Fishin’ Maggie

What’s Happening on Maggie

The storms that have been rolling through have made for some amazing photographs last week, with Facebook being a great venue to show them off.. (Kerry M that was a sweet pic of the storms passing the Jetty). Unfortunately the rains have in the main deserted us with the cloudbursts being north and south of Maggie. Josh had just gone for a run to the Cape when I photographed one big storm tracking his way, but the fishing as always was worth the risk.

The huge storms Sunday night were out Brewer Reef way where there were a lot of boats enjoying the calm seas. That would have been an interesting couple of hours as the lightning show was staggering from Maggie and Horseshoe Bay beach goers got quite a show from 8-11pm

Get well soon best wishes to Lewis who has a broken leg after an accident at Westpoint on Sunday.

Onshore Fishing

Kaleb and Ethan had a family trip down to the creeks mid-week with camping fishing and fun. This trip the boys scored a swag of Jacks in Retreat and had on live bait. See photo. The Jacks certainly are active and are good sizes, well worth the effort. I do rate them as one of my top table fish.

Horseshoe Bay has seen the Jelly prawns hard up against the beaches with Queenies, GTs Tarpon and Wolfie’s smashing them on the rising tides. They are great sport on small lures, but you really have to downsize and have a good flick rig. I managed to squeeze in a short session on Wednesday am which was great fun near the public boat ramp.

WestPoint has been a Salmon spot if you can get past the Rays and Shovelnose Sharks. Soft plastics are working best along here with the waster being clearer than normal.

The Bommie’s off Nelly Bay are still hot spots for all manner of reef fish and the sizes are impressive. The calm waters mean easy hangs with a pilly so get out on the wall.

Offshore Fishing

Glassed out conditions on the weekend meant lots of boat fishing, although carefully watching for approaching storms. Scorching humid conditions made it cooler to troll than anchor. Bottom bouncing was the best, though with some terrific reds caught, including a 70 cm Emperor. One boat also reported a 70 cm trout in close, although I didn’t get the bay location. Best spots were off WestPoint to Liver Point and Bay Rock. Sunday saw some frantic GT activity am, in this area as well. It really is a great year in close for reef fish, including Nannygai and Emperors with legal size being caught reguklarly.

Who Rescues the Rescuer

Sunday I took our Savage 24 for a run. It’s been a good boat and has a Yanmar 240 Diesel on board,. I went for a play in Horseshoe Bay and as usual got swag of Wolf Herring on pretty well any lure I was trolling with, but only 1 Mack. Not exactly a big day for the fish but it was only a quick session before going out again with the family in the afternoon for a picnic on the boat. (The previous run on Tuesday was much better with Macks, Fingermark and 4 other species all taking a trolled Halco. As I was coming into the harbour to pick up Janie, I heard a call from Cliff at Get Around Island Boat Tours, to his hire boat. The hire boat, as it turned out was stuck high and dry on a mud flat at Young Bay with the tide going out. I told Cliff I would run him around there with his canoe to help refloat his boat. Cliff came on board with his canoe, so he could get to his boat and off we went. My motor was running a bit rough, and just as we got near Cliff’s boat the engine alarms went off and the motor stalled. Stranded off Young Bay. (One canoe is not enough power for a tow home no matter how fit you are). Fortunately there was a saviour Bob Lane, who with the help of Sandor came and towed us back home to Nelly. Cliff launched his canoe and got his boat safely home much later than planned. Our tow back yielded only one tail hooked undersize Grey Mack. (and yes of course I trolled home. ) Bob had told me all trolled fish on the way home were his to keep, so I was hoping for more. ) Thanks Bob and Sandor, I owe you a tow and some fish.

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

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