Mackay

MACKAY Cameron Christian

September usually brings the onset of warmer conditions, north-northeast winds, and plenty of small baitfish inshore. The winter visitors, like snapper, tend to taper off through the month while barra will really begin to fire up in both the salt and freshwater.

Liam Hislop with a nice sooty from the MTA sooty comp at Eungulla Dam.

Small mackerel and tuna will typically follow the bait pushed inshore and during calm mornings and afternoons anglers will often find the schools of bait pushed against the coast and prominent structure. Mackerel and tuna are usually found chopping at this bait at spots like the rock walls at the harbour, the beaches at the mouth of the pioneer river, the rocky reefs off Eimeo and the islands around Seaforth.

Reliable lures include metal slugs, spoons and blades, remembering to keep them well polished for plenty of attractive shine. Plastics work well too but usually don’t hold up long against those razor-sharp teeth. It can also be useful to keep a spare trolling rod ready to go with shallow to 3m diver with shiny colours/patterns usually working best. Mackerel and tuna can often be very picky about what they eat and it can be quite important to match lures with the small baitfish that they are chopping at.

Fluoro or mono leader will usually produce more hits, however bite offs can usually only be prevented by using large divers or plastics. If the fish are being fussy about lure size and small metal lures are working best, using a short length of fine wire and black swivels will help to get more hits.

Spooking the schools of mackerel and tuna can be avoided by approaching downwind and casting lures as far as possible, hence spin outfits with heavy slugs are often required. Tuna can be especially skittish and should be approached using electric motors. Finally, it is important to learn to identify the different species and their legal lengths when targeting mackerel and tuna and always take care of the catch as soon as it is caught.

There have been plenty of barra catches through winter and this should ramp up as conditions warm up through September, mangrove jack should also become more active with the barra as the conditions heat up. Both barra and jacks are found throughout all the systems around Mackay and September can be a great time to target them.

Barra typically move around with the tide and can be found congregating on spots to their liking, often favouring breaks from the run, where bait is schooling or where they can ambush bait. Meanwhile, jacks will normally find a nice snag and stay on it for the duration of the tide; this suggests anglers should persist with a particular snag for 15 or so minutes if barra are found and, alternatively, consider moving on once one or two jacks are caught.

Neap tides are often the most productive tides and can

be comfortably spent moving with the tide bashing structure like prominent snags, creek junctions and drains. On larger tides however, barra can usually be found up on the flats and right up in the back of the mangroves toward the top of the tide, often in water barely covering their backs.

On the flats barra can be targeted using soft plastics and shallow divers. Meanwhile the barra that travel into the backs of the mangroves must be ambushed by waiting for the turn of the tide and hammering the mangrove roots with lures like weedless soft plastics or hardbody divers as they come out with the tide.

Working the creeks around Mackay for barra and jacks during September will also almost always result in a real mixed bag with species like flathead, bream, grunter, trevally, queenfish and cod often thrown in the mix.

Up in the dams, the last MTA sooty comp for the year has taken place at Eungulla Dam and anglers battered windy and rainy conditions for a chance at some sootballs. The fish seemed to be less active than previous weeks/ comps with potential factors including a significant and sudden rise in dam level prior to the comp, and a quite harsh and abrupt cold snap in the week leading up to the comp.

Teams still produced quality results with leading teams sticking to the weeds and timber using similar techniques to those used in previous competitions. With the increase in dam level and the significant increase in the extent of the weed flats, adaptations were required for those fishing the weed banks. Majority of fish were picked up off the weed flats with many often found congregating around isolated patches of lily pads high up on the flats.

With the less active feeding conditions,

adaptations were also required for those fishing the timber. Successful teams made up some very productive sessions by fishing below new shag nests using lightly weighted grubs.

The most exciting outcome of September is the beginning of the barra comps for the year, with the first MTA King of the Dams qualifying event taking place at Peter Faust dam on the 24 September.

Barra are also commonly targeted in both the weeds and timber in the dams around Mackay. Many anglers fish weed edges by anchoring off weedy points or bays and throw soft plastics or shallow divers up high onto the flats, then roll them out to the edge and finally let the lure sit at the edge or drop down its face. Barra feeding in this fashion are often seen rolling on and off the flats on

side or 360 scanning.

Many anglers also work the timber by jigging sinking lures like vibes or soft plastics above treetops, layovers or along trunks using down scanning or living imaging to find which trees to focus on. Regardless of whether fishing weeds or timber, odds are usually increased by looking for the wind-blown ends of the dam, finding where the bait is schooling, focusing on common bite times and varying retrieve styles to pick up on feeding patterns.

Ben Barker with a great barra caught below Marian Wier.

Jack Mitchell with a decent mangrove jack from Murray Creek caught using a Daiwa Kikker Curly.