Roads ramp after a five-hour drive from the other side of the Cape.

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The Lyon family about to go snorkelling around Hope Islands, with the stunning Cooktown to Bloomfield coast in the background.

Hop to it and enjoy epic Cape York T HIS is a seriously exciting time of year!

For while barramundi in tidal waters remain off the target list, the reefs and headlands on both sides of Cape York are now beckoning.

Doldrums weather generally rules at this time of year, having taken over from the blustery ‘mango winds’ (there can be exceptions though).

Nothing is quite like boating seawards on a glassed-out sea, keen with anticipation as to what you might catch, enjoying one of the most beautiful seascapes and coastlines on the planet.

For those fairly new to tropical reef fishing, habitats worth targeting include the reef drop-offs, particularly where ‘canyons’ occur (try a variety of depths), isolated pinnacles, bommies and rubble areas away from the main reef.

Pressure points where the current first hits the reef can really go off.

Travelling from the south, Cooktown is the first obvious fishing destination on the east coast, with wonderfully productive reefs only half an hour away by boat, and other crackers not much further.

Cooktown has a great range of services, including the ‘Lure Shop’ and a camping and boating/ RV store.

From here, Boulder and Egret reefs are close, and probably fished the most for that reason.

However, they still produce well.

Further east of Boulder is Big Uncharted, while Cairns Reef, Rosser Reef and a few smaller one are south(ish).

All are cracker fishing locations at times.

You can also enjoy a good snorkel at the Hope Islands, where you can also rest or have lunch under the shady trees.

The twin boat ramps in the Endeavour River at Cooktown are the best to launch from.

The Annan River just to the south has a good ramp, however the river downstream from here is very shallow and typically unnavigable on the lower half of the tide – as is just outside the river mouth.

You can also beach www.bnbfishing.com. au

Cape York

by ‘BILLABONG’ BAZZ LYON

launch smaller boats at the beautiful Archer Point, south of Cooktown, and even camp there with some nice shady spots.

This is a good option for more quickly accessing Cairns and Rosser reefs and Hope Islands than from Cooktown.

Now, if you want to see one of the most spectacular coastlines in the land, boat down from Archer Point, past Whalebone Beach to the stunning Cedar Bay. Here, lush tropical rainforests clothe rugged mountainsides and headlands, interspersed with small, secluded, sandy beaches.

It’s just magic!

Mention of Cedar Bay brings to attention another great, but much lesser known destination for reef and river fishing.

And that’s the Ayton/ Bloomfield area about 75km south of Cooktown.

You can launch at the boat ramp in the Bloomfield River just south of Ayton and gain access to more beautiful coral reefs.

The Bloomfield, a mountain river that tumbles down a beautiful waterfall onto the coastal plain just inland of Wujal Wujal Aboriginal community, is also worth fishing for tropical estuary species.

Here, barramundi and mangrove jack are prominent captures.

This is a wonderfully scenic area, accessed from the south via the four-wheel-drive Bloomfield Track (from Cape Tribulation onwards).

The track features seriously steep climbs but is a truly beautiful scenic drive.

Coming south from Cooktown, the road (past the Lions Den Hotel and Rossville) is now all bitumen, and traverses a beautiful stretch of country.

Ayton itself has the Bloomfield Beach Camp and Haleys Cabins and Camping as accommodation options, and a small store in the township offers basic supplies and take-away tucker.

Heading northwards on the Cape, by now many

coastal national park destinations have been closed for the imminent wet season due to the risk of people getting stranded.

However, Kutini-Payamu National Park (formerly Iron Range) near Lockhart River Aboriginal community may remain open if the weather holds.

Here, you can beach launch from the camping area at Chilli Beach and experience excellent fishing relatively close by, and of course out wider on the GBR. A good sounder will help you locate small reefs and rubble that can be super productive for fingermark, large-mouth nannygai and coral trout.

Be aware that estuarine crocodiles live all the way around the Cape York coastline, so snorkelling is not a good idea here!

Weipa on the west coast is well known as a prime fishing destination.

The reefs inshore are often fairly small but usually hold great numbers of fish, with fingermark and tuskfish common captures.

Always keep an eye out for bait balls being hammered by longtail tuna too.

Quickly retrieved slugs/ blades will almost certainly result in hook-ups with these hard-fighting and great-tasting fish (particularly when made into sashimi!).

Another great option is to camp at Cullen Point at Mapoon Aboriginal community, about 80km north of Weipa, and access Kerr and other reefs.

A top spot, again with magic coastal scenery.

The Northern Peninsula Area is the next and most northerly fishing destination, offering great estuary, pelagic and reef fishing.

Boats can be launched at Jackey Jackey Creek, Seisia and Cowal Creek at Injinoo, allowing you to again venture into remarkable sea and estuarine country.

Collectively, the four Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities offer campgrounds, often

with cabins, food stores and mechanical services.

Bamaga also has a hotel with limited take-away supplies.

This is a magical area, with a tropical flavour all of its own.

At this time of year you will often see lightning flashing away over New Guinea, just across the Torres Strait.

Coastline wise, there are just too many productive stretches along the Cape to mention individually.

Suffice to say the rocky headlands, bays and nearby waters can produce a fantastic range of fish such as fingermark, mangrove jack, goldspotted cod, maori sea perch, coral trout, both species of salmon and pelagics such as trevally, queenfish, spanish mackerel and cobia.

So if the wind is up or you feel like a change from the magnificent coral reefs, head for a sheltered section of coast.

Be aware that along the Cape a sea breeze will typically kick in around midday at this time of year, often reaching 20 knots.

This will be a westerly (ish) on the west side of the Cape, and a northeaster along the east coast.

They are not dangerous winds for a seaworthy boat and good skipper, however the resulting steep chop can make the trip home rough and slow.

It’s common practice now on the Cape that anglers fish the morning, have a bite to eat in the middle of the day and then tootle off home when the sea breeze starts to develop.

This way you’ve got plenty of time at home to fillet the fish, clean the boat and later as the sun sets against a glowing sky, share a feed of fresh fish with family and friends.

Living the dream!

Also be aware that December can be the month when the wet season properly sets in, though statistics indicate this generally happens after about the 20th.

However, statistics are just statistics, and there are plenty of examples of when the monsoon has arrived earlier or later.

Otherwise, thunderstorm activity is usually about, especially along

the western half of the Cape.

It obviously pays to keep a weather eye out and check forecasts.

Wishing everyone a great festive season!

Stay safe and enjoy the superb fishing!

An arm-stretching giant trevally hooked on a popper.

