Fishin’ Maggie

Barra Season is Open

The Barra season has kicked off and no caught reports yet. Funnily enough I sighted one on an empty pontoon while I was washing my fish catch Sunday afternoon. I was just rinsing a fish in the water and shaking to get the crap remnants out and a Barra came flying out from under the pontoon, then saw me, turned tail and bolted. We both got a shock I can tell you.

The moon phase is perfect right now, so have a fish on the Moonrise and Moonset with live mullet or lure. Good Luck

What’s Happening on Maggie

Our friendly Fire Brigade attended a call out for a yacht which burned to the waterline at Gowrie Bay last week. On Saturday the owner re-floated, towed it to Nelly, and hauled it up the boat ramp at Nelly Bay. There wasn’t much left.

Our friendly 4m croc seems to have headed off to harass other towns. I went out Sunday morning for crocodile information run in friend’s tinnie as my boat is still out of action. We had no sightings and the trap off Nobbys Headland is still baited but empty. See Photo.

The tourist business was woeful last week, who wants to snorkel or swim with Croc warnings everywhere and beaches closed? Let’s hope we can move on. Information has been hard to get which is frustrating for all tourist operators. There needs to be a better information network for these things. Maybe a there needs to be a link between National Parks Townsville and Tobmi??

Neville was fishing with his daughter off Bright Point rocks late last week, when he saw not one but 2 massive Tiger Sharks casually cruising past the rocks heading towards Fisherman’s Cove. We all know they are out there, but seeing them is always incredible.

Friendly Feud

One of my fun activities is always having a practical joke. One of my favourite targets is Mark. I won’t use his real name. Last week Mark pulled up for air and I managed to get his vehicle keys out of his ignition and got back into the shop without being noticed. I was quite proud of my speed. It took Mark a minute or so sitting in his Thirsty Camel Van. (Oops that gave it away,) to realize I had done it, and the retaliation was Jack Daniels stickers on the petrol bowsers. Hmm that just might be a good Island money spinner.

Onshore Fishing

Crabbing has been dismal despite traps being set in many locations. Patrick and 3 friends set 16 traps over the weekend for no result, now that’s woeful. There are some Blue swimmers in the sand flats at Nelly, lovely tucker, but Muddies are scarce.

Queenie’s were finally caught on the Jetty this week, Their leaps from the water as they are hooked are quite the spectacle for tourists, and to Japanese tourists who hired a ride from Magnetic Adventure & Hire, and enjoyed the spectacle, even though they caught nothing on their own rods.

That large school of Juvenile Trevally are still shacked up under the jetty, but they are very toey. At unset they will sometimes take a green softie, but not often.

Tarpon are still in numbers in the Harbour. One new Island resident had a field day hooking one after another late Friday in a frenzied session at the public boat ramp.

Offshore Fishing

Pelagic fishing was very quiet with bait schools being noticeably absent around the Island, or in very small schools. . Bottom bashing was much more rewarding with hungry reef fish waiting for unweighted pillie’s to float past. I had a ball on Sunday at Fisherman’s Cove and the fish were biting well and smashing small soft Plastics and pillie’s. We snagged a smorgasbord of mixed reefie’s in great little lunch session.

Sunday all the town boats were in big numbers along the western side of Maggie, taking advantage of the 3.5m tide to chase Barra. Despite the tide, they were struggling to find fish of any size.

Next week
Until next time gone Barra Fishin’…. be back at dark-thirty
Cheers Dale
Fish’n N Fuel’n
36 Mandalay Ave, Nelly Bay 4778-5126

For all of your fishing and sports hire gear. We hire and sell fishing rods, and snorkel equipment, plus sell bait, tackle, ice spear fishing equipment, toys, party, pool toys and convenience supplies. Check out Kooler 24 hour Ice 7kg $4.
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