To land it list
Dad Tony said it was so close that they could near on touch it, the behemoth remaining near the stern for a significant time.
Whale sharks, while totally protected, are not a mammal as their name partially implies, and as such do not attract the same interaction regulations surrounding whales, dolphins and dugong.
HOOKED ON MACKEREL
The first grey or broad barred mackerel of the season have shown in consistent numbers, visiting angler Michael Scott among the first to set hooks into the popular species.
Scott and son Jack found the mackerel schooling deep wide of Four Foot Rock near Cape Cleveland late last week.
Dropping metal jigs to what they thought could have been fingermark or golden snapper, Scott Senior hooked up, lost the fish and had the lure bitten off on the following drop.
Scott calmly tied on another lure before again hooking up solid, this time the hooks remaining in place before land
ing his first grey mackerel.
Jack replied with a procession of fish including bar cheek trout, more mackerel and cod – all released with the grey mackerel yielding more fillet than they needed.
CHANNEL PUMPING
Ian Moody expects the Hinchinbrook channel to be overrun with hopeful anglers through
out the final weekends of barra season 2021, the popular fishing guide with many of the remaining days booked solid.
Clients were unlucky pulling the hooks free of a metre
long barra when I spoke to Moody yesterday morning as he fished near the northern end of the Hinchinbrook Channel, the dropped fish not an isolated incident with eight
good fish freeing themselves of hooks on Wednesday.
Moody said the fish were a little tentative with the bites during recent days, not as ferocious as liked, and subsequently the hooks failed to properly find their marks.
He blamed sudden changes in seasonal conditions and water temperatures for the inconsistencies but was quick to point out that plenty of barramundi were landed.
“Alan and Dan got a few nice ones today,” Moody said of Wednesday’s efforts, “Dan from the United States claiming his new PB (barramundi) of 88cm.”
The Queensland East Coast Barramundi Season 2021 closes midnight Sunday October 31 before reopening February 1, 2022.
The Carpentaria Gulf barramundi season closed yesterday October 7 and also reopens next year February 1.
Meanwhile, several Queensland stocked impoundments – including the Ross River weirs – remain open to barra fishing year-round, providing anglers 18 and over possess a SIP or Stocked Impoundment Permit.
For more information check out fisheries regulations at www.daf.qld.gov.au