SWIM WITH FISH BEST WAY TO CATCH THEM
ONE of the best ways to understand where fish are in the seaway is to join them.
I recently dived Southport Seaway with Ian Banks of Dive the Gold Coast charters and was amazed what I learnt.
Firstly I was shocked at the shear numbers of Jewfish, there are literally thousands.
But I realised I have been fishing in the wrong areas.
I mostly fish for them at the end of the northern wall but they were all schooled up almost directly in front of the southern wall’s seaway tower.
Most of the Jewfish were undersize but numbers show our seaway system is healthy.
I hoped to spot bull sharks but we didn’t on my dive.
However Ian says it is not uncommon to see them about 500m out of the seaway.
I did see a number of fish with hooks and line dangling out of their mouths.
We tried to help a large Jewfish that had obviously busted off an anglers rig but unfortunately were unable to.
Ian dives nearly everyday and picks up leftover line and hooks discarded by fisherman.
If you dive the seaway – I encourage it – you won’t throw leftover line or rubbish in the water again as you will see first-hand the devastating effect irresponsible anglers have on marine life we love.