FISHING WITH EDDIE
LOCAL boat ramps were mostly lonely places earlier this week, despite on-water conditions best described as fantastic.
Clean inshore waters and light winds encouraged just a handful of small boat owners to explore Cleveland and Halifax Bay shallows, and while bait species proved an easy find, it seems predatory species like school mackerel stayed away in droves.
Dave Laing and son Harrison said bait was a difficult catch within the shipping channel and it was only when the pair looked really hard that they noticed swarms of what seemed baitfish fry.
Laing Senior said the discovery of the fry — little more than a few millimetres long — perhaps explained why larger baitfish resisted the urge to eat his bait jig.
He supposed the larger herring, scad and yakkas already had full bellies.
Nonetheless, after securing a tank full of larger scad, meticulous rigging of the baits didn’t change their fishing fortunes any, with the father and son fishing team losing a hat trick of large spanish mackerel.
Laing Snr said they lost the first two to sharks. With the third fish, a monster, he managed to pull the hooks free with the fish close to the boat.
Meanwhile, Gulliver juniors Nate and Kyson Tyack fished shallow waters near Magnetic Island’s West Point recently under the watchful eye of their grandfather.
With a cocktail of baits including prawns and squid, all manner of creatures were brought to the boat — including some quality grassy sweetlip or grass emperor, Nate claiming the largest fish.
Gold spot cod and a pair of donkey-sized forktail catfish were also landed, each following prolonged battles on just 6kg-class line, but it was a cat shark that proved the highlight of the trip.
“It’s fun catching fish to eat but the highlight of that trip was (the boys) getting to cuddle a cat shark — a quick cuddle and off it went,” the Tyacks’ proud grandfather said.
The boys backed up for another trip with their grandfather yesterday morning, and their cousin Ava Ramm from Charters Towers joined in the fishing fun.
In spite of failed electronics including the sounder or fish finder, the cousins shared a catch of gold spot cod, a handful of quality grassies and Ava pulling a fine-looking bar cheek coral trout.
A PASSING FAD?
It will happen — apparently.
Promised fish aggregating devices or FADS for North Queensland east coast waters late this year seem to have run into some issues.
Four new FADS were only recently installed off Weipa on the west coast of Cape York.
Since November last year, Fisheries Queensland have deployed 25 FADS in the southeast of the state from Fraser Island to the Gold Coast.
The Fisheries Queensland manager driving the FAD project, Dan Smith, said in June that anglers would have an opportunity to comment on the implementation of FADS in North Queensland waters, yet thus far, there has been no sign of an expected discussion paper.
Smith said because the FADS were to be installed within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, some small hurdles had to be overcome, including a permit from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
This comes as no surprise to the North’s recreational anglers and it is now unlikely that anglers will be enjoying the fish-attracting benefits of FADS before the year is out.
BARRAMUNDI IN FOCUS
Barramundi are rightly receiving plenty of attention, with season’s end for Queensland east coast stocks just over five weeks away, on November 1.
From then, the popular sport and table fish will enjoy a three-month moratorium on capture by both recreational and commercial fishers, during which time the species will be able to congregate and spawn without undue threat.
Anglers fishing for Gulf of Carpentaria stocks of barramundi have just 11 days to catch their limit of barramundi, the barra season closing in those parts — including the west coast of Cape York — on October 7.
Anglers are reminded that all wild caught barramundi in Queensland waters are protected by a minimum legal size of 58cm and a maximum 120cm limit.
An individual in-possession limit of five fish is also applicable. A boat limit of 10 barramundi when the vessel is occupied by two or more persons must also be considered.
Both barramundi fisheries will reopen at midnight on January 31, 2020.
Anglers might note that designated stocked impoundments, including the Ross River weirs, are not governed by season closures and maximum size limits and take conditions differ slightly to wild barra stocks. However, those 18 years and over require a Stocked Impoundment Permit to fish these areas.
For full conditions and other comprehensive recreational fishing regulations, visit www.daf.qld.gov.au/ fisheries
Most local creeks and rivers have been infiltrated by barra-hungry anglers and that’s likely to be the case this weekend and into next week when strong winds will again hobble offshore and reef fishing ambitions.
Johnny Campbell, owner of the Burdekin Barra Lodge which featured in last week’s fishing column, joked that plenty of anglers must read what’s scribbled in this space.
On Tuesday Campbell messaged me: “Good news mate. Seems everyone reads your articles on Friday. (There were) 20 odd boats in the river today — half of them from Townsville, ha-ha.”
END OF SEASON
From the Burdekin Falls Dam gorge to the mouth of the mighty river, anglers cast baits and lures to tempt a season-last barramundi while in the Hinchinbrook region the scenario wasn’t much different.
Barra charter guide Ian Moody said the Hinchinbrook Channel was well fished last weekend and into the early parts of this week.
He said barra had been largely cooperative, eating both lures and baits.
His clients were claiming plenty of quality fish at the northern end of the channel. Mates Joseph Williamson and Tony Morse said they fished channel limits from Sunday Creek to the Seymour River on Sunday to each stow three barra in their icebox while releasing nearly another dozen fish.
The barras kept ranged from 65 to 80cm, with 11 fish released all better than 55cm and topping out at 62cm.
“We got some nice jacks too, skipping frogs and surface lures deep into the snags,” Williamson said.
“The best jack was 44cm but we let them all go as we caught them in the afternoon and we already had barra in the esky.”
Locally, anglers at the mouth of the Bohle River are near guaranteed to be lined up gunnel-to-gunnel setting live baits for a season-last barramundi, while Cleveland Bay creeks are likely to be a hive of activity over coming weeks.
LAND OR SEA
Land-based anglers will, at times, enjoy just as much chance as the boating brigade when they chase barras from the shadows of bridges, within the shallows of skinny creeks and drains and from along foreshore hotspots like the network of harbour and marina breakwalls.
Clued-up youngsters might be found casting lures among the drains that connect the Castletown lakes system to the Ross Creek, although most wouldn’t keep a legal-size fish from those waters for fear of pollutant contamination.
Others could chance their casts in Ross River shallows, fishing any number of access points below Aplin’s Weir. The waters both sides of the Bowen Road bridge regularly give up barras throughout early morning and late afternoon periods.
And a walk along the foreshore, with rod in hand, from Cape Pallarenda and towards the Bohle River could pay dividends. Shallow lures like bombers and eyecons and realistic soft plastic prawn imitations are good chances of fooling a barra or two.
With that, it is always important to remain ‘‘croc-wise’’ when traversing the fringe of such waters and probably foolish to immerse yourself knee-deep or otherwise just to cast that little bit further.
Short of waters being super shallow, crystal clear and visibility unhindered, it’s very much the crocodile you don’t see that presents a real danger.