Page 74 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

Luke, Neville and Axel with a triple hook-up on Cape York barramundi.
A highlight of far north Queensland living.
Typically, early De- cember is the most ex- citing time of year – it’s when the doldrums kick in!
Build up to the wet
* from P73
However, as they
attention to the range of fish species on of- fer and ended up with a nice mixed bag of reefies.
and seek shelter.
have a bag limit of only six per boat and aren’t the most diffi- cult of quarry to catch, the main focus is on targeting species such as blackspot tuskfish, mangrove jack, cor- al trout and spanish mackerel.
I must have spent 45 minutes stalking a bommie that was home to a very solid reef jack, who proceeded to play hide-and-seek with me.
So, what will De- cember bring to the far north?
The thrill of the un- derwater hunt and se lectiveness of spear- fishing are certainly two of the reasons I’m addicted.
That round went to the fish.
This transition period from the dry to wet sea- son results in the wind completely dropping out and the water turn- ing to a millpond.
It is quality over quan- tity, and quite often I’ll swap the speargun for the GoPro and follow a buddy around as they try to get a personal best fish.
They are abundant on the local reefs around the Torres Strait and being a challenge to hunt, they are a prized target species.
We head wide, up to 115 nautical miles in search of mind-blowing fishing in untouched areas.
It requires teamwork, patience and safety considerations because of course it can be a dangerous sport.
Jack are often found swimming around with schools of slatey bream and can therefore be hard to spot.
Of course, with the imminent wet it can be a little nerve-racking because storms can brew quickly.
Mangrove jack will push out to the near- by reef systems once they get to 50-60cm in length.
Jerry cans are filled, salt ice made up months in advance is loaded into Eskies and most of the heavier tackle is dusted off.
December – doldrums
Luke and Matt with pair of solid spaniards caught trolling Rapala X-Rap Magum 30s.
Page 74 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2020
Have a safe and en- joyable festive season fishing with friends and family.
For this dive, after grabbing a few cray early, we turned our
Also, you often get only a brief opportunity to spear them because they quickly wise up
The predicted weather events surrounding La Niña suggest we are in for an early and above average wet season over summer.
While we certain- ly need the rain, fin- gers are crossed that a weather window pre- sents itself for explor- ing the remote reefs and sand cays, which have been off limits for most of the year.
Check out our remote adventures on the Fish- ing Missions Youtube Channel and Facebook page.
www.bnbfishing.com.au