Jetty king
“I DO put in some long hours waiting for a bite.”
Strand jetty fishing identity Bradley Mikic was brutally honest when reflecting on his most recent catch.
“I was not expecting to catch the fish, especially on the light gear I was using,” he said of a magnificent permit or snubnose dart.
Mikic set a bait, a prawn threaded onto a small whitingsize hook, expecting to perhaps catch nothing more than a whiting or grunter, when he fished from his favourite landbased spot last weekend.
“When it hooked up the speed and power was unbelievable,” Mikic recalled.
With a string of large fish catches already under his belt, species including barramundi, trevally, cod and groper, Mikic settled into a drawn-out encounter with an obviously big fish and tied to just 10-pound class braid line.
The flimsy hook held firm and Mikic was forced to recover the light line following several long runs before he could steer the revered sportfish to the base of the jetty where he secured his catch.
“It was an unbelievable catch using small whiting hooks… so memorable,” the experienced angler said.
“And that’s another tick off the bucket list.”
Mikic recognised the permit as a terrific sportfish, but was also keen to test the fish on the plate, the permit measuring 83cm and registering a cleaned or dressed weight of 6.5-kilograms.
CATCHES IN THE DEEP
LOCAL boat ramps were eerily quiet for the most part this week, sweltering conditions combining with no less than 3 seasonal closures – barramundi, Spanish mackerel and coral reef fin fish species all off-limits – to ensure anglers leave their vessels strapped to their trailers.
Those that did test inshore waters found grey or broad barred mackerel a difficult catch, yet doggie or Queensland school mackerel in plague proportions.
Surface water temperatures drifted between 29 and 32 degrees, depending on tide and time-of-day, and fish were understandably found holding deeper than usual.
Gulliver’s Jason Hawkins said he tied deep diving minnow lures to fine wire traces to present his lures as close to the bottom as possible when fishing near Liver Point on Monday morning.
Hawkins said he’d used his Lowrance sonar to find fish holding within a meter of the bottom and in spite of changing to deeper lures, failed to entice a strike.
“I didn’t think I was pulling the lures deep enough… the heavy mono leader was holding them up,” Hawkins figured.
“So, I switched to wire traces and started getting fish,” he said.
Hawkins said the fine wire replaced the relatively thick 60-pound monofilament leader and offered less resistance, resulting in the lure pulling deeper when towed through the water.
The tactic paid immediate dividends, the clued-up angler snaring a procession of fat doggie mackerel to 65cm using Bass Day Sugar Deep lures, 90mm size, in a blue pilchard type colour.
“Anything else just didn’t get a sniff… and I used all the good ones like Killalure, Rapala and RMG,” Hawkins said.
PUSHING THROUGH REWARDED
MEANWHILE, Mark Weidling and fishing-mad son Blake tested their luck when they fished beyond Cape Cleveland on Monday.
The Idalia pair reported fishing conditions less than ideal in spite of a good boating forecast, yet called the trip a worthwhile one when queenfish chased down poppers and fell to both soft plastic lures and metal blades.
The Weidling’s fished Salamander Reef to account for their modest queenfish catch and watched on as big longtail tuna terrorised bait schools wide of the popular hotspot.
A quest for fingermark or golden snapper was a fruitless one however, when vibe style lures fished near Bare and Bray Islets gave up nothing more than gold spot cod and batfish.
ORCHARD TREAT
MELBOURNIAN Peter Levinge also sizzled in the late spring heat early this week, he, son Will and son-in-law Chris fishing close to Magnetic Island’s Orchard Rocks.
The trio used metal slices or jigs to fool doggie or school mackerel but it was a live bait that enticed the fish-of-theday, a thumping queenfish of a bit better than a meter long.
Levinge Snr was celebrating his 62nd Birthday with family and friends on Magnetic Island and he was chuffed when the big fish took to the air in a spectacular leap after falling to a live scad.
The fight was good one with the fish fought using a reasonably heavy clutch setting, the bait initially set to fool a fingermark in tough territory.
The queenfish, regarded by many as one of the upper echelon of tropical sportfish, dragged Levinge around the boat and used its deep broad flanks to full advantage in the ebb tide.
The big man was elated