Spanish mackerel

SUMMER is quickly coming to a close, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. With consistent rain and lighter wind around central Queensland, fishos have been waiting for the small weather windows between the rain to get out and fish the blue water. These weather windows have become increasingly uncommon in recent years, so it has been a welcome change. …

IN the previous edition of BNB I penned an article on preparations for our annual week-long fishing pilgrimage to chase Cape York barra in the upper reaches of one of my favourite top end river systems. This year’s trip was titled the ‘Cape York 2019- Beer and Barra Classic’. A lot of planning goes into these extended trips, as we …

THERE is nothing quite like the feeling of your alarm going off at some stupid hour of the morning (like 1-2am). For most people, they would grunt and groan at the thought of getting out of a nice warm bed at such a time, but for fishos, especially the ones like me, excitement gets the better of us. When I …

AN invitation to join a Swain Reefs fishing trip is pretty hard to knock back, and to do a trip with essentially the same nucleus of guys from previous years that all get on well and love their fishing makes it even harder. We headed out from Yeppoon late in the evening on the Capricorn Star with owner/skipper Scott Wilson …

IN the build-up to winter, the Bundaberg area was experiencing little to no good weather for offshore fishing, and when a weekend finally arose, other commitments prevented me from heading out. But at long last a weekend came along when nothing stood in the way and once Friday night arrived, the boat was packed and the alarms set for the …

Lewan and I were trying to skull drag our mackerel to the boat on many days and this often worked on the smaller fish but boy did we lose some. We pulled hooks, broke hooks, broke wire traces and broke the line in an effort to get the mackerel past the sharks. As annoying as it is not being able …

It is important to remember when entering the water that you are entering the fish’s world. You are the unexpected guest, not them. A lot of people fear what can be found in our Queensland waters and it is only normal in the beginning, especially being a fisher and knowing that about 20 percent of fish caught in the shallows …

 The fishing accommodation was set up for fishos by fishos and is close to the boat ramp, pub, servo and tackle shop.  Ask for Pacific Villa or Pacific Oasis when you call. You can contact us at stanagebay.com, on Facebook, by email at stanagebaymarine@bigpond.com or call me on 07 4937 3145. Until next time, keep your lines and hooks wet.

It was forecast to back off a touch the next day and everyone had the same idea. I reckon 50 boats went out the Brunswick Heads Bar and mine was one of them. Pretty good bait was around in the form of big slimies and a few pike. I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I just threw the anchor …