WHAT’S BITING: FISHING WITH EDDIE RIDDLE
SPANISH mackerel are there if you can get to them.
That’s the word from anglers in larger craft who have conquered stiff winds to make passage to popular grounds where the tasty speedsters are schooling.
The Mack Patches wide of Cape Cleveland is giving up school- size mackerel to about 6kg with an occasional beast of better than 20kg delighting anglers.
Similar catches are being reported from the Bomber Wreck and Shark Shoals, each a bit further than 20 nautical miles east of the harbour.
Garfish and wolf herring baits are said to be drawing strikes regularly, particularly in the early mornings when the mackerel seem to bite best.
Meanwhile, anglers using highspeed spinning and jigging techniques at these same locations are also boating their share of fish.
The Palm Island group is also fishing reasonably well for mackerel, bigger specimens found in deep waters surrounding Albino and Chillcott Rocks while smaller school fish are being caught from waters surrounding Pelorus and Orpheus Islands.
Meanwhile, coral trout – both bar cheek and passionfruit varieties – remain common catches throughout winter with anglers hauling plenty of quality fish into their boats.
Cape Cleveland and Four Foot Rock can be counted on to yield a few fish each trip for inshore anglers as can the waters of the Rattlesnake Island group and beyond to Cordelia Rock.
Baits dropped in those deeper Albino Rock waters are enticing the passionfruit or common trout among catches of spangled and red throat emperor, however all three species are more prevalent at nearby Robbery Shoals and most popular reefs.
Fingermark or golden snapper are
proving a prevalent winter catch when anglers probe shallow water hot spots with all manner of soft plastic and metal lure offerings. Halifax Bay rubble patches and isolated wreck features are giving up fish to a mouth- watering 70cm when lures are allowed to settle close to the bottom before being yo- yoed just a meter or so higher in the water column. Simon Owens said he and a mate nearly claimed their possession limit of five fish each when they fished a small spot wide of Bay Rock early this week. Owens said the fish belted the lures when they were worked closer to the bottom than usual. “We had to keep the lures real low because the doggies ( mackerel) ate anything that was lifted too high,” Owens said. “We lost about a hundred bucks worth ( of lures) to the doggies but figured the nine fingermark between us was worth it.”
Owens said the split was almost 50/ 50 when five of the fingermark were fooled with Fish Candy brand soft vibe lures and the remainder showing a preference for metal blades. Doggie mackerel seemed evasive when anglers tested their skills within shipping- channel waters last Sunday. Conditions were not as welcoming as forecast and an easterly slop cut short the ambitions of many who had planned to spend the day fishing inshore waters. Tony O’Regan, sister Kym O’Regan and her partner Max Jaksche cast lures and set live baits near the outermost channel marker and didn’t see a mackerel. Instead, the trio bent rods when a large school of bludger trevally invaded the area, several fish better than 70cm were given their freedom after delivering tenacious battles. Tony said he was rapt catching his first ever fish on a lure – a plucky mack tuna that fell to a Bagged Out Lures soft plastic vibe.
That fish was also given its freedom but not so lucky was a fat gold spot of nearly 80cm that was caught a short while later and slipped into the icebox.
Rolling on the rivers
Estuary anglers aren’t missing out having negotiated last week’s evening king tides and extreme afternoon lows to claim good bags of barra, jacks and grunter.
Teacher Billy Green said he found a heap of barramundi when he fished Morrissey’s Creek while young gun Brody Eves also found barra in the Haughton River.
Eves said he had to work a bit harder to catch his fish when they initially resisted all efforts to pry then away from structure.
“I found the barras on my sounder … got some great pics, but they wouldn’t eat,” Eves said.
“I threw everything I had at them but kept working hard and eventually got them to bite when I tied on a deep diving lure.”
Secret spots
Large grunter or javelin fish are biting well for a handful of anglers fishing near and wide of the Haughton River mouth and particularly so during the earliest morning hours.
Fish to 70cm are falling to this small band of secretive Cungulla and Giru anglers who claim to know nothing when quizzed on their successes.
Ply them with a couple of beers at the Giru International and it is amazing the wealth of fishing knowledge these guys possess, says a shy mate who is as equally secretive of his own identity.
Snagging a feed
Jacks, bream and more mangrove jack were welcomed by young friends Robyn Davies and Andrew Cormack when they fished both Crocodile and Alligator Creek last weekend.
The pair used fresh greenback herring baits and spent time at several prominent snags in each creek to pull an enviable bag of both species.
Davies said running a small sinker right down on top of a 3/ 0 size hook and dropping the baits deep into the snags drew the strikes and then it was just a matter of pulling the fish free.
She said a few fish were lost – including at least one sizeable barra – but it was a pair of near identical jacks of 47cm each that made the effort worthwhile.
They proved the best of a half dozen jacks caught between the pair, Davies catching both the largest, while only bream bigger than 30cm were kept.
Billfish tournament
Preparations for the North Queensland’s premier light tackle billfish tournament are ramping up with regular competitors testing their skills at a warm- up event this weekend, the Lucinda Light Tackle Tournament.
Townsville Game Fishing Club stalwart Mick Meiers said there seems plenty of excitement surrounding the 2018 Townsville Billfish Challenge which is set to attract game- fishing anglers from across the North with a cash and prize pool totalling $ 40,000.
Mick Meiers says a change of venue by event organisers could be seen as an advantage to small boat competitors when the August 15- 18 tournament operations are undertaken from the Marlin Bar at Magnetic Island’s Horseshoe Bay.
Crews fishing from larger traditional game- fishing type vessels will still contest the world- renowned Billfish Challenge, however, there will be a distinct advantage for small- boat anglers who have been finding small marlin near the island in recent weeks.
Meiers said further information and nomination forms could be found on the club website tgfc. org or contact club president Mick Dykstra on 0417 792 416.