Page 34 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

Toby with a 91.5cm athead which was the best of a good session.
A good-sized Brunswick River athead caught by Hugh.
Hugh with 2kg of hard- ghting trevally.
Page 34 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2020
I enjoyed a couple of days on the river with him and we even caught a couple of sizable fish.
Turns out I’m rubbish at the comfort lift!
From my angle it didn’t look massive but as his dad Damien lift- ed it out of the water, it grew into a 91.5cm crocodile.
LWizards likely in December
ITH travel restrictions easing more,
Tweed to Byron Bay
by GAVIN DOBSON
the upcoming holiday season is looking good for fishers.
upon seeing it was a good flatty we realised we’d left the net back at the caravan.
up the river to look for trevally or flatties in the deeper holes at low tide.
If you are thinking of coming to the Byron coast, the fishing has been decent.
There’s a manoeuvre called the comfort lift, and I’m sure you’ve seen it on TV.
The trevally weren’t present but we jagged a few more flathead, with no monsters but a nice feed.
After storms and sub- stantial rain, the river is a great place to be with all the warm water spe- cies now in full swing.
It involves gently lift- ing the fish into the boat by the belly and hoping it just relaxes and comes aboard with no fuss.
Toby Hart had a red- hot morning on the liz- ards, and I happened to be there to watch him land the biggest of the session.
Hugh recently came down to the caravan park for another stint.
Drifting around the mouth of the river on a slack low tide, we were hoping for a big flat- head but only managed a just-legal model.
What I can do though is the discomfort lift.
On the last drift, Hugh had the big hook-up we were anticipating, and on 6lb braid he angled the fish gently to the boat.
This involves lifting the fish aboard with a thumb grip that causes pain and lacerations from the fish’s raspy teeth and the possibil- ity of the hook ending up in a digit.
I took a quick snap and the duo swam the fish carefully before re- leasing it.
Once under the boat, the tell-tale slow nod- ding of the rod tip in- dicated it wasn’t the big flathead we were targeting but a trevally circling on its side.
* continued P36
A live bait was irresistible to this nice giant trevally from the Brunswick River.
www.bnbfishing.com.au
With the fish in the boat, we went back, got the net and headed back
Flathead, trevally and whiting will continue to consume anglers’ atten-
I’ve written before that I reckon trevally are a first-class sport- fish and I will never tire of seeing them come to the boat.
They don’t have to be the monster giant trevally that people pay huge bucks to chuck poppers at all day in exotic locations.
The 1-2kg models that inhabit our local estuar- ies are a buzz on appro- priate tackle.
On a subsequent trip with Hugh, we once again chased big liz- ards.
On the first cast, Hugh hooked a nice fish and