Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
It’s the saddest time of the year for saltwater barramundi enthusiasts.
The start of a long three month wait begins on November 1 as the East Coast barra closure comes into effect.
Many barra anglers turn to impoundments to get their fix.
If you live locally near Yeppoon or Rockhampton, you only have a few options close by.
You can either head down to Lake Awoonga on the outskirts of Gladstone or head inland to Emerald and fish Lake Maraboon.
A consolation is that you can take all the same rods, reels and lures into the fresh and still be very productive.
However, if you’re heading for an impoundment, I would add a few vital extras.
Lures such as the Molix Shad 140 Swimbait, 130mm Squidgies Slickrig, 5.5” Zerek Live Mullet and 7” Zerek Flat Shad are proven impoundment winners – make sure you have a few colours of each if you want to target impoundment barramundi.
Even though saltwater barra are off the target list, there’s still plenty of action to be had in our local estuaries.
During the closure, the first species I enjoy targeting is fingermark.
Fingermark (golden snapper) aren’t overly complicated to catch and deep rock bars are great places to start looking for them.
Trolling deep-diving hard-body lures to slightly bop the top of bommies is usually a successful technique.
The more I touch the structure, the more bites I get.
Isolated structure such as solitary rocks, wrecks or even snags are also worthy options to try.
One thing I’ve learned about fingermark is that it pays to give isolated structure a few casts, regardless of whether you see any fish on your side or down scans.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve driven away from structure thinking there weren’t any fish on it, only to turn around and go back to check it out with live imaging.
Sometimes fingermark are buried in the structure and aren’t visible on your side imaging, but if you use the live, you can see them swimming around in it.
If you’re chasing fingers with lures, these are a few confidence lures I swear by:
- 4.5” Molix RT Shad
- 4” Zerek Flat Shad
- 3” Berkley Gulp Shrimp
- 4” Holt Productions Swimprawn
- 4” Z-Man StreakZ Curly TailZ
- Lucky Craft Pointer 100mm XD.
This range covers paddle tails, prawns and hard-body lures.
If you’re chasing a good trolling lure for rock bars, go for something noisy such as a Classic Barra or RMG Crazy Deep.
Fingermark would have to be the best eating fish in the estuary, though remember, they are also very slow growing, so only take a feed and not a fridgeful.
They have a bag limit of five per person and a minimum size of 35cm.
Another amazing sportfish species to target during the closed season is king threadfin salmon.
During the closed barra season, we have a king threadfin competition that runs from November 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025.
There are several special tagged threadies swimming around in our Rockhampton net-free fishing zone that are worth $10,000 each.
The ownership of this competition has recently changed hands, so I recommend checking in with one of the local tackle shops for further instructions on how to register.
King threadfin is another fish that is relatively easy to catch, once you’ve work them out.
A good side and down image sounder is a wise investment.
It’s important to know exactly what species you’re casting at, especially during a closed season.
There’s nothing worse than putting in the time and effort on what you think are threadies, only to find out you’re actually targeting a school of barra.
Personally, I like my Humminbird Apex 16.
It shows all fish-life crisply and clearly, which takes away the guesswork.
A good place to start scanning for king threadfin are creek mouths.
Of the thready spots I’ve found, 90 percent are at creek mouths.
Well, that’s it from me this month.
I hope your November is full of fishing memories shared with friends and loved ones.
