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Fabulous fishing in the Whitsundays

whitsundays

Put yourself here – turquoise waters stretching towards a horizon dotted with emerald islands, the sun warming your skin as you stand on the deck of a sleek boat, anticipation running through your veins. Suddenly, a line screaming taut – the fight is on. The ocean erupts in a flurry of shimmering scales and primal power. This is game fishing …

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NSW eastern blue groper rule changes

NSW

New eastern blue groper fishing rule changes From March 1 2024, taking eastern blue groper by any method, including line fishing, is prohibited as part of a 12-month trial, to ensure greater protection of this iconic species. During the 12-month trial, DPI Fisheries are consulting with stakeholders and the broader community on longer term changes to eastern blue groper fishing …

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Preparation and planning for a peninsula trip

trip

Well, what a doozy of a summer we’re having! trip Cyclones, tropical lows and some of the most intense and widespread thunderstorms on record. Plus, of course, the cracking heat and humidity. Overall, this is definitely one of the wildest seasons I’ve seen. Apparently as a result of sea surface temperatures being considerably above normal around eastern Australia – even …

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Cracking catches on Capricorn Coast

on

This month I was going to cover the Shimano King of Kings competition but unfortunately, I’ve run out of time. Keep an eye out for an in-depth run-down next month. For this issue, we’ll have a good look around at what’s been happening locally. With the warmer weather, the estuaries have all been about grunter, fingermark, mangrove jack and barramundi. …

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Great fishing from close-in reefs

reefs

Autumn has arrived and with it hopefully some reprieve from the constant heat we had during January and February. reefs During February, strong wind was the norm, with only small breaks in the constant blustery conditions allowing people to sneak out wider. This restricted most people to the harbour, rivers, creeks and inshore reefs and headlands around the region. With …

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Surprise snapper success

snapper

Well, what a dismal start to 2024! snapper With all the rain earlier in the year, the water around the southern bay islands was very ordinary, to say the least. Throw in the wind and trying to coordinate dates when people can go fishing with the days and weather windows available and we’ve managed only one day on the water …

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Tips for dirty water targets

water

March is normally an excellent month to chase fish and crustaceans around Brisbane. Mud crabs were well and truly on the move towards the end of January, and there were also plenty of smaller prawns getting around, which meant things were looking good for the coming weeks. Then the rain turned up and dumped 300mm overnight around the north Brisbane …

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Spotted mackerel ring netting update

netting

The recent commercial netting activities in Moreton Bay, initially raised on social media, has triggered a reaction from many recreational fishos. With most of these anglers having fished the bay for years, they no doubt saw the damage ring netting did to fish stocks back in the 1980s – which has taken years for the fishery to recover from. Before …

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Help protect NSW abalone stocks

NSW

Do not discard any seafood waste in waterways – throw all abalone shells, gut and any leftover abalone waste in the bin. Movement restrictions are in place on the transport of live abalone into and within New South Wales in response to detections of Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis (AVG) in South Australia. What is AVG? AVG is a viral disease which …

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Mackerel pre and post closure

G’day everyone, I hope you found my previous article useful in trying to get yourself onto a spanish mackerel or two. As most of you would know, we have two separate closures for Queensland tidal systems – one was February 1-21 and the second closure starts March 1, finishing March 21. Up until this point, I’d been right into the …

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