BOAT ANGLER
SUMMER ROAD TRIP
AMITY TO TWEED w it h P a u l B u rt This summer, planning a perfect road trip is in everyone’s mustdo list. For fishers, the perfect road trip always entails the goal of catching fish at every stop. Paul guides us with his summer road trip itinerary, from north to south of the Seaway, for a great Gold Coast fishing voyage. So pack the car, load up your boat, and head away! AMITY POINT - North Stradbroke Island This once small fishing village is now a thriving tourist destination for people wanting to get away for the day or the weekend. Situated on the northwestern tip of North Stradbroke Island and only an hour to the ferry terminal, the community can be reached by car and boat. A simple but enjoyable one-hour ferry trip across (the sometimes notorious) Moreton Bay from Cleveland to Dunwich, the main town on the island, is all it takes to get to this fisherman’s paradise. From Dunwich, a 30-minute drive will put you in the heart of the Amity Point. The rock wall that lies along the front of the town were put there back in the mid 1900’s to prevent any erosion caused by strong tidal currents and the prevailing westerly winds the coastline gets in the cooler months. This rock wall houses a variety of marine life, from squid to the general bread-and-butter fish such as bream, whiting and flathead, through to the tasty grassy sweetlip and furious tackle-busting kingfish. The wall is easily accessible for bank anglers, but caution should be taken when stepping on the rocks as they do have a tendency to move a little. 22
SLIPPING SANDS - Jumpinpin This area is situated along the southern end of North Stradbroke Island in the pristine waterway of Canaipa Passage. It is home to a variety of fish life and is only accessible by boat. Sand dunes stretch up to 40 meters into the hillside and provide nonstop entertainment for the kids armed with a piece of cardboard. This area can be the home base for anglers wanting to fish the Pin region. Most spots are found all within a few kilometres of this area. In the months leading up to winter, bream school up in there thousands along the many mangrove-lined banks that surround these waterways. Kalinga Bank, Tiger Mullet Channel, the southern tip of Short Island, and Whalley’s Gutter are just a few spots that anglers regularly target. Fishing with light tackle on the last of the tides generally produces a catch for the dinner table. Using local baits like yabbies and flesh baits such as strips of mullet fillet always work well. Although Slipping Sands is sheltered from the blistering winds, most other open fishing spots in the Pin region are exposed to southeasterlies. Tailor, whiting, mulloway, flathead, trevally, sharks and mangrove jacks are just a few other species regularly targeted in this region.
SOUTHPORT SEAWAY - Southport Broadwater The Seaway is the main entrance for anglers and commercial vessels operating out of the Gold Coast. The Seaway consists of two break walls stretching more than a kilometre in length from the Southport Broadwater east to the Pacific Ocean. These rock walls are home to a huge variety of marine life, and regularly attract hundreds of anglers on a daily basis. Anglers and boaties alike take shelter on nearby Wave Break Island for the night where a safe mooring can be found. Further north, the South Currigee Campground is available for long-term or overnight stays. (South Stradbroke Camping, story on P38) Fishing around this neck of the woods is great for all aspects of fishing. One can walk for five minutes across the lower section of South Stradbroke Island from Currigee to the surf where the beaches are
Paul Burt and Jason Hedges don’t always fish out of big boats. This was an old pondgrass 14-footer that had literally no freeboard and they would take the boat 80km out to sea and fish in waters over 3500-feet deep.
pretty well untouched with animal life roaming freely along the white dunes. Fishing the gutters produces a vast variety of fish from large green back tailor, sand whiting, large mulloway, sea bream, dart and flathead. One can also walk a few kilometres south to the northern break wall of the Southport Seaway. This area often rises to the occasion with quality fish caught. Land-based anglers regularly target large trevally, mulloway, tailor, sea bream, mangrove jacks and tuna, just to name a few. Spinning with metal lures such as Raiders on the run-in tide has produced some of the most memorable catches with large tuna and trevally climbing over each other in the hope of eating your lure. During the summer months, when the bait fish school up along the coastline, this area is one that should be considered as a handy spot, just five minutes from most boat ramps or a quick walk from the water taxi drop off point.
OFFSHORE FISHING – Gold Coast Venturing out to the ocean through one of the five major entrances along the coastline will see you on a reef within no time at all. The first key to successful offshore angling is with live baits. Plenty of local shallow reefs are easily found simply by noticing all the charter boats backing up on the grounds just after you have exited the seaway. Spots to consider are the local bait reefs and wrecks such as the Aquarius wreck north east of the Seaway, the 12fathom bait ground off the sand pumping jetty, the Scottish Prince wreck, and the Mermaid, Palm Beach and Kirra reefs just to name a few. Bait jigs are a necessity to catch these fish, which generally comprise of yakkas or yellowtail, and slimy mackerel. Keep them alive in a plumbed bait tank. The offshore grounds are not hard to find, especially if you have a GPS unit. Most of the local tackle shops are more than happy to help you out with a few spots to get you under way. Reefs off the coast run in a north to south direction, and stretch all the way from Point Lookout off North Stradbroke Island south to the border. The waters off Surfers Paradise house a variety of reefs in depths of 12, 18, 24, 27, NOV - JAN 2017