Page 68 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

Sandy Kirk with a solid ngermark.
Freediving is a great way to see the reef and get a feed of cray sh.
Clayton with a couple of large-mouth nannygai captured on new ground.
Page 68 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, October 2020
OHot action on Cape York
A monster CapeYork mud crab picked up by the author in mangroves.
CTOBER is an exciting time to explore Cape
Cape York & Torres Strait
by MATT POTTER
York.
Fishing will fire up as
water temperature con- tinues to warm.
lines or prominent high spots to drag a few lures around for mackerel.
ing, the same apply if fishing shallow reefs because noise travels quickly underwater, and an anchor dropping or sound system blaring is enough to send fish scattering.
Better weather win- dows will also present with the build-up to the wet season.
The bonus is these same areas general- ly hold good country for my favourites and I’ve located productive ground while dragging a couple of X-Raps.
This allows avid boat- ies to travel further and access exceptional fish- ing.
Natural lure and bait presentation are also important.
Spanish mackerel will certainly be one target species to increase in numbers over the com- ing months.
If the water is clear I’d much rather be in it spearfishing, which can be exciting when putting together a feed from the local and more remote reefs.
I’ve seen coral trout staring at an unnatu- ral looking bait on the bottom, which has been dropped from the boat by one of the crew. Chasing barramundi
Trolling Rapala X- Rap Magnum 30s is an effective way to target these speedsters.
Common targets in- clude crayfish, blacks- pot tuskfish, mangrove jack, coral trout and spanish mackerel.
At the time of writing, I was gearing up for an annual week-long trip to chase a few tropical species in a remote part of Cape York, namely barramundi.
As well as beautiful eating, they make a gun bait for red emperor, fingermark, coral trout and large-mouth nan- nygai, which are a few of my favourite species to target on the bottom.
You learn a lot about fish behaviour by ob- serving them underwa- ter.
My dad, father-in-law and nephew will once again be joining me as crew for this sortie.
Each trip I aim to find new ground and I will always have a game plan in mind prior to leaving the boat ramp.
This translates back to understanding fish be- haviours when target- ing them with rod and reel.
It is rewarding to share epic fishing ex- periences in a magic part of the world with
Navionics is useful for identifying contour
Just as slow move- ments and stealth are required when spear-
* continued P69 www.bnb shing.com.au