Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
I HOPE you’ve all been out having a play in this little slice of paradise we call home. And to anyone here on holidays, welcome to Tin Can Bay! Let’s have a look at what’s been caught around the place over the past month in the lead up to the silly season.
If you haven’t noticed yet, the old mercury has been on the rise these past few weeks, helping a few ripper afternoon storms along. A sure-fire sign that mangrove jack are going to be on the chew in our local waterways. Tin Can variety
Anglers who have been fishing the high tide at night with fresh flesh bait and small live bait have been doing well. Best for getting the bite are 4/0-7/0 hooks and lightly weighted leads. The lure and fly fishos have also been seeing their share of red fish, going out in the last couple of hours of a run-out tide and working the lure hard in the snags.
Like an old friend of mine said, “There is no point in rattling the letterbox when you need to be knocking on the back door!” And that’s what you need to do, get those lures to the back of the snags – this will increase your catch rate tenfold. Barramundi have also been showing up in creeks as a welcome by-catch for fishers casting for jack.Tin Can variety
They definitely break up the bream and cod by-catch! We have seen a handful of good fish over the past couple of weeks, with all eating soft and hard lures, and all of them caught by tourists. While they haven’t been big fish by barramundi standards, most have measured around 600-650mm.
The astonishment of the anglers has been pretty cool and hearing the stories of the unexpected captures has been awesome. “Barra down here – I could not believe my eyes!” All reports were that the fish were released very soon after a quick picture was snapped.Tin Can variety
Remember barra are a no-take no-target species from 12pm November 1st – the season reopens at 12pm on February 1, 2021. Speaking of photos, don’t forget to upload your pics to our Facebook page, to be featured and go in the running for our monthly $100 in store voucher. A few nice-sized grunter have been caught in local creeks recently.
Using soft vibes to target these fish in deeper holes on a run-in tide has been producing a number of well-sized fish. Fresh strips of squid have also been working well for these tasty piscatorial treats. Whiting are still being caught in good quantities and various sizes, with fish in the high 300mm captured consistently. Again, fresh yabbies and worms are a must to snag a feed.Tin Can variety
Flathead catches have tapped off a little recently for whatever reason. Though fishers putting the effort in and targeting drop-offs with 3-5” plastics for school-sized fish have been scratching up a feed with a little effort. The Biwaa Duce in Ice Pink has been a proven winner on these fish.
Offshore reports have been great for the past month. Quality catches of red emperor have been coming thick and fast. Using a mixture of live bait and fresh fillets to target the bigger models in deeper water is a mainstay for many fishos. We have been seeing plenty of anglers opting to use slow pitch metals and plastics, leaving the bait at home.Tin Can variety
A good rule of thumb when choosing jig weight is 1g of weight per 1m of water. In saying that, you will need to account for tide and drift speed. I tend to go little heavier on my weights because I like to get down to the strike zone quickly, especially in deep water offshore. Trout have been around in good numbers and the very pretty coronation trout have been in decent supply too.
Solid nannygai, hussar and tuskfish have all been helping to keep rods bent. The fish aggregating devices are worth a look at, with good sized mahi mahi hanging off them. Stickbait, larger flies and unweighted live bait have been working well. If that doesn’t work for you, try hanging up-current from the FADs, pump a berley trail and fish unweighted bait back to it, and if dollies are playing that day, you should bag a feed.Tin Can variety
As we wrap up 2020 – the craziest year ever – I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped not only us but all the businesses in town by shopping locally. Your support has not gone unnoticed, and we thank you whole-heartedly for the ongoing encouragement you have shown our little town. Well, that’s about it for me this month.Tin Can variety
Stay safe this holiday season and we hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. The Chandlery Bait and Tackle has all your boating and fishing needs.
Cheers and tight lines.
