Page 33 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

The author’s son Josh with an absolute stonker of a barred javelin he caught on light 6lb Playtpus P8 braid and a light 12lb leader.
Tackling tough conditions on a Fraser Island trip
Chris with one of two nice athead over 70cm for the trip, with white being his go-to colour in dirtier water.
A great haul of whiting put together using live worms for bait.
Matt took this stunning estuary cod using a slightly larger plastic than that normally used for athead.
Bush ’n Beach Fishing, October 2020 – Page 33
* from P32
That said, wind under
side-on, try to position yourself so you’re cast- ing lures or bait with the wind and not against it.
ary cod, swallowtail dart and even a remora! Our tackle of choice was light 6lb Platypus P8 braid, light fluoro- carbon leaders of 10- 14lb and TTs jig heads and mostly Z-Man soft
12-13 knots in most di- rections can be OK.
On this trip, we man- aged a couple of very nice mixed-bag ses- sions in spells of less wind or battled through it to get acceptable catches in periods when it was stronger.
The other factor we considered for the west- ern side was tide height.
With over 24 years of fishing the island, my diary entries indicated that the best quality and quantity of fish came in the four days leading up to a new and full moon, while after, qual- ity dropped a little but quantity was still good four days post.
plastics.
For the jig heads, we
For flathead we chose the bigger spring tide, when the water level dropped enough to empty drains and fish concen- trated around the entrance of the drains and ledges into deeper water.
The best action was during the mid-stages of the tide.
Z-Man colours such as Midnight Oil and Motor Oil worked best in clear- er water but when stirred up, white and pink col- ours worked best.
That said, you can’t always get the wind and tide on your side.
On the soft plas- tic front, we caught a variety of fish includ- ing grunter, flathead, bream, tarwhine, estu-
For more tips and re- ports, be sure to like my Facebook page, Ontour Fishing Australia, or Instagram by the same name.
When the wind is coming hard at you www.bnb shing.com.au
Until next month, cheers.
Live beachworms cast and retrieved slowly on little 5-5.5” Alveys and 10’6” rods did the job on whiting.
used 1/8-1/6oz weights in calmer conditions but went to 1/4oz in stronger wind.
The most productive locations were edges of higher sandy spits and in the darker shallow drains that were full of yabby holes.
I hope these tips help you on your next Fraser Island trip.