Ing out on the action
aded rod from the starboard stern d holder.
The initial run was a blistering ectacle according to Worthington, ho described a chattering spool as ne unloaded despite a heavy drag tting.
“It was incredible. We thought the el was going to explode but after the st run it came easy,” Worthington id of the fish.
Gaffed, dispatched and bled, the ackerel of about 17kg was worthy of lebration as the mates shared highves and rock, paper and scissored for e next strike.
Worthington was happy with his ctful win; “‘Thommo’ always goes ck if it has to go best-of-three,” and s wait only short when the rod in the me stern holder howled.
The fight was a complete ntradiction to the one only minutes rlier, a short burst ripping line from e reel yelling “mackerel” to the crew. However, an ensuing slugfest down ep suggested, perhaps, big gold spot d or giant trevally.
Worthington fought a to-and-fro ttle and eventually brought his catch oatside: a modest-sized mackerel of out 12kg, hooked in the side!
The mates rued foul-hooking the h, believing that the time they spent ghting the fish coincided with a bite ndow that had closed by the time the tch had been landed.
Worthington said they invested nother couple of hours of fishing fore the ebbing tide forced the mates ck into the Bohle River.
amefish on the chew
amefishing-minded anglers might be uoyed with reports of small to midzed black marlin within inshore hing grounds, some of the popular ecies encountered in water as allow as 15m.
Victorian visitor Michael Mcauliffe was unlucky when hooks failed to find their mark in a small marlin when he fished near Four Foot Rock on
Tuesday morning.
Using a live yakka as bait, Mcauliffe watched as the billfish toyed with the offering, twice moving off with the bait before rejecting it.
The experience was wonderful stuff, according to the interstate truck driver, who says he spends a week or so annually in Townsville catching up with mates.
With the marlin having apparently moved on, large queenfish moved in on the baits, Mcauliffe and mate Dave bending rods on fish to better than a metre long.
Mcauliffe’s third fish, though, was one to remember when, unlike his previous couple, it blistered across the surface, changing direction multiple times.
The fish resisted diving deep and failed to jump, but the reason was soon apparent: a much larger marlin than the first was shadowing the queenfish.
The marlin, estimated to be nearly 3m long, materialised from below the queenfish and stalked the hooked fish for about 30m before disappearing.
Mcauliffe acknowledged the fishing might not have been as red hot as his last visit this time last year, despite also hooking some big fingermark, but he wondered just what could have been had he had been wanting to catch a billfish.
Jetty closed for works
Anglers are advised that the Groper Creek jetty southeast of Home Hill will be temporarily closed on Monday July 15. The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) says the closure is temporary and necessary to undertake a structural inspection of the jetty.
The inspection will be carried out subject to weather and tides permitting such works.
Further information about the closure can be found at the TMR Customer and Stakeholder Management team via email at engagement.northern@tmr.qld.gov.au or by phoning 1800 625 648.
Channel focus on catches
Fingermark or golden snapper remain a prized catch when anglers fish any number of Cleveland Bay inshore hot spots, the inner reaches of the shipping (Platypus) channel receiving more attention than most.
A raft of vessels might be found most mornings when calm seas and light winds allow anglers to jig soft vibes, plastics and other offerings close to fish and structure detected on their sonars.
Among the fingermark and bait schools are a host of other species including trevally, grunter or javelin fish, mackerel and black jewfish.
Anthony Hayes said he had been considering recent reports of quality fish being caught in the lower channel and close to Magnetic Island before testing his own casts last weekend.
“I headed out early and jigged on the bottom for a couple of hours only managing the odd doggie mackerel,” Hayes emailed. “Then got thumped on the bottom (using) 120mm vibe on my little baitcaster, 30-pound braid and 40-pound leader.”
Hayes said he enjoyed a great fight, with the fish delivering a series of big headshakes and sustained runs, and he was understandably elated when a solid black jewfish wallowed beside the boat.
Livies grabbing the bites
Meanwhile, Frederick Granger said he began fishing within the shipping channel after watching several videos posted on social media of anglers catching fingermark or golden snapper.
Granger said he didn’t realise that such quality fish abounded in waters so close to the city.
While only snagging one jewfish throughout numerous trips since Easter, Granger said he and mates occasionally caught their five-fish inpossession bag limit of fingermark along with some big grunter.
“We use all sorts of lures, vibes and jigs but livies are the way to get the bite,” Granger said.
“It’s pretty easy to find the fish: just look for the boats,” he quipped.
Jewfish bag reminder
And while plenty of jewfish are being encountered within local inshore waters, anglers should keep in mind that while the species is protected by a 75cm minimum legal size, they are also governed by a one fish in-possession bag limit and must be brought to shore in a whole state: no gilling or gutting, the latter intended to protect the fish’s valuable swim bladder from black marketing.
The inaugural Townsville Family Fishing Challenge is set to be contested the weekend October 19 and 20, 2019.
Organiser Mike L’huillier asks anglers to mark the dates in their fishing diaries.
“The total profits of this event, plus dollar-for-dollar from the charity arm of Freemasonry called the Hand Heart Pocket, will be donated to Cancer Council Qld Townsville Branch,” Mr L’huillier said.
For more information about supporting a worthy cause, interested anglers and sponsors can contact Mr L’huillier on 0400 696 386.