A cracker lure-caught passionfruit trout taken wide of Chilli Beach on northeastern Cape York.

Josh Lyon with a nice fingermark. A prime capture on both sides of the Cape. This one fell victim to a Berkely Gulp plastic.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 53

The build-up to the wet

T

HE thousands of tourists who flock to Cape York have now headed south for fear of being cut off by flooded waterways.

Matt Arkell took a solid trout on a knife jig.

The author landed a solid 25kg GT. Hard work in hot conditions.

Unfortunately, those travellers who are keen fishers miss some of the best weather windows that come with the build-up to the wet season.

December is certainly an exciting time of year.

It is hot and humid and the weather, while unpredictable, can really turn it on.

The wind will drop out completely (we are talking zero knots) and the seas become oily calm as the doldrums take effect.

Those who call the Torres Strait and Cape York home are ready to pounce on these weather windows.

After seven months of relentless southeasterly trade winds hammering the east coast, the doldrums are the time to dust off the heavier tackle, grab a stash of jerry cans and travel wider to explore, fish and dive untouched reef systems.

This year I have a few mates coming to visit, so hopefully the weather plays the game and we can get wide.

Spanish mackerel are in good numbers in December and can be found patrolling reef edges and

Christmas gift idea!

A subscription to Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine

1 YEAR

50

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Cape York & Torres Strait

by MATT POTTER

Being a keen spearfisher who has observed the behaviour of trout in their domain, I believe the strike on these big knife jigs could be territorial. pressure points.

They are often seen rocketing skywards out of the water as they smash garfish swimming anxiously near the surface.

Trolling wog head lures rigged with gar and Rapala X-Rap Magum 30’ hard-bodies is very effective for targeting these awesome fish.

Large-mouth nannygai, red emperor, coral trout and fingermark are several other species I specifically target during this time.

The anticipation is high as we push wider to areas that see little to no pressure.

This factor, along with the deeper water, results in larger specimens of these species than we would encounter in the shallower waters around Thursday Island.

It still takes hard work and a lot of hours to find new ground.

The Furuno 587 setup with Airmar 1kW throughhull transducer reads well at speed, which is crucial for finding new ground.

After running over a lump of interest, often at 23 knots, I back off and spin the boat around, following my trail back to the rock (or on rare occasions a wreck) to further check it out.

The crew will drop baits on their paternoster rigs, usually with strips of spanish mackerel as bait, but we often drop plastics too.

If there is no interest, I keep moving.

Occasionally the rods buckle over and I know we are in for a good session, that is, if the sharks leave us alone.

Large knife jigs up to

400g are also worth dropping and are particularly effective on larger coral trout in the deeper water.

Being a keen spearfisher who has observed the behaviour of trout in their domain, I believe the strike on these big knife jigs could be territorial.

I love to venture into the remote sand cays to step off the boat, stretch the legs, have a swim to cool off and cook up a feed.

While it is meant to be a break from fishing and diving, usually we can’t help ourselves and soon dash back to the boat to grab the fishing rods and a handful of lures to flick around the cay for GTs. It can be a lot of fun sight casting these fish and they will often follow the lure all the way to the beach and hit it at your feet, which certainly gets the heart racing.

With the intense heat and humidity, storms brew quickly.

Sometimes they are only

small cells we are able to motor around and avoid.

Other times it seems like Armageddon and we bunker down on the lee side of a sand cay and have no choice but to ride it out.

It is at times like these I really admire the holding power of the Manson Supreme Anchor.

While other boats I have travelled with have had issues and lost or dragged anchors, the Manson has never let me down and allows me to sleep peacefully when camping in remote areas.

This December we have our sights on pushing wider than ever before and completing a 600km round trip in just a fourday weather window.

Of course, careful planning and the alignment of a few stars will be required for this to happen.

The rewards would certainly be high, with the chance to come up tight on dogtooth and yellowfin tuna, dolphinfish, wahoo, green jobfish and sailfish just a few reasons why this trip has been on the bucket list for nearly eight years.

Fingers crossed we can make a fishing dream a reality.

I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable festive season with plenty of fish and quality family time.

Check out the Fishing Missions Facebook page and YouTube Channel to follow our remote adventures.

Cheers!

The author with a double of trout on new ground.

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The author held a fingermark and red to be released into the Esky.

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C ARAVANNING & adventure

Overlooking the Ord River.

Ivanhoe Crossing is a magical location.

East Kimberley a simply spectacular spot

W

E have finally done it and made our way into Western Australia and the Kimberley region.

The road from the Northern Territory through to Kununurra is great, with spectacular scenery and plenty of points of interest along the way.

We came through Timber Creek on the Victoria River, which is very picturesque.

The Victoria River is well known for its barramundi fishing and offers some sightseeing cruises down the river with amazing gorges meeting the banks, with all the red rock changing colour on daybreak and dusk.

It also has Gregory’s Tree, a boab tree carved back in 1855 by explorer Augustus Charles Gregory, perched on the banks of the mighty Victoria River.

This is where the first settlers tried to colonise part of the Kimberley.

You really must stop and check out this mighty boab.

Just past the Victoria River Roadhouse is a beautiful escarpment walk where you can hike up to the top of the jumpup and look down the valley, watching the Victoria River wind its way through the valley and out to the ocean.

One of the jewels of the east Kimberley is the mighty Lake Argyle.

When full it holds 70 times the amount of water in Sydney Harbour and is 980sq km in surface area.

This place is simply amazing and we ended up staying longer than expected due to the sheer beauty of the lake and

Caravanning

by TODD EVELEIGH

how well Lake Argyle Resort is run.

Every night at the tourist park there was awesome live music and entertainment.

They also had a licensed bar and restaurant, and being perched on top of a hill overlooking the lake wall and the lake itself, the location really was something!

We put the tinnie in on one of the glassed-out days and went for a run up the lake.

The lake is so wide that in the middle sections you can hardly see land.

The water is extremely clean and a great temperature for swimming.

Lake Argyle has an estimated resident population of freshwater crocodiles numbering over 30,000.

When cruising along the edges of the lake you will regularly see them.

We found they were quite shy and slid into the water and to the bottom.

This was quite amusing because the water was so clear you could still see them sitting there.

Lake Argyle is home to the silver cobbler fishery where they net catfish and process them to be sold all over the world.

It also has a sooty grunter population, sleepy cod, garfish, spangled perch and eel-tailed catfish.

Lake Argyle has a 30mW hydropower station set up at the base of the lake wall providing a clean and renewable energy source.

