Page 73 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag
P. 73

Build up to the wet
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We ventured out one
as the fish don’t hold on any specific structure, they’re often not in the exact spot when you go back.
On the neap tide and with the cleaner water, they move in closer to TI and push wider on the new and full moon, when the current picks up.
morning to chase a few reef fish and were re- warded with nice nan- nygai, coral trout and sweetlip.
This ended up being the case for us, and I’d spent a good 45 min- utes sounding around.
However, the weather soon had us heading back to the river for protection.
I almost gave up when I ran over a few specks about 400m from the original mark and told the crew to drop.
Spanish mackerel are such a great fish to tar- get with blistering runs and great eating quali- ties.
With 35-knot gusts predicted, we packed up a day early and made the wild journey back across the Endeav- our Strait to Thursday Island.
After a few solid bites itwasonandIwas relieved to see the first large-mouth nannygai come aboard.
I’ve certainly enjoyed smoking spanish mack- erel in the kipper.
Axel Lowe and a good-sized mangrove jack.
Nash Stanley with his 1.01m CapeYork barra which won him $750.
We were glad we did because the following day the wind was abso- lutely howling. October – finding new ground
We used slabs of spanish mackerel as bait on paternoster rigs and fished in only 14m of water.
The pelagics will con- tinue to fire over sum- mer.
November – spearfishing
The wind dropped completely for a hand- ful of days in October.
It was a great session, with the school rising to the surface and fol- lowing hooked fish to the boat.
We had one of the best neaps of the year in early November, with the current drop- ping right out.
It was certainly hu- mid, which had every- one predicting an early wet because we don’t usually experience dol- drum-like weather until December.
When we had a few nice fish in the Esky, we switched over to an assortment of soft plas- tics and jigs.
When this happens the water clarity improves substantially, and rods are replaced with spear- guns and masks.
Luckily, the weather was glassy during the week, though picked up for the weekend.
Feeding that hard meant the fish weren’t being too fussy and we were getting hit on the drop, which was a load of fun.
Crayfish – also known as tropical rock lobster – are abundant on the local reefs.
However, as it wasn’t as bad as what we’d been copping for most of the year, I put to- gether a crew and head- ed wider to search for ground around a few shoals.
A huge positive for finding fish away from structure or any main reef system was the lower number of sharks around – they’re a pesky nuisance here in the tropics.
I was specifically targeting large-mouth nannygai, which are one of my favourite fish to chase here in the tropics.
October also saw mackerel move in close to Thursday Island, and we had a great session on a few solid spaniards trolling Rapala X-Rap Magnum 30 lures on a nearby high point.
We’d had a great ses- sion on nannygai about 18 months earlier in the same rubbly area, but www.bnbfishing.com.au
Flying over beautiful Masig in theTorres Strait.
Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2020 – Page 73
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