Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
G’day crew, where is this year going?
I hope you are all well and have been able to wet a line over the past few weeks in between the crazy heat and rainy days we’ve had.
Despite the town seeming to be a little quiet recently, it was all systems go in the shop, even with the weather not really on our side.
From all reports, crabs were playing the game though.
With big tides and plenty of fresh water about, crabs were on the move.
We received some great reports mid-month of fishos able to get right up to the upper reaches of the creeks and into the mangroves to bag a feed.
There seemed to be heaps of people out and about chasing a feed of crab, we even sold out of our 900mm Crabbing Gear Pro Pots earlier in the year.
But don’t stress, we had a delivery in the first week of February and have plenty of other traps in stock to keep you going.
The hot and balmy days sure do lend themselves to chasing a few mangrove jack and, as we all know, there’s no shortage of them in the Great Sandy Strait.
Skipping lures into the dark shadows of underhung mangrove-lined creeks and working hard-bodies deep into snags is my favourite way to catch this angry red fish.
Though using some of our locally caught flicker mullet or catching your own live bait is also a sure-fire way to get stuck into them.
Now that February 1 has landed, barramundi are back on the catch card and are most likely hanging out in some of the same spots you chase jacks in.
If you ask me, it’s time to up the leader and start throwing some big lures around.
And I’m expecting to see a few more barra popping up on social media in coming weeks.
A few nice catches of both goldspotted and blackspotted cod have come in from fishos working vibes along the ledges and in the deeper holes.
Casting ahead of your drift and hopping vibes back to the boat is a great way to work the depths and, despite what many think, they are less prone to snagging than you might think.
Vibes are a super versatile lure and these days come in a range of sizes to target a massive array of fish species – from bread and butter fish such as flathead, bream and trevally to jacks and barra.
These days, there’re even offshore versions for catching snapper, nannygai, jewfish and trout.
Even red emperor will eat a vibe!
If you haven’t used a soft vibe before, swing into the shop and we’ll point you in the right direction for getting out there and catching a feed of your desired fish.
Over the past couple of months, squid have also been caught in and around moored boats, from Norman Point down to Crab Creek.
Not in big numbers but worth having a crack at for a couple of hours to take a nice feed home.
Catches of whiting have also been on the menu.
We found the start of a run-out tide produced very well when fishing worm and yabbies on our local flats.
We have been taking the kids out the front of the house most days for a swim and a fish and have been catching good numbers of whiting.
Nothing massive, though most of them legal and, if we needed to eat, we would have survived another day.
But more importantly, the kids have been having a blast and are outside making some great memories, and that’s living Barry!
That’s it from me for another month crew, I’ll see you in the shop or even out on the water.
Take care and tight lines.
The Chandlery Bait and Tackle for all your fishing and boating needs.