The Ord is one of the fastest-flowing rivers dur-

Gregory’s Tree.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

ing the wet season and that made it an ideal location to build a dam wall.

Not only did the government have the foresight to tap a renewable energy source through the hydro station, but also to implement a successful irrigation scheme, with the fertile plains of the lower Ord River now one of the more successful agricultural areas of Australia.

A trip to Lake Argyle wouldn’t be complete without a dip in the iconic infinity pool of Lake Argyle Resort.

However, I found the pool very cold, even though it is in direct sunlight all day and warm conditions of 30C-plus.

This pool really took our breath away with both the scenery and the ice-cold water.

Not far from the resort is a walk that goes up to a lookout overlooking the lake wall, the power station and the mighty Ord carving its way down this ancient red rock towards Kununurra and east of Wyndham.

This east Kimberley country is really breathtaking.

I can’t recommend Lake Argyle Resort highly enough.

The polite staff members were exceptional and the whole experience was truly amazing.

If you are driving through this stretch of Australia, try to stop in and see a couple of our favourites.

Kununurra is just down the road from Lake Argyle.

Thanks to the hydro scheme of Lake Argyle, everything in this lovely little town is beautiful, green and lush.

It really feel like an oasis in the rugged country, with water everywhere.

Some things we really enjoyed while staying at Kununurra were a trail ride with Yeehaa Trail Rides; Hoochery Distillery, which is a boutique rum distillery that had lots of character; the San-

dalwood Factory; a night spent at the rodeo with another travelling family; and my favourite, the iconic Ivanhoe Crossing which by the way was where I caught my first WA barra while having a flick one afternoon – you beauty!

We stayed at the Ivanhoe Caravan Park, which was fantastic value for money and included a great swimming pool and clean amenities.

Another interesting fact about Kununurra was it had the cheapest fuel we’ve found in Australia so far – work that out!

A great day trip from Kununurra is the drive to Wyndham Five Rivers Lookout.

This lookout offered a view where we could see all five rivers running back into the main channel or junction.

It was epic to see the Durack, Pentecost, King, Forrest and mighty Ord rivers from one spot.

This place looked like the big barra capital of Australia but unfortunately I didn’t fish it.

But hey, some places you have to come back to and dedicate solely to fishing, and this place has a big red circle around it for a future trip.

The view from the Five Ways was truly spectacular and well worth the drive.

I hope this inspires you to check out Kununurra and the east Kimberley area.

It really is a wonderful part of Australia and as a fishing location has so much to offer, with not only those five rivers I mentioned but also the Keep River on the NT and WA border, which is a renowned barra fishery.

The local fish stocking association and council have done a brilliant job in stocking Lake Kununurra with over a million barra and these fish are approaching the metre mark, so the fishing options really are endless.

Stay tuned for next month when we start the Gibb River Rd – oh boy!

Cruising Lake Argyle.

Raylene and Bridie enjoyed their Yeehaa Trail Ride.

Lake Argyle Resort’s infinity pool.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 55

C AMPING & outdoors

The author on an airboat at Corroboree Billabong.

The author and his mob at Devils Marbles.

Exploring epic northern Australia

H

A wild buffalo at Corroboree Billabong.

The lost city in Litchfield National Park.

Page 56 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

I, it’s Craig Tomkinson here.

With December upon us, what’s been happening in and around our local fishing and crabbing areas?

Well, not much, it’s been quiet.

My mate Dave Anderson and I slipped over the Noosa River Bar and fished Sunshine Reef and it was dead.

We will not be going again until we get a flood in the Noosa River to flush heaps of tucker out to the close reefs, which will see the fishing improve.

When we go, we will tow the boat up the beach and fish Double Island Point.

I have not been crabbing for months but will start again a week or so before the school holidays.

Northern Australia adventure Following on from last month, I had spent about three weeks camped at Pennefather River on Cape York.

My mates started packing up but I was planning on staying another week.

Then I heard my mate Darren say to the other boys they were going to slowly free camp their way home.

I had not done that in years and it sounded fantastic, so two hours after they started packing, I got packing too.

The mates finished and were going to have a look around Weipa and stop and look at things on the way back.

I planned to meet up with them at Archer River that night.

Around two hours later I said my goodbyes to Rod, Bob and Penny and I was off.

I got fuel at Weipa and

Road Tripping

by CRAIG TOMKINSON

stuck the right foot down a bit because the road was great.

I made it to the Archer about an hour before dark.

The boys had only arrived 10 minutes before me, so we searched for firewood, set up our swags, cooked a feed and relaxed around the campfire.

How good is Cape York for its free camps on the rivers!?

The next day we were up and away after brekkie at the Archer River Roadhouse.

I had not done that for about 15 years.

We made it off the Cape that day because the road back had just been graded and was great.

We saw the Atherton Tablelands in daylight with all the sugarcane and small crops; what a lovey part of Queensland.

Pulling up around Ravenshoe to free camp for the night, we found it freezing cold.

The next day we pushed on down past Charters Towers and Darren and the boys headed to Alpha.

I continued to Emerald and towards home, pulling up for a camp below Rockhampton.

On arriving home the next day, I unpacked before changing all the oils and filters in the 80 Series LandCruiser so it would be ready to go a few days later for our family trip to Darwin in the pop-up van.

That day soon came round and we found ourselves heading up the highway and out past Kilkivan.

Then we turned towards

Isla Gorge, which I had heard a lot about.

We spent an hour or so looking at the different land formations, and it was nice but nothing outstanding.

There was a free camp and toilets but we pushed on towards Emerald.

Gee there are lots of coal mines out west.

We free camped on the side of the road the first night.

The only bummer was a total fire ban for Queensland had been issued, so we could not have a fire.

The next day we were up and away out past Longreach and Winton and then to Mount Isa, looking at a few touristy things on the way, but not many because the plan was to get up near Darwin before starting on the tourist places.

We camped off the side of the road between Mount Isa and Camooweal and the next day around dinner we pulled up under a bridge just on the northern side of Camooweal.

When we got out of the car there was a weird noise and we worked out it was hundreds if not thousands of small bats roosting in the concrete bridge beams.

From there it was only about 10km to the Northern Territory border.

We took a few photos and pushed on as there is a lot of miles to do to get to Darwin.

We fuelled up at Barkly Homestead and then carried on to Threeways.

From here, we headed north about 70km to a free camp where we

stayed the night.

The next day we travelled further north past some historic pubs in the NT. We are not drinkers, so they were no attraction for us and we did not stop at any of them.

Pulling up in Katherine, we had a feed and then headed out to Nitmiluk Gorge Caravan Park to camp and book our gorge tour for the next day.

