EASTER CAMPING CATALOGUE – OUT NOW

UNFORTUNATELY, the week of light winds ended last Friday night, making any chance to get out wide to the main reefs over last weekend impossible for the average-sized reef boat.

The days leading up to last weekend were kinder, with plenty of opportunity to head out wide. The main reefs fished well on the building tides with good numbers of Coral Trout and mixed reef fish. There were also reasonable numbers of out-of-season Spanish Mackerel caught mostly by floating baits out the back of the boat while bottom fishing.

There have also been good numbers of both Large and Small Mouth Nannygai caught from the deep water rubble patches and Wrecks. Some boats have had the added bonus of some nice Spangled Emperor and Cobia.

As the water cleared and the tides began to build, the pelagic activity increased, with large schools of mostly Mack Tuna feeding on the numerous bait schools.

The fishing around the islands also began to improve with some very nice island Trout, Grassy Sweet Lip, and Fingermark caught. These fish have been tempted by both jigging soft plastics and bottom fishing. The ideal bait for Fingermark is live herring or fresh squid, and there has been plenty of both around over the last week.

The coastal rivers had finally returned to a nice colour, and anglers managed some nice Barra and Mangrove Jacks last weekend. The mud crabs have also started to pot well, with the best crabbing for the year experienced by many anglers over the last week. I still feel the overall number of Mud crabs has been down, and perhaps we need to look at reducing bag limits if things don't improve. I am sure the overall health of the system depends on a good wet season. It makes you wonder how the systems are down around Ayre and Mackay crab so well. I recently spent a weekend at a friend's place in Cleveland, Brisbane. We put out four crab pots four hundred metres from shore in front of his house. We managed twenty-two blue swimmer sand crabs in three checks over two days. That's right in the middle of the busiest waterway in Qld. It makes you think about what's going wrong up this way, doesn't it?

The freshwater reaches of the coastal creeks have been fishing well as river heights drop, and the water quality improves. There has been some monster Barra caught at the mouth of the feeder creeks and drains over the last few days. Many of the larger Barra have taken live mud cod; however, there still has been some nice fish caught by using lures. Permission to enter farms is a privilege that will quickly be taken away if a farmer's headlands are being destroyed by vehicles entering during wet conditions. Please walk; in most cases, it only takes a few minutes.

The upper freshwater limits of the rivers have also been fishing well for both sooty Grunter and Jungle Perch.

I am writing this report on Sunday. I expect the predicted rain we will receive this week will affect the water conditions in the rivers again.

On the morning of March 14, Belinda Santarossa from Innisfail caught this Coral Trout at Hall Thompson Reef on a rod using pilchards and squid as bait.

Lucinda March

Strong winds are also predicted for this week, and it looks likely that the wind will continue into this coming weekend, so I expect that the fishing will be confined to the estuaries and freshwater.

There is only a small run in the tide which means that anglers will have to look for tidal flow to find the

Johnstone River March

Hull Heads March

fish. I have found that this can actually be a benefit and concentrate the Jacks and Barra into smaller sections of the river or creek. I like both the early morning run in tide and either side of the late afternoon low. Saturdays tide is definitely the best.

Don't forget the crab pots, and if the coastal creeks are running dirty from too much fresh, try the Hinchinbrook Channel.

Good Fishing, Roly Newton, Tackle World Tully