Fish Species Guide

IT’S been a tough time for a lot of businesses, and the Barra Fishing Park at Bli Bli was one of those closed for a few months due to COVID-19. So, it was great that my son Josh and I were invited for a ‘pre-fish’ before the official re-opening on June 11. The Barra Fishing Park is a fantastic option …

WINTER is definitely here now. Very cold weather in May made temperatures drop quick. Sharks seem to be less active or not present, I can’t really be sure. Best of all, restrictions have been lifted to allow travel around Queensland. Hope this kicks a few more punters my way. Typical winter species have started to move and it’s exciting to …

A FAVOURITE target species for many anglers, including myself, is the humble flathead. They love eating lures, fight well on light gear, are readily available, make great table fish for those wanting to keep a couple for a feed, and everyone is in the running to catch a trophy fish, whether fishing land based or from watercraft. Winter is a …

FOR anyone who fishes and enjoys boating, the past few months have been full of change, uncertainty, confusion and totally compounded by a severe lack of good leadership by those in charge of boating and fishing in Queensland. The state of confusion started at the commencement of COVID-19 restrictions when the boss of Maritime Safety Queensland came out hard in …

THERE is something a little weird about the anglers who chase big green fish in the freezer, but it’s an addictive time as the big fish come out to play. My first introduction to cold cod fishing was way, way back in about 1995. Let’s just say it was so long ago I can’t remember the exact year. We planned …

In a first for Australia, active acoustic equipment (echosounder) and unBaited Remote Underwater Video (uBRUV)cameras have been used together to assess snapper stocks as they aggregated to spawn in the waters off the northern end of Bernier Island. For the past three winters, these waters off Shark Bay have been closed to fishing for pink snapper from June until August, …

With the pearl perch and snapper closure in full swing until midnight on August 15, anglers have had to venture to new ground in search of different species. For tips on catching a snapper before the closure, click here! Large grass emperor have been recorded in the shallower reefs off Noosa such as Sunshine and Halls, with anglers collecting fish …

The NSW Department of Primary Industries want your fish skeletons! The DPI needs fish frames from recreational fishers to help with the monitoring of mulloway, yellowtail, kingfish, snapper, dusky flathead, tailor, black bream, spanish or spotted mackerel. skeletons It doesn’t just want huge trophy fish, the little ones are as important as the big ones. All legal length frames are …

Recreational fishers and local tourism on the far north coast of NSW will be the big winners with an offshore artificial reef to be deployed off the Tweed Heads coast. Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said the new offshore artificial reef is great news for Tweed Heads and will be a major drawcard for local fishers and visitors to …

BUNDABERG OFFSHORE Once again there might be some small windows of opportunity to get out and wet a line off Bundaberg this weekend. The few boats that headed out last weekend, though it was a little rougher than the forecast, managed to land plenty of impressive reef fish, including coral trout, green jobfish, red emperor, grass sweetlip and parrot. Let’s …