Donna and I saw all these places in 1996 and we were going back to show our kids.

They loved the boat ride up to the two gorges and so did we.

From Katherine, we drove to Darwin and booked into a caravan park for four nights.

The next day we drove to the Adelaide River.

About 4km before the bridge over the river we turned off and followed signs to a crocodile tour.

We crossed big floodplains and went past a large fish farm and pulled up just as the tour was about to leave.

We did the jumping crocodile boat ride and saw two big crocs over 5m up close.

One was 90 years old and the other 70.

It was flaming unreal.

It was a small, family owned boat with only 20odd people on board.

The skipper told us all about the crocs and the local area.

I asked a few questions and he told us the fish farm we passed was the biggest barra farm in Australia and the floodplains we drove over to get there were the Humpty Doo rice fields I had heard so much about as a kid.

The magpie geese ate * continued P57

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4WDING & off - road

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nearly all the rice back in the ‘60s.

They shot them in the thousands but could not stop the droves coming in and eating the rice.

From there we drove out to Corroboree Billabong to see if we could get on an airboat ride.

The website said they were open all day but no one was around this late in the day and our phone call was not answered.

We headed back to Darwin and the next day did a few tourist attractions around the local area, such as the Darwin Aviation Museum, the oil tunnels at the waterfront and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

Anything that was not overpriced because it was going to cost $195 each for the six of us to do the airboat ride.

We got the phone call we were after from the airboat people and booked and paid to go the next day.

We got away early and went back to Corroboree Billabong where we were met by Chase who was our skipper for the 45-minute tour.

She had been skippering for 20 years and had her Master 5 qualifications.

The airboat was about 6.5m long, held six passengers and skipper and was powered by a 503 cubic inch Chevy V8 that sounded great.

I thought we were going to drive flat-out everywhere, which I was a bit worried about, but it was not like that at all.

Chase just poked around the lagoon and anything of interest she saw, we would stop and she would tell us about it.

We saw a black-necked stork land on its nest, and Chase had only ever seen that eight times in the 20 years she has been skipper.

We saw wild pigs and birds of all sizes and shapes, fresh and saltwater crocs and a wild buffalo.

The airboat tour was fantastic and took me back to watching Gentle Ben on TV as a kid.

I even got to sit in the skipper’s seat.

After the airboat ride, we drove to Batchelor and through Litchfield National Park before returning to Darwin late in the day.

The next day we packed the van and left Darwin, heading around to Wagait Beach.

It was a lovely spot.

We spent an hour or so wading along the beach but it had no free camping.

We should have gone out to Gun Point because it has free camps.

From there, we made our way back to Katherine.

A great info centre has lots of brochures and information.

The next day we were away early and travelled back down the Stuart Highway to Karlu Karlu or the Devils Marbles.

We had a great look around them and another day was gone, so we camped up the road at a free camp.

The next day we were away early and headed back towards Queensland.

Just before the border at a place called Avon Downs there was a police RBT set up and we passed everything from the breath test to tyres and seatbelts.

I thought our 4WD and van were spot on but in the officer’s opinion my towing mirrors were not wide enough to see a car behind the van, so that cost me a $100 fine.

Not bad I thought, as I have heard some horror stories of vans been weighed and put off the road for being overweight.

I had weighed our van

and 4WD weeks ago to make sure it was fine before I left.

We made it to Mount Isa where I quickly bought some towing mirrors before the shops closed.

Then I thought we would book into a caravan park but most of them were shut at 5pm.

This really ticked us off because it didn’t get dark until after 7pm.

Not everyone likes to pull up early.

Many people including us like to keep driving until it starts to cool a bit.

So instead of staying overnight in a van park, we free camped just out of town.

The next day the kids and I did the underground mines tour while Donna went shopping to stock up on supplies.

The mines tour was fantastic, with old miners guiding the tour and corned meat sangas to die for.

My kids rated the Hard Times Mine Tour a solid nine out of 10.

From there it was on to Julia Creek.

I had heard so much about this town from a woman I work with at the school.

We pulled up and had a smoko stop.

There were free barbecues, great toilets and these wild-looking rocks called Moon Rocks.

It really was a lovely town.

Richmond was the next port of call to check out the water dinosaur fossils.

We free camped just outside Richmond and the next day did the selfguided tour.

It was OK, but I preferred the fully guided tours that run around Winton as I feel they are better value for money.

Sorry, Richmond, you need to throw smoko into the price.

‘Til next month, be safe on our roads.

A jumping crocodile in the Adelaide River.

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It was Shara Vanhaeren from the WTF Women That Fish Barra Classic who called and outlined what they were trying to do and where they wanted to go with the competition, and I agreed to giving away a free charter and some rods.

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the leaders, net the fish and give tips.

The skipper drives the boat and tries to find the fish for the crew, as well as thinking about what lures are needed to catch the fish.

As a barra guide, I have seen an increase in the number of women taking up the sport of fishing, and not just for barra but across the board, which is great.

We went up to the WTF comp for the first time in 2017 and it was wonderful meeting so many people who love fishing as much as I do, with many competitors wearing customised shirts sporting their team’s name.

Rockhampton has the best river system in which to run this sort of event because the netting has been stopped and the river has returned to its former glory.

You can catch big barra, threadfin salmon, grunter bream and so on as well as lots of prawns.

Over time, the WTF comp has grown and that means more prizes.

I can’t believe how much they give away each year – it must amount to many thousands of dollars, which is just unreal.

It would be the best-run comp I have seen in many years.

Everyone has a good time and I’ve never seen anyone get upset with their prizes.

I have had the winners of the charters I donate come to Lake Monduran to fish with me.

People just can’t get over how big the dam is and how much timber is in the water.

Recently I had Shae and Steve come and use their voucher and it was a very tough bite but Steve got his first barra and he was over the moon.

The smile says it all.

Shae has got a few barra in the comps over the

years and I think 82cm was her biggest.

Steve’s first barra went 63cm.

I also had Aaron and Lisa out for a charter.

These two are also from Rockhampton and fish the WTF Barra Classic.

Again it was a tough time getting the barra to chew but we got two in the boat very late in the day.

The weather was bloody

terrible, with a low barometer, showers and the wind never staying in one quarter.

All these things make it very hard to get the barra to bite.

In this instance, I find the barra with the sounder, tie up to a tree and keep throwing lures at them.

This is where I like having four rods rigged with different lures and continuing to rotate them after a few casts.

Then if no good I’ll tie on new lures or colours.

They will take something once things are

right for them to feed.

