Fishing

WHEN it rains, it pours. And pour it did, with some parts of the Gold Coast shaken and stirred, copping 500mm or more. You can’t deny we needed it though, and boy was it good to hear rain on the roof. With all the creeks and estuaries in flood, the systems are receiving a well-overdue flush. The wet can really change things on …

IT has been a great start to the year and we have scored cracking weather between wet season squalls and thunderstorms. Boating during the wet can be a gamble, let alone boat camping, because you simply can’t trust weather forecasts and it can turn nasty extremely quickly. The wet certainly came late, with heavy rain and thunderstorms on Thursday Island from mid-February. That …

EXPLODING in the US, the Ned rig is basically a stand-up presentation built around a mushroom-style jig head and a buoyant soft plastic, meaning in the water the plastic is either fleeing on the retrieve or rapidly standing up in a claws-up ‘defensive’ pose or tail-up ‘feeding’ pose on the pause. On the pause, the buoyant plastic moves around naturally …

A NORTH Queensland barramundi farm will produce a million fish a year through an intensive fish nursery and support more than 20 new regional jobs with a funding boost from the Queensland Government. Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said barramundi farm Mainstream Aquaculture was one of 14 businesses in Queensland to receive a Rural Economic Development …

THE transition months where both warm and cool water species are on offer can produce red-hot fishing action. Fish that prefer warmer water such as mangrove jack will be feeding hard at this time before the water temperature rapidly drops in May. Some of the best jack fishing occurs during the season transition, with a lot of big fish over …

THE 2020 barramundi season opened at midday on February 1 and I was on the water ready for the abundance. The season opening coincided with good tides and after only an hour, at 12.55pm, the abundance was clear – we had the first barramundi measuring a respectable 80cm. With the neap tides building towards the quarter moon, the fishing in estuaries …

MUCH needed rain flushed out many of our local creeks and river systems, which means mud crabs, and a few monsters turned up in the Noosa River system – fantastic! Yes, after decent rain the land responded with a carpet of greenery, and soon it will be time to break out the camping gear in the form of our new home …

THE NSW Department of Primary Industries website has recently been updated to include a fantastic page dedicated to providing junior anglers with a stack of interesting info and kids activities! If your children are stuck at home due to COVID-19 restrictions, this innovative resource presents an excellent opportunity to not only keep them entertained with many a great kids activity, …

GREAT Barrier Reef research has found the destructive crown-of-thorns starfish is eaten more often than thought.  Crown-of-thorns starfish are on the menu for many more fish species than previously suspected, an investigation using fish poo and gut goo reveals. The finding suggests that particular fish including popular eating and aquarium species might have a role to play in keeping the destructive pest population under control. The native …

G’DAY crew! I hope you have managed to stay dry and out of the downpours we’ve had. But how good is this rain!? Good for the sea and great for the land. On the topic of rain, Tin Can Bay copped a proper washdown at the beginning of February, with several locals recording over 350mm in a two-day period and …