Townsville

TOWNSVILLE Dave Hodge

First of all I’d like to pay my respects to someone who was recently killed in a horrific accident not far from Townsville: my mate Andrew ‘Roy’ Symonds.

It was a strange set of circumstances that led to him becoming a mate. We were both attending the Boyne Tannum Hookup 16 years ago, and there was a buzz out the back of the stage area, and people were being so super respectful of this guy sitting all alone on a seat overlooking the River at Bray park. Everyone was whispering, “That’s the side of his neck and said “Here mate, get one of these up ya,” and he swung around with that big smile of his and said, “You’ll do me mate, pull up a seat”.

That was the beginning of a mateship that saw us fish, camp and live together at various times over the coming years. Once when I left my partner at the time and didn’t know where to go or what to do, he threw me the house keys and said, “Here mate, live here as long as you want”. That’s the type of bloke he was. Many’s the time we’d pull up at a servo for fuel on the way fishing and end up spending 40 minutes while he signed things for people, and got in the way of our trips, but every time we’d see each other it was just like normal, the way mates should be. He was one of the most loyal and generous individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Never once did I see him flustered or frustrated by an inconvenience, such as a breakdown, one of our failed cooking attempts, or bad weather. When we both found ourselves living in Townsville about 10 years ago, the first thing we organised was a fishing trip over at Cape Cleveland, and it absolutely poured on us for hours. We stood looking at each other laughing and shaking our heads at our ridiculous commitment to fishing, and never-say-die

An all-rounder on the field and on the water, Roy didn’t care what he was catching as long as it pulled line.

Andrew Symonds,” and there was almost a reverence in their body language, and no one wanted to interrupt or ‘annoy’ this guy out of sheer respect. I remember thinking that this poor guy looked like he needed a rum, so I went to the freezer and grabbed out two icy cold rums, walked over and put one of the cans up to had selfies taken with them. Much as he enjoyed living out of the public eye, he never shunned anyone who wanted to meet him, and he never complained.

Roy was truly the all-Aussie bloke, and the more remote and rough our camps were, the more he loved it. During the last couple of years, life attitudes, agreeing that we must be mad to be out there in that sort of weather.

It seemed something exceptional happened whenever we hit the water, and I remember once out the Cape chasing barra and jacks I hooked a baby black marlin on a hardbody. For hours we laughed at my fluke, and that Cold weather doesn’t mean fish stop feeding, it just means you have to try other things to get a bite. Tannhym cut the nose of this Paddle Prawn down to imitate a popper on an unweighted hook to nail this jack.

event often got raised down the track. Memories like these never seem to fade.

Anyway, after the years of media looking for dirt on Roy, now they can reveal what an incredible bloke he really was, instead of looking for negatives. I will never forget our fishing and camping trips, or the incredible things he did for me and so many others he met throughout his life. RIP Roy. I’ve found that 3” soft plastic prawn imitations (e.g. Atomic Prong) are a pretty consistent size for the barras as they feast on jelly prawns. Lighter line is needed to fish them effectively. Surface lures, too, need to be downsized a little for the colder months. FLATS

It’s common to find schools of barra in open waters as the flats flood and the warmer mud banks emperor are one of my favourite table fish. Smaller than you may think, the 4” Atomic Prongs and the 5” Halco Paddle Prawns are our go-to lures, but fishing them on relatively light line ends in a limp leader sometimes. 30lb spin or baitcasters are a great fun way to fish the shallow 4-10m bommies and reef, and leaders about 40lb will see more bites than the traditional heavy leaders of

Andrew ‘Roy’ Symonds was an amazing angler and great bloke. He will be sadly missed.

CREEKS

The creeks are fishing well at the moment but they should have a bit of a quiet spell as the weather becomes a bit cooler. The salmon are thick in some systems and are a great sportfish on light line. Smaller soft lures and surface lures will bring them undone. I don’t really rate them as an eating fish, but they’re hard to beat on the end of a line. They are pretty cool sportfish.

The usual suspects like tarpon, GTs and so on will help you fill in time between species like barra, which should start to take tiny lures by the time you read this. get inundated with bait and prawns seeking refuge in the mangroves. However, the timing can be a bit difficult if your boat draws a fair sort of water. When the tide is about a foot deep and rising is the time to be there. Be ready to cast at moving fish and bow waves. REEFS AND OFFSHORE

The weather has been glorious and many boats have been able to get out wide and to the inshore reefs with good captures of trout, nannygai and red-throat emperor, just to name a few. I love throwing softies at these things when I get the chance, and red-throat 60lb+. The same rules apply though, and when you get a hit you should go hard at it straight away.

Contrary to what you may have heard, Spanish mackerel are going extremely well for those trolling the faithful old Laser Pros and also wolfies. Some smaller billfish have been reported, and this season should be a cracker if all the indicators are anything to go by. Small gar and mullet are ideal for them, and there will be many plenty of incidental captures along the way.

Until next time, good luck and stay safe.