But when they are feeding, if you just put a lure in the path of a barra, it will take it.

I remain a strong supporter of the WTF Women That Fish Barra Classic.

The comp was established in 2012 and has been running every year since.

The 2020 event will be held in September, so get in early.

In the next edition I will be talking about Rollashocks protection for your hull.

Until then, tight lines.

Steve with his first barra.

Aaron and Lisa snagged a barra late in the day.

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Aaron captured his first barra of the day.

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Littlies don’t care too much about what species they catch. As long as there is action, they’ll keep smiling.

Fish like this would put a smile on any adult’s face, so no wonder Levina is impressed with her golden perch.

Tips for fishing with kids A NOTHER year has absolutely flown by and Christmas holidays are upon us again, giving us the bonus of extra opportunities to get the little tackers into the outdoors.

My experience taking ankle biters along on fishing trips began half a lifetime ago when my sons were very small.

At the time I was fishing from a Canadian canoe and the boys were quite at ease on the water from the start.

Along with the safety precaution of having them wear a buoyancy device, the gunwales came nearly up to their shoulders, making a fall overboard unlikely.

Both boys started by catching small, plentiful species, which in our home patch were garfish and spangled perch in the local lakes and Brisbane River.

Garfish were caught

Fishing for Sport

by NEIL SCHULTZ

land based, using a tiny hook baited with dough under a quill float.

I would cast the rig out and then hand the rod to a three-year-old to very slowly retrieve, allowing the fish to hook themselves as they grabbed the bait.

There were a lot of meals of tasty butterfly filleted garfish in our house during those years.

Spangled perch on the other hand were taken on small lures cast from light spinning outfits, which were Christmas presents to each of the boys.

Somewhere in the archives are transparencies of the entire family in the canoe with two kids spinning for perch at Atkinsons Dam on Boxing Day – great memories.

After honing their

The author began taking Tony fishing as a three-yearold. His interest is fishing is still going strong 30 years on.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

casting skills on the local perch population, the progression was quickly made to spinning for bass in the streams of southeast Queensland.

This was around the same time that stocking warm-water natives into lakes began to pay dividends, giving the lads the opportunity to put their lures in front of more sizable fish in the form of chunky golden perch.

Watching young boys hauling in impressive captures including some of the very first Mary River cod to be angled in Lake Somerset allayed any worries I had about a rod being wrenched from their hands.

An excited five-year-old will apply a force exceeding that of the Vulcan death grip to a rod buckled over by a large fish.

Fast forward 30 years and I’m now enjoying outings on those same lakes with my granddaughters.

Most of our trips together are close to home on Lake Wivenhoe where bass and golden perch are obvious targets, with plenty of action from blue catfish on summer days.

We troll lures as our chosen method, which gives the girls the entertaining option of watching the sounder screen and bringing the fish shows to my attention.

By the time this goes to print, there is a fair chance I’ve been on the water with the older of the two granddaughters swimming a live bait for a shark in fresh water.

I’m not writing this purely to reminisce about ‘the good old days’ or family fishing trips, but to give a few pointers to any readers planning to get the kids in their lives into fishing.

Plan those first outings to be close to home and of short duration.

Little ones tend to have short attention spans and these outings allow them to be taken home if they become bored with proceedings.

Take them to locations and target species that will provide plenty of action, again to prevent them losing interest.

Start small: don’t kick their fishing career off with something too big for them to confidently handle on the end of a line.

The same goes with the tackle used – ensure it is suitable for short arms and small hands.

All hooks on lures taken on outings with littlies should have the barbs flattened to avoid any trauma if it ends up in a tiny finger (and it is likely to be your hide they stick with a hook on the back swing – ask me how I know).

Select safe locations, as trips and stumbles should be expected, and you don’t want to have to fish them out of the drink.

If on a vessel or in a spot where a fall into the water is possible, have them wear a buoyancy device.

Keep them comfortable, which means providing shade, sunscreen, warm or cool clothing, drinks, insect repellent and so on.

Keep them amused – for very small kiddies, taking along a toy of some kind can keep them happily occupied between fish (snacks are good too).

Older children can be stealthily educated to take part in bird watching, wildlife spotting, sounder reading and rubbish collecting, all of which can make their day enjoyable as well as ingraining some good habits.

Most importantly, keep it fun.

Once they’ve had enough, call proceedings to a halt and head for home so they are happy to go again next time.

These days the author’s sons take him fishing. An incidental bonus for getting them into the sport as youngsters.

by MELISSA FROHLOFF

Salmon and crab sushi cake Ingredients • 250g smoked salmon • 250g fresh salmon, finely sliced • 280g blue swimmer crab meat • 100g cherry tomatoes • 1/4 small red onion, finely sliced

• Spread 1/3 of sushi rice on bottom of pan using damp fingers to press the rice into an even layer. Cut avocados in half, remove seed and slice the avocado into thin portions. Use 1/3 avocado for the for next layer. Add the smoked salmon.

• Mix soy sauce, brown sugar and chilli sauce together and drizzle half the mixture onto the avocado.

• 4 large avocados • 4 cups sushi rice • 1/2 cup soy sauce • 1 tbsp brown sugar • 4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce • 10g fried shallots • Japanese kewpie mayonnaise • Fresh coriander Method • Cook sushi rice as per packet instructions. Lightly grease a 22cm round springform cake pan. Allow the rice to reduce to room temperature.

• Repeat with another layer of rice and avocado, adding the blue swimmer crab and remaining sauce.

• Repeat with another layer of rice, avocado, fresh salmon and drizzle with kewpie mayonnaise in a cross section.

Torch mayo until fresh salmon changes colour and the mayo is caramelised.

• Garnish with fried shallots, diced cherry tomatoes, red onion and coriander.

Prep time: 30 min | Cook time: 30 min | Makes 12 pieces Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 59

With all fish over 40cm, it was excellent fishing among the snags.

Robert displayed one of the 46cm bass captured.

John with a chunky bass.

Robert showed off a 45cm bass John pulled from the sticks.

Peaceful conditions and no constant wake from ski boats is a bonus when fishing electric-only Wyaralong.

Kayak fishing is popular at Wyaralong. As the kayak angler in the background learnt, live shrimp was the key to catching fish.

