Whitsundays

WHITSUNDAYS Mick Underwood

In my opinion the only good thing about winter is Spanish mackerel, and up to this point they have been scarce. Over the last few weeks the weather has murdered us, the southeast trade winds have not let up, which has limited any opportunities to venture out wide. There has been some enjoyable action on the inshore grounds but we’ve had to fish astutely to be able to take advantage of any available bite windows. Up in the estuaries things have been pretty quiet and it has been noticeable how few boats have been making their way towards the creeks. Harvey Hunt enjoyed his first foray using micro jigs. This solid fingermark was just one of a good bag he caught.

It is my opinion that our local estuary systems are too small and sensitive to be able to deal with this kind of

Carolyn Salisbury with a nice shallow water nannygai. These fish should be more common this month, especially out of the deeper areas. pressure and, as a result of what is going on, I have not heard on one single decent barramundi being caught by recreational means this year, now that is sad.

Okay, enough whinging, moving on to something more positive now and what fish that have been biting.

The inshore waters of Edgecumbe Bay and around the inner islands has been where the best fishing has been taking place. Up on the shallow banks and reef areas in Gloucester Pass and out in front of Cape Gloucester Resort there has been some action to be enjoyed on some big giant trevally. Using mostly big cup-faced poppers getting these fish to bite hasn’t been that hard,

There are still a few mud crabs being caught, but that is largely about all that is going on in those areas at the moment. Unfortunately our local systems are suffering badly from being consistently netted by the commercial sector.

I don’t want to start a war with our local commercial fishers as I do believe commercial fishing has its place in our local environment and commercial fishers have a right to earn a living. The problem is not with the fishers but more the clowns that make the rules. A solid trout falls to the hardbodies, this time it was for Dave Salisbury. but trying to land them has been a different story. There is so much structure in the way of reefs rocks and shipping beacons in this area that most fish once hooked have made their way straight behind the nearest bunch of underwater structure cutting us off resulting in plenty of lost tackle and fish.

A little further down the coast towards Sunset Beach, the fish have been more catch-able there. There are currently good numbers of school mackerel around and although they are not exactly a line burning sports fish they are an easy way to put a tasty feed in the esky. Mixed in with the schoolies there are some solid golden trevally, and on light line in particular they will make you work for your money.

Out around the islands A lone angler enjoying some therapy fishing at Cape Gloucester at sunset.

Chooky enjoyed getting in on the lure action catching this gold spot cod.

earlier in the month, fingermark fishing was awesome with plenty of quality fish being caught. As the month has wound on, the fingermark bite has waned and the local coral trout population took over. A few fish have been claimed on bait but it has been mostly small hardbodies that have been doing the damage. When using lures you have the ability to cover lots of country quickly and be able to hone in on where the active fish are lurking.

Moving onto July now and what we can expect to get our hooks into over the coming weeks.

Spanish mackerel are going to be the two words most commonly heard in local angling circles this month. This is prime time to get into them and we just have to hope that the weather gods play the game and give us some windows in the trade winds to allow us at the fish. These fish will move onto various inshore areas at different times but it is out a little wider where the best

bites of the season usually occur. Rattray Island is a traditional favourite hunting ground, there are so many fish caught there every year. It is not the only place to have a hunt though, the seaward end of Gloucester Island, Middle Island and when the weather allows out around Holbourne Island and Nares Rock can be dead set winners also. These fish will be more active on spring tides so timing your mission for around either the full or new moon periods will be more successful. Also, try to target these fish when the tide is running, around the turn of the tide you will find a maccy hunt by putting a spread of garfish in the water, which enables me to belt around the show fairly quickly and locate where the fish are. Once located if they are not eating the garfish readily, or I am not getting bites out of the bigger fish, then I will switch to slow trolling a couple of wolf herring. Hell will have to freeze over before this ploy wont work!

Whilst you are out on the mackerel grounds don’t focus all your attention on just the mackerel. This is the time of the year when so many good fish come up off the deeper rubble and weed

Josh Wilson with a decent golden trevally snared on a hardbody.

that they will clam up a little. If you find the fish down deep, drop down jigs or live baits, if they’re up on the surface throw pencil poppers and stick baits at them. More often than not though, you will locate them in the top 10m of the water column and that’s when trolling comes into its own. All around Australia where these fish can be located they are generally pretty easy to catch on hardbodies. But here in the Hydeaway Bay region, for some reason unbeknown to me, hardbodies don’t seem to work, not on the better fish anyway. If you intend on trolling locally for these guys you have to put baits in the water and either wolf herring or garfish at that.

I will quite often start Jenny holding her son Harvey’s first ever fingermark.

patches around the islands. Species such as grunter nannygai and fingermark will be on the prowl. Each of these species are not only divine to eat, they’re a blast to catch as well. They can be caught on various live and strip baits but each year it seems to be lures that consistently get the best results. I’m a big fan of micro jigs and chatterbaits on these fish, but soft plastics, vibes and bucktail jigs will also claim their fair share of fish. Moving back inshore now and on the days when the weather restricts us from getting at the abovementioned fish, it won’t be all doom and gloom. There will still be some good activity to be enjoyed inshore but it will be primarily about the pelagics as the bigger specimens of the inshore reef fish population will be largely shut down. This will remain so until the water warms a little later in the year.

As with hunting pelagics anywhere, you have to find the bait first to locate the bigger fish. The bait can congregate anywhere but around Georges Point, along the sides of Gloucester Island and along the shorelines of Edgecumbe Bay are good areas to start your hunt. I expect that the main fish to be found will be some stomper golden trevally and queenfish. The last two years the fishing for these guys has been nothing short of amazing and I have high hopes that this year will yield the same results. If they are around then they will be lifesavers on the days when we can’t get out wide.

That’s it for another month. Hopefully the weather gods oblige and allow us at the wider grounds this month, it’s going to be on for young and old if they do. Whatever fish you decide to target this month and however you decide to do it, I wish you the best of luck and I look forward to reporting to you again soon. • Reel Addiction Sport Fishing Charters specialises in light tackle fishing for all tropical sportfishing species on fly, lures and bait. Reel Addiction operates from the beautiful Cape Gloucester Beach Resort, 40 minutes’ drive north of Airlie Beach. Combined fishing charter and accommodation packages are available. For more information, contact Mick Underwood on 0413 882 153 or email mick@ reeladdiction.com.au. Resort enquiries can be directed to Julie Houston on (07) 4945 7242 or at info@capeg.com. au. To stay in touch with what’s biting, check out the Reel Addiction Sport Fishing Whitsundays page on Facebook.

Tayah with her first ever golden trevally.

Young Oscar with his first lure-caught fingermark.

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