Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Welcome to the last month of spring – the way the months are passing us by, Christmas will be here before we know it.
If you’re thinking of fishing, camping or leisure-time gifts for Christmas, now is the time to start looking – before the rush during December, particularly the lead up to the big day.
We are spoilt for choice nowadays, with plenty of tackle and adventure shops waiting to help out wherever you need.
If you can’t find what you want in store or can’t get into a shop, there’s plenty of options online that can be delivered to your door.
I have been in Gladstone now for 18 years and my fishing has changed quite a lot during that time.
When I first moved to town, I had no boat and most of my fishing was done off banks, rock bars and jetties.
I caught a few species I’d never caught before during this time – including my first barramundi and fingermark captures.
I caught the typical smaller fish, with plenty of estuary cod, bream and moses perch all very common.
It was during the first few years that my fishing gear changed from a lighter rod and reel to heavier options to handle the larger fish I’d started to target.
The occasional invitation to jump aboard a friend’s tinnie helped grow my want for a boat of my own, to open up even more fishing opportunities.
This had me at boat yards looking at what was available and more importantly what I could afford.
After some begging and pleading with my wife, I had the go ahead to purchase a boat and, not long after, we welcomed our first boat into the household – a Stacer 4.29 Seahorse with a two-stroke 30hp Mercury.
I fitted this with a black and white Lowrance sounder, added some lights and a transom-mount electric that Kmart was selling at the time and my next level fishing adventures started.
While a basic style of boat, I was able to fish the local estuaries and harbour.
The increased catch rate of barra, fingermark, mangrove jack and salmon justified the purchase of a boat.
We even dragged it to Rockhampton a few times to fish the Rocky Barra Bounty and around the front of Curtis Island to Keppel Creek.
With the transom-mount electric, lure fishing was a challenge, so mainly bait and live bait fishing was done.
This boat did account for some good fish, and I cracked the 1m barra club with a nice 110cm fish from the Calliope River.
As my fishing styles were changing and I was turning to lure fishing more, it was time to upgrade the boat.
After much looking and social media research, I landed on a 4.10 Polycraft with a 40hp Mercury FourStroke with gas-assist lifting.
I fitted this one out with a Lowrance HDS-5 and a Watersnake bow-mount electric motor.
After a few years, the Watersnake died and I upgraded to a Minn Kota with spot lock.
I also upgraded the engine to a 50hp Yamaha Trim and Tilt and added an HDS10 sounder, moving the HDS-5 to the front, mounting the transducer on the electric.
This boat opened up my lure fishing options and helped me develop my skills in deeper and faster running water.
Once I managed to improve in this style of fishing, my fingermark and salmon catch rate increased quickly.
Having the bow-mounted electric also allowed me flick to bank side snags with the use of the foot pedal.
While it was a small boat with low sides, it handled some fairly ordinary conditions as I pushed out wider and to further away places.
After 10 years, I sold it two years ago to upgrade, but I still miss it for fishing rivers and creeks.
I now have a Sea Jay 4.90 Velocity Sports with a 90hp Yamaha, and while it was a pre-loved boat, it was in great condition and came with an 80lb Minn Kota and a small Simrad sounder.
All I’ve added to this vessel is a 12” Humminbird sounder, keeping the Simrad for charts.
The Sea Jay has opened up some amazing fishing opportunities – getting well offshore and to some awesome spots up and down the coastline.
It was also great to finally have a boat that was comfortable when sitting in seats for long drives and, unless the conditions were nasty, offered a dry ride.
Being big enough to sleep in, we’ve spent nights out at the reef or remote area, allowing for more fishing time.
Funnily enough, some of the places I now consistently fish these days, I could have easily reached with my other boats.
I still enjoy getting back to basics and at times will head down to the local banks and rock bars with a bag of pillies or some livies, chasing anything that wants to bite.
On the fishing front, it’s now closed season for the mighty barramundi, though there’s still plenty of other options to chase.
Jacks should be biting now and, as the heat of the day picks up, bait and lures will both be extremely effective.
If you haven’t tried chasing them on the surface, I highly recommend it because the surface strike of a cranky jack is very impressive.
Fingermark and grunter will be haunting rock bars and gravel banks, so target the deeper areas for fingermark and the shallower for grunter.
If you’re still chasing a barra fix, the freshwater scene has been firing lately and this will continue over the warmer period.
Moving out wider, coral trout seem to prefer the hotter weather, especially on the shallower headlands and broken reefs closer in.
Grass sweetlip, redthroat emperor, stripies and tuskfish will add to the majority of your catches on the reefs.
There’re a few pelagic fish available, with cobia, mackerel and the very present tuna – mainly mack – showing up.
Mud crabs will be about, though a flush from some rain would help get them moving as, at the time of writing, they’re a little patchy.
Enjoy what we have on our back door before the weather really heats up.
Cheers and happy fishing from Gladstone.