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DAM LEVELS CURRENT AS OF 11/11/2019

DAMS

PERCENTAGE

JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV Atkinson 5 5 5 5 5 5 Awoonga 78 76 75 73 73 72 Bjelke-Petersen * 7 6 6 5 11 5 Boondooma * 31 30 29 28 27 26 Borumba * 95 96 95 93 88 83 Burdekin Falls * 100 99 95 93 87 80 Callide * 48 47 45 42 41 39 Cania * 72 71 69 67 64 63 Coolmunda * 9 8 6 5 3 3 Dyer/Bill Gunn * 3 3 3 3 2 3 Eungella * 100 101 100 100 99 97 Fairbairn * 20 19 18 17 15 13 Glenlyon * 9 9 9 8 3.5 3 Hinze 93 93 92 90 89 87 Julius 93 90 88 86 84 79 Kinchant * 87 86 86 81 76 69 Leslie * 7 6 6 6 6 5 Macdonald 102 103 101 98 92 86 Maroon * 76 75 73 70 64 60 Monduran/Fred Haigh * 78 77 76 74 72 69 Moogerah * 60 57 53 49 45 41 North Pine/Samsonvale * 69 69 68 65 63 61 Peter Faust/Proserpine * 80 79 78 77 75 74 Somerset * 76 78 76 72 69 68 Teemburra * 100 101 100 99 98 97 Tinaroo* 97 95 92 88 82 76 Toonumbar 67 61 62 57 48 39 Wivenhoe * 56 55 53 52 50 48 Wuruma * 86 85 83 78 76 71 Wyaralong 90 89 88 87 87 85 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.

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Page 60 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

Awesome bass fishing at Lake Wyaralong L With stories of Rob’s uncle Mick having very productive sessions on live shrimp filtering through to us, we thought bugger it, this will be an awesome place to take the kids.

It had been a few years since we’d been shrimping, so we bought some opera house traps and headed out to the dam to put our new acquisitions to the test.

The black Wilson traps we used had a fine mesh suited to targeting shrimp, and we set four of these along a sandy foreshore before heading home to prepare for the following day.

With the alarm blaring annoyingly at 4am, an earlyish mark was made to the dam (kids somehow make early starts late ones).

Little John pulled in the pots and was ecstatic to see plentiful shrimp had made their way into the traps.

With ample shrimp for bait in the aerated bucket, we quickly launched the boat.

Under electric motor power we made our way to one of the stands of drowned timber.

Sounding the area out on our old Lowrance HDS-8 Side

Fishing Australia

by LEEANN PAYNE

Scan unit, we found a tonne of Australian bass marking on the screen, which was a good start.

With the anchor dropped, we arranged the boat so we kept a handful of shrimp in an aerated bucket for easy access while leaving the majority in a bucket tied to the side of the boat to keep them in good condition.

Flicking the bail arm open, Rob made a short cast towards the timber with an unweighted shrimp and within 20 seconds a bass smashed the bait and swam straight back to the timber.

Not giving the fish too much line, Rob wound the fish back

to the boat where our little net man scooped the catch.

At 45cm, our good start was only getting better!

I know bait fishing is seen as a bit of a mug’s game, but I don’t know if the kids enjoyed it more than the parents or vice versa!

It was spectacular fishing, with only about 20 percent of the shrimp being ignored.

The 80 percent of hook-ups provided us with 40 fish all over 40cm, with the biggest four measuring 46cm.

As well as our captures, another 25-30 fish either took us * continued P61

Robert and the author with the results of just one of the double hook-ups (photo credit: six-year-old John).

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Awesome bass fishing at Lake Wyaralong * from P60

into the timber or pulled the hooks.

Another angler we met was using frozen bait and didn’t land a thing, so live shrimp was definitely the key.

Any shrimp that died or were a bit lethargic on the hook were broken up and used as berley – not that I think we really needed it.

We were fishing tiger country, so the fishing was pretty exciting as well as being brutal.

Frantically landing the fish was paramount because as we all know, rerigging multiple times on the water really does suck.

The Australian bass in Lake Wyaralong were chunky and very healthy looking, and best of all, they pulled bloody hard!

We only fished two locations and both were in about 5.5m of water, with timber providing the structure that held so many fish.

I honestly don’t think we went for longer than two minutes without hooking up, except while re-rigging.

John mostly had a great time and really impressed us by sticking with it on a tightened drag and fish that pulled hard.

Unfortunately the great time was short lived after

Boaties will appreciate the good single-lane boat ramp.

he was spiked when holding a fish for the camera, proceeding to scream the place down for 20 minutes.

Though we tried lure fishing for about 10 minutes without a touch, it was really hard to ignore the excellent results provided by using live baits.

Moogerah and Maroon dams have always provided us with plenty of entertainment over the years and obviously we will fish them again, but it was so easy driving half the distance for a great half day on the bass.

I’ve got to admit electric-only dams are awesome to fish for the tranquillity, and it’s not bad to get away from the skiers as well.

The dam is located less than 15 minutes’ drive from Beaudesert on the Beaudesert Boonah Rd, with the entrance to the dam well signed.

The gate opens at 5.30am and closes at 6.30pm from September to April.

The dam was opened in 2011 and is managed by Seqwater, providing the public with an excellent single-lane ramp (though on a busy day I imagine more trailer parking would be great), toilets, fabulous barbecue and picnic facilities, a fun playground for little ones as well as a sculpture walk above the picnic grounds for all ages.

Our kids loved the large fishing rod and reel sculpture.

Adults need to buy a stocked impoundment permit prior to fishing, but kids fish for free.

Non-angling activities include mountain bike tracks, horse trails, bushwalking and rowing (note: they do use outboards for this activity.)

Wyaralong is quite picturesque and we were lucky to see beautiful Aussie wildlife including kangaroos coming down to the water for a drink.

Catching shrimp is a great opportunity for the kids to learn how to collect bait.

John used the landing net to land one of the 40 bass caught.

Younger kids will have a ball at the well-maintained playground.

Wyaralong comprises a tidy day-use area.

Boaties warned of hidden dangers at lakes as SEQ’s water level hits 60 percent

B

OATIES heading out on southeast Queensland’s lakes this summer are being reminded to be vigilant for submerged hazards with the region’s combined dam levels at 60 per cent capacity.

After a drier than average year, Seqwater advises that lower water levels at some of their lakes have increased the danger of submerged and semi-submerged hazards in the water, such as trees, rocks, fence posts and landmasses.

Seqwater principal compliance officer Amber Blake reminds lake users on the water to follow signage and operate their vessels in a cautious and sensible manner to avoid any hazards this summer.

“Some of our popular lakes such as Somerset

and Moogerah have gazetted six-knot speed limits to improve public safety in the heavily timbered areas of the lake,” Ms Blake said.

“However, outside these areas, people should continue to be wary of hidden underwater hazards and not get complacent, especially while lake levels are continuing to decrease.

