Diehard anglers awake
THE first day of summer heralds incredible fishing opportunities for the keenest anglers among us.
They’re often the anglers with forests of fishing rods leaning against their bedroom walls, tackle boxes pushed under beds and they’re the same anglers who might flick a lure from beneath the sheet covers before turning in for the night without thinking twice about how it got there.
And on the eve of a fishing trip they’re not likely to get much shuteye anyhow.
They’ll lie awake for hours playing out their next hook- up.
With the onset of these humid, sweltering days, these anglers might swap the confines of their bedrooms, or their man caves, for the fresh salt air and gentle rocking of the boat to fish during the, generally cooler, dead of night.
Fingermark are sure to be a priority catch and live squid almost certainly the bait that most will have greatest confidence in.
The nice part is, a plethora of other species will show an equal fondness for the cephalopod baits and many of those, including javelin fish or grunter, are deemed equally tasty of the dinner plate.
Come to the light
JEFF Gough and mate Mario Shaun- Ryan used a floating light to attract squid to their boat after letting the anchor find secure purchase near Cape Cleveland’s Two Foot Rock on Wednesday evening.
The pair said conditions were sloppy, but fishable, and it only took a matter of minutes before the squid were schooling below the light and an easy catch with a fine mesh scoop net.
“There’s no fuss with us … we just put a hook through them and cast them back out,” Gough said of the mate’s angling prowess.
Gough said he and Shaun- Ryan shared in a catch of three fingermark – the best stretching 78cm, three grunter or javelin fish to 65cm and a gold spot cod that was too big to measure.
“We always let the big cod go and that one was a fair bit longer than a metre,” Gough said.
Abundance of barra
AND don’t the barra know it’s closed season!
They’ve got heads on them like mice!
Local creeks and rivers are swarming with the critters and anglers seem to be having a difficult time avoiding hook- ups with the iconic sport and table fish.
Townsville sports teacher Billy Green was telling me how last weekend, while fishing the Haughton River, he counted close enough to 20 barramundi caught and released by his own hand as he attempted to lure alternate species like grunter and mangrove jack.
He said the barras were in deep waters, snaggy waters and even the shallowest parts of submerged sandbars.
“I just had to keep moving,” Green said.
“I managed some nice grunter ( javelin fish) but the barra were everywhere, and not just rats too.”
Green told how one of the barramundi he accidentally pinned might have bettered 80cm had it been laid on a measuring mat.
“The best way is to shake them off the hooks while they’re in the water,” Green said when asked how he preferred to release the protected species. “But balance that with the threat of crocodiles and shark – predators that both might want a piece of the barra at the side of the boat, sometimes it’s necessary to pull them into the boat to remove the hooks.”
Green added though, that it was imperative that the release be performed as quickly as possible to minimise stress on the fish.
Conditions picking up
WEEKEND forecasts suggest boating conditions to be the most comfortable in some time, although the dominant afternoon northeasterly breezes can make passage in small boats difficult – especially close to the mouth of the harbour and beyond into the shipping channel where quality fish beckon.
Fingermark might be a prize catch when anglers drop lures and live baits close to pylons, as will grey or broad barred mackerel.
Smaller doggie mackerel remain prevalent and mostly of nuisance value with many under the 50cm minimum legal size protecting the species.
Anglers finding their way to Orchard Rocks could be rewarded with trout and grassy sweetlip when fishing the bottom while others sponsored by might snare queenfish, trevally and tuna casting and trolling lures in the same area.
Local estuaries won’t be likely to receive much attention this weekend with the barramundi season closure in full swing and large morning tides ensuring fishing difficult among muddied waters.
Crab pots will need to be well secured with early morning tide variances of up to 3.4m on Sunday.
Nonetheless, anglers will enjoy significantly better fishing during the afternoon tides when mangrove jack, grunter and flathead should bite.
And land- based anglers will enjoy the morning high tides of 3.51m and 3.68m respectively tomorrow and Sunday.
Breakwalls will be well fished and switched- on anglers are certain to line the Cape Pallarenda headland in readiness for big fish hook- ups.
Those anglers will use live baits of garfish or mullet and anticipate encounters with big queenfish, trevally, shovelnose rays and shark.
Barramundi are always a possibility when fishing Pallarenda foreshores and if accidentally caught should be released immediately in accordance with the annual closed season which extends until midday February 1, 2018.