QUEENSLAND The Tweed

THE TWEED Leon McClymont

The rain stopped, the wind subsided and the bluewater pushed in, and the mackerel have been chewing hard.

I was lucky enough to hit the water on three consecutive mornings. With conditions offshore looking the best they had been in several months, excitement levels were high. On the first morning we had planned on trolling dead Tweed Bait bonito and garfish, but in our haste to hit the water (and a bit too much time off the water) we had left the esky bag with the bonito in the back of the ute. Oh well, we’ve all had one of those mornings!

With the plan now out the window, I quickly made a plan B of grabbing some livies and getting out the hardbodies. Once we had collected our livies we made our way to the mackerel grounds. Upon arrival the water was a little green for my liking, but we put out a couple of livies anyway. After close to an hour we had no runs or hits, and with plenty of other boats around doing the same thing and no sign of any bent rods, I said

we needed to head wider in search of clearer, blue water. We adjusted our course and went wide.

Arriving on the 18-fathom mark I noticed the water clarity was much better. It didn’t take long to confirm the fish were there because we saw aerial Spanish leaps just metres from the boat, and we sounded up a good school. With the livies out the back our confidence levels had risen, and it felt a run was imminent. Our eyes were locked on our rods, just waiting for them to load up.

To our disbelief we didn’t get our first run on that pass. It took around an hour of slow trolling to hook up, and we boated a nice-size Spanish mackerel. With a new set of livies out again we kept at it, but after another hour of slow trolling we couldn’t seem to find a second fish. We even gave the hardbodies a run, but to no avail.

I began to become bored and started looking around the boat for new ideas and strategies for one last run before we headed in to get the fish on ice. That’s when I noticed I put the berley bucket in the boat that morning. I dived in to see what it would hold, and just like a gift from the gods I found an old frozen bonito rigged on a chin weight that I had trolled on different occasions, and just put it back in the berley bucket and refroze. The condition of the bonito wasn’t the best, but I thought I could get it to swim. With a quick pre-swim we sent it back.

Now with only one bait out I thought it couldn’t hurt to throw a lure out also, but before I could get the lure in the water I heard that that noise we had been waiting for: pppzzzzzzzz! The line was peeling off the reel and we were tight. I had Ryan Floyd on board that morning, and with a first blistering run we got the fish boat-side and he managed to land his first Spanish. With that, we headed straight in.

The next morning I had learnt from my previous mistake, and put the esky and bait in the boat. Now armed with the best bait, we headed straight to the 18-fathom mark where we were at the morning before. We quickly

got our chin-weighted bonitos out the back and set our pace at around 3-5 knots. It didn’t take long and we had our first run. I had Ryan Ziets on board, he was on the end of the rod and the smile on his face said it all. He couldn’t get enough of the sound of the drag screaming, and the erratic head shakes that the Spanish provide when trying to shake to hooks. With a classic high five we celebrated his first ever Spanish and reset our baits. We ended up landing four fish, and it was an epic session.

The next morning I had Nathan Thomas on board – an avid land-based Tweed Valley river and estuary specialist. He taught me a lot back in the day and relit my fishing fury. It was good to have him on board and show him a style of fishing he wasn’t used to, and to impart what I had learnt over the years. Remember, no one knows it all and you can always learn something from other anglers. I still make mistakes and ask questions,

and you should too. That way, you’ll learn and succeed more often.

So the baits were out once again, and just like clockwork we hooked up on our first pass. Once that fish was on the end of the line, Nathan made short work of the job and bought it in like a pro, no need to worry about that part when he has the rod in hand. We ended up boating 4 fish that morning and were back in by 10am.

Over the three morning sessions we went 10/10 on the mackerel and here are the stats: 5x Spanish on slow trolled bonito; 2x Spanish on hardbodies; 2x Spanish on livies; and 1x spotted mackerel on slow trolled garfish.

At time of writing this the east coast is experiencing more rainfall and the rivers are swollen and dirty once again, so the troll gear is back on the shelf and the land based jew gear is out. See if I can upgrade that P.B.

The longtail tuna should be showing up any day now, haven’t seen or heard of many catches in the area and believe they are holding up in Moreton and Hervey Bay once they arrive you can beat they will be putting anglers shoulders to the test smashing baits and lures meant for mackerel.

Wahoo, black marlin, and yellowfin are showing up in close on the 18fathoms but are mainly targeted between the 36fathoms and 100fathoms. Snapper, pearlies and good size amberjack have also been taken on the 36 and 50fathom marks as of late so don’t forget these species whilst all the attention is on the pelagics has we all know they can be there one day gone the next.

The rivers and estuaries have been fishing well with reports of plenty of flathead up around the old piggery and flats around Chinderah bay and Terranora Creek. The whiting are on the chew on baits like prawns, worms and yabbies around Ukerebagh island and back of the golf course. Still plenty of mangrove jacks being caught also on strips of mullet and baits alike. With the dirty water again flushing out of the river the jew and GTs will push in to feast on the free offerings being pushed out by the fresh.

This trevally couldn’t resist a Halco Slidog.

Ryan Floyd with his first ever Spanish.

FG Wizz keeps even tension when wrapping Makes a smooth, strong and reliable join Means longer leaders, longer casts A MUST HAVE for your boat or tackle box

PURCHASE AND DELIVERY AUSTRALIAWIDE FOR UNDER $50 Watch the video I Order online www.fgwizz.com.au

Nathan Thomas presenting his Spanish mackerel.

Ryan Ziets was happy with his first ‘bar-ee’.