“If you hit a submerged object at speed, it can result in serious injury to those aboard the vessel or skiers, not to mention damage to the vessel itself.

“Lakes can be deceptively dangerous.

“If you’re unsure, play it safe and slow down.”

Dam storage levels at Wivenhoe and Somerset dams are now about 49 percent and 68 percent respectively.

This summer, Seqwater will once again

be working with the Queensland Police Service, Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol, Maritime Safety Queensland and other leading agencies to enforce safe and responsible behaviour on and off the water.

Ms Blake said the drop in lake levels has already resulted in the closure of some boat

ramps and restrictions placed on some recreation activities at lakes.

“Before heading to one of our lakes, we advise people to plan ahead and visit the Seqwater website to confirm what activities are available at each lake,” Ms Blake said.

For more information, visit seqwater.com.au/ playitsafe

Seqwater principal compliance officer Amber Blake at Lake Moogerah.

Skills still need a lifejacket.

Rob showed off the results of another double hookup.

Our lakes and dams are still some of the best spots to enjoy water sports.

But still water can still be dangerous. So when boating, make sure you have the following: - Lifejacket(s) - A signalling device - Firefighting equipment

- Sun protective gear - Oars & bailing equipment

- An anchor - Drinking water

Play it safe on our lakes and dams and always wear the proper safety gear.

Good numbers of shrimp were caught, ensuring plenty of bait for the morning.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

seqwater.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 61

Christmas in the bush

N

OT much can be said for those of us who live west of the Great Dividing Range.

Connor Peace with his winning golden perch measuring 54.8cm.

Glenn Williams, Ethan Peace and Tony Perrett with the kayak prize.

Lions Mary Valley Family Fishing Classic round-up

A

R E C O R D breaker was how Lions Mary Valley Family Fishing Classic Committee chair Glenn Williams described the 2019 competition.

Mr Williams said 126 entrants nominated for this year’s Lions Mary Valley Family Fishing Classic at Borumba Dam on November 2 and 3, which set a new record for the event.

“The figure also rep-

resents a staggering increase in entries of 133 percent when compared with the number of entrants for the 2018 competition,” he said.

Mr Williams said the increase could be attributed to a number of factors including a ‘recovery’ after the cancelled 2017 competition where people have realised the event is here to stay, the introduction of a $2000 tagged fish competition, a major junior prize of a

WINNERS Junior

Length (cm)

Winner

Red Claw

18.1

David Riley

Bass

41.5

Ethan Parker

Saratoga

NA

None entered

Golden perch

43.0

Shayanne Connors

Catfish

42.0

Harrison Fraser

NA

None entered

Silver perch Senior

Length (cm)

Winner

Bass

49.7

Robert Reitner

Saratoga

56.0

Peter Chambers

Golden perch

54.8

Connor Peace

Catfish

48.5

Tyson Lenz

Silver perch

45.5

Michael Stansby

Mystery Length Fish Species

Bass

Mystery Length

Closest to Length

Winners

41.5

Ethan Parker

41.5

Adrian Lindsay

41.6

kayak and motor and an improved online nomination process.

It may also be a reflection of increased interest in this type of fishing competition.

“Unfortunately, even with all those fishers on the dam, the tagged bass wasn’t caught but is still worth $200 to anyone who catches it and takes it along to the sponsor at the Imbil Railway Hotel for verification,” Mr Williams said.

The major junior prize of a Viking Kayak and motor sponsored by Noosa Outback did go off and was won by Ethan Peace of Rothwell.

Ethan was presented with his prize by Member for Gympie Tony Perret.

Mr Williams said about 300 fish were measured over the weekend, with an estimated additional 300 undersize fish caught and not entered into the competition.

The majority of the catch was bass, with a couple of notable catches including a golden perch measuring 54.8cm hooked by Connor Peace and a silver perch measuring a massive 45.5cm landed

by Michael Stansby.

The effort and support from the sponsors, Lions Clubs of Gympie

and Mary Valley and the Lake Borumba Fish Stocking Association were acknowledged at the presentation ceremony.

The organisers are hoping they will be able to top this year’s event when they hold the next Classic in November 2020.

Bounty on Brian the bass On Thursday, October 31, Brian the bass was released into Lake Borumba as part of the Mary Valley Family Fishing Classic.

He was released by Steve Hooper, publican of the Imbil Railway Hotel.

The hotel put a recapture bounty on his head of $2000 if he was caught during the competition.

He was a cunning bass and is still out there waiting for someone to catch him.

However, the bounty has reduced and the hotel will pay a $200 bounty if he is caught.

He is wearing a green Suntag.

If caught, ring the Suntag number on the tag for directions of what to do.

This offer from the Imbil Hotel is valid until next year’s MVFFC competition in November 2020.

Glenn Williams

GLENLYON DAM TOURIST PARK A great place to fish!

• Powered and Unpowered Sites • No Domestic Pets or Generators • Kiosk • Ice • Gas • Petrol • Amenities Blocks and Laundry • BBQs • Hire Boats • EFTPOS • Fishing Permits

Christmas out here is not going to be like the years when we had water in our rivers.

All those stock reserves we use for our four-day Christmas break have little or no water to speak of.

Our large storages are all below 10 percent in capacity, with some down to two percent.

Watersports are somewhat shut down due to being dangerous.

If skiing or using jet skis, it would be advisable to talk to water storage advisors to find out about the safe areas.

Fishing is not a problem at Glenlyon thanks to the work done by Sunwater with the upkeep of the boat ramp.

The storage is sitting at 3.5 percent capacity with no outflows taking place.

We have had a phone call from the local fish hatcheries regarding the stocking of fingerlings for the upcoming stocking season.

The New Year’s Eve release of fish may not take place as some of the hatcheries might not be able to produce fish because of a lack of good water.

Glenlyon is starting to dry out around the edges, however, you will still need to test the ground because wet sections still exist and black mud will stick to you as you sink and you’ll smell a little different.

Thongs and Crocs seem to want to stay in the mud and are hard to get back.

There have been reports of fishing gear being found in the mud, including electric motors, rods and reels, lures, spinnerbaits, anchors, shrimp traps by the hundreds, hats and caps, tackle boxes and so on.

This reads a bit like a jumble sale.

We have had a small amount of rain, which in turn has put a small amount of green grass along the edges of the road.

Take your time when travelling because kangaroos, wallabies and deer

Glenlyon Dam

by BRIAN DARE

have been attacking cars on the way out to the dam.

Of a night, do nothing over 90km/h if heading our way.

Best play it safe.

Don’t forget the new fishing rules and regulations in Queensland.

