Golden experiences
With winds and marine conditions forecast to settle significantly this weekend and well into the new week, those who enjoy the pursuit of doggie or Queensland school mackerel might do well to consider spending time among local inshore waters.
That’s precisely what
Logyn-john and mate Ashley Hudson did last weekend, Logyn-john’s father taking the lads to the Alligator Creek weed beds to test their luck.
The sun pushed above the horizon with pilchard baits already drifting in a generous berley trail of the same bait, the wait not a long one before the first doggie mackerel found the offerings.
“We put the lines out and set the berley trail with crunched up pillies and waited until the mackerel came… and then it was a lot of fun,” Logyn-john said.
“It was my first time mackerel fishing and now I am hooked and cannot wait till dad takes me again.”
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Young Isaac Casey opted to throw lures around shipping channel pylons on Monday morning with his father Shane Casey, the pair finding doggie mackerel on the outermost markers.
Light line and the smallest metal jigs fooled the mackerel, some of the tasty speedsters making good their freedom when biting through the heavy monofilament leader or trace. The father and son fishing team supposed that a wire trace might stop the lures being bitten off, but by the same token, might also prevent shy or wary fish from biting in the first instance.
Anglers are reminded that doggie or Queensland school mackerel are protected by a 50cm minimum size and an in-possession limit of 10 fish per angler.
LAND-BASED FUN
Easing weather conditions for the weekend and beyond might bode well for most fishing persuasions, landbased anglers just as likely to benefit from lighter winds and gentler seas.
Early morning high tides and post lunchtime lows might be welcomed by lurecasters looking to fool a barramundi near rocky headland and foreshore locations like Cape Pallarenda, Kissing Point and the harbour breakwall complex, shallow offerings like gold bombers and lightly weighted paddle-tail plastics likely to be effective.
Bread and butter anglers could keep their rods in the rack until they pump a handful of yabby baits at low tide before snaring a haul of whiting, flathead, bream and grunter on the afternoon flood tides.
Cungulla foreshores, Bushland Beach and foreshore flanking northern creeks are all popular and productive as are hotspots within city limits including the mouth of the Ross River and Three Mile Creek at Pallarenda.