OLD
Seize the spring catches WHITSUNDAYS
Mick Underwood
The run of glamour winter weather that we had been enjoying came to an abrupt halt a few weeks ago. An extended run of stiff southeasters and some unseasonal rain has put the breaks on any offshore fishing during recent times. The outer reef, the shipping lanes and anywhere around the outer
Jenny Savige always kills it on Reel Addiction.
Golden trevally have been happy to eat whatever gets thrown at them. This one nailed a soft plastic. islands has seen very little angling pressure with the fish in these areas getting away largely scot-free the last few weeks. I can hear coral trout at the outer reef laughing at us from here in my office. It’s not only the trout out there that are having fun, the nannygai are the same on the ‘shoals’ as are the Spanish mackerel around the outer islands. Not to worry though, we are into spring now and that typically signals the end of the trade breezes for another year. Lucky that here in the Whitsundays we have a nice vibrant inshore fishery and plenty of islands to hide behind and still enjoy a fish. Being the tail end of winter there has been plenty of pelagics to get after and for me the most predominant fish to be found has been
golden trevally. They have been around in droves, which is cool and have saved plenty of tough days. Very few have been caught on bait, it’s been lures that have been getting the job done. On the whole they haven’t been too choosy about what sort of lure to smash, as long as you have put some thing in front of them they have been happy to eat it. Even the big gaudy chatterbaits have been getting eaten with gusto. Mixed in with the goldies there have been a
few XOS sized queenfish and some tasty school mackerel. Queenfish once they reach the upper end of their size range are a superb sports fish. The school mackerel might not be quite so exciting to have on the end of your line but if they are around in numbers then they are an easy way to get a tasty feed in the ice box. Over recent weeks the inshore fringing reefs have thrown a few nice plump coral trout but they haven’t been that easy and it’s only the wilier of anglers that have been getting the right results. On the beaches and even the shore fishing hasn’t been pumping at anywhere near its best. I’ve seen some nice flathead caught but that has
Queenfish have been the saviour this month!
Peter Rheinburger enjoyed the recent good queenfish bite, catching this nice model on a hardbody.
Aaron with a nice flathead that he caught flicking a hardbody off the beach at Cape Gloucester.
been about it. I have had no shortage of grey nomads whinging at me at the lack of whiting this winter, which is a little unusual as they are typically thick through this stage of the year. Who knows, maybe they’ll show up this month? Our local estuaries haven’t seen a lot of angling pressure through August but that is typical for now as the water temps are currently stagnated at the bottom end of their annual scale. This is all about to change now that spring is here, as during October there is normally so much variety in the
Another goldy on a hardbody. I have been thankful for the presence of these guys in recent weeks.
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bite locally. Starting up in the creeks, and the angling activity should increase dramatically, especially for glamour species such as barramundi and mangrove jack. Now that the water temps are climbing steadily these fish will be coming out of their winter slumber and be keen to have a feed. Also with it being the last month of the barramundi season for the year, this will encourage a lot of people to get one or two before they become off limits. Due mainly to
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