It’s up to you to be up to date with these.

We ask that you please use gas cooking gear in the bush because the fire danger is very real, especially during summer.

If visiting national parks and the like, ensure you bring water with you.

Most towns out our way are on tight water controls and using water with care is appreciated.

If campfires are allowed where you’re staying, keep them small as ‘the bigger the fire, the bigger the fool’.

I must mention the danger of using round river rocks as your fire guard.

These rocks hold heat quite well and have been known to explode when cooling of an evening.

Be aware of sharp edges caused by the broken rocks.

A dirt or clay fire guard is a lot safer.

As you can see by the photos, it’s been good fishing for all at Glenlyon.

With less water in the dam, the fish are hanging with their mates and if you find one you’re likely to find more.

Both Debbie and I would like to wish you all a happy Christmas and great New Year.

Keep safe and may those who need good rainfall get it at the right time.

Mel Tonscheck scored an 80cm cod on shrimp.

Mark Mackintosh captured a 115cm cod.

14 CABINS bookings necessary

GLENLYON DAM TOURIST PARK via STANTHORPE 4380 Contact Debbie or Brian Dare for more information or for bookings

Ph: 02 6737 5266 E: glenlyondamtouristp@bigpond.com Page 62 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019

Brad Baldwin of South Brisbane Fishing Club. Brad caught three smaller cod but on his last outing landed a 1m Murray cod on a Ferelcatt lure.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

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BLUEFIN 450 BLAZE SC (2014) with Mercury 60hp FourStroke @ 205 hours. Oceanic trailer, Garmin 750s GPSmap, bimini, custom Esky in cast deck and much more! Call Brisbane Quintrex today as this will make a great fishing boat for the bay and estuary! Phone 07 3133 3468 or visit brisbane quintrex.com.au CRUISE CRAFT EXPLORER 600 (2002) powered by 175hp Yamaha Saltwater Series two-stroke and sitting on a Redco Sportsman trailer. Fitted with dual batteries, Lowrance sounder/GPS combo, brand new snap out (removable) carpet, folding rear lounge, cabin canvas door, cabin bunk centre infill cushion, bimini with clears, full extension and rocket launcher, new VHF radio, custom Cruise Craft baitboard with lid, large in-floor kill tank, deck wash, three months’ warranty, remainder of boat and trailer registrations and safety gear package. Won’t last long at $39,990. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wyn nummarine.com.au CUSTOM SPEEDMASTER (2017) powered by Yamaha VMAX SHO VF250LA-FO and capable of over 125km/h! Less than 50 hours of use and never been raced. Brand-new Easytow tandem trailer, SeaStar hydraulic steering and jack plate, custom SeaDek flooring, 190-litre underfloor fuel tank, stainless ski pole, Hotfoot foot throttle and travel cover. Very quick social boat, great for scaring your mates. $48,990. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wyn nummarine.com.au LATE MODEL USED ALUMINIUM BOATS WANTED from Quintrex, Stacer, Ally Craft, Stessco, Bar Crusher, Bluefin, Brooker and Clark – Make selling your boat simple and hassle free - Cash or Consign – John Crawford Marine Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964 www.johncraw fordmarine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322.

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STABICRAFT 1600 FISHER ‘CARBON SERIES’ - Yamaha 70Hp four stroke, Dunbier trailer, Lowrance 7” colour GPS/Sounder, VHF radio, EPIRB, Electric anchor winch, Battery charger, Bimini top, Storm cover, seating for 4, Plumbed LB tank, Bait board & loads more!... @ $45,995 tow away – John Crawford Marine Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964 www.johncraw fordmarine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322.

STACER 399 SEASPRITE (2018) with Yamaha 30hp two-stroke on Redco galvanised trailer. Yamaha 24ltr fuel tank, Lowrance HOOK5 sounder/GPS plotter, navigation lights and switch panel, four bow bimini top, carpeted low floor and fuel tank rack, heaps of rod holders, safety gear package, tie-down strap, balance of boat and trailer registrations, three months warranty and guaranteed title. Priced to go at $8490. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au STACER 429 OUTLAW TILLER STEER (2016) with Yamaha 40hp three-cylinder two-stroke motor on Stacer galvanised trailer. Plumbed live bait tank, two pedestal seats, Yamaha 24-litre fuel tank, bimini top, bow-mount plate, safety gear package, tie-down strap, motor support bracket and three months warranty. Such good value at $12,990. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au STACER 449 SEAWAY (2016) with Yamaha F60hp and only 44 hours. Stacer galvanised trailer, custom-made bimini top, Lowrance Elite-5 sounder/ GPS, alloy bait/cutting board, navigation lights, auto bilge pump, battery isolation switch and more. Ready for immediate delivery at $17,990.

Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au WANTED – LATE MODEL USED BOATS. Cash or consignment. When you buy a used boat from Karee Marine you know it has been through our workshop and checked over. A RWC is given with each boat sold. We have a fully insured undercover showroom so your boat will not be left out.

Call Darren at Karee Marine today on 07 3875 1600.

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January Edition Copy Deadline – Advertisements must arrive NO later than December 9, 2019

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Contact Bill Corten T: 07 3286 3647 M: 0447 233 247 0447 ( a f f a i r ) E: reel_affair@yahoo.com Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2019 – Page 63

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$

Stessco Bowrider 520

Mercury 115 ProXS

• Extended fishing deck • Live bait tank • Deck wash • Offshore safety gear • Dual-axle trailer • QLD regos

Mercury 60hp 4-stroke

• Full plate construction • 45-litre fuel tank • Alloy rod holders • Live bait tank

FROM JUST

Mercury 150hp 4-stroke

Mclay 491 Fortress TS

• Live bait tank • Live well • Front and rear cast decks • Dunbier braked trailer • QLD regos

$

FROM JUST

226/week*

$

DELIVERS UP TO 14% BETTER CRUISE SPEED ECONOMY

300

290

290

280

280

270

270

260

260

PREVIOUS MERCURY FOURSTROKE 1.7L

BSFC dyno testing; data is an average of 60%-80% rated MERCURY PREVIOUS NEW MERCURY engine speed based NEW OPTIMAX MERCURY MERCURY OPTIMAX on standardMERCU ICOMIA emissions test.

FOURSTROKE 115hp 1.7L 2.1L 115hp 115hp 2.1L 11

* Mercury Finance terms and conditions apply. Photos for illustration purposes only.

Can’t make the yard? Shop online! For quality new and used boats! www.kareemarine.com.au

1776 Ipswich Motorway, Rocklea | Call 07 3875 1600