Fishin’ Maggie
What’s Happening on Maggie
The Naidoc kids fishing competition went off without a hitch on Saturday at the Jetty. All the organisers did a great job and Magnetic Adventure & Hire had Graham there helping out with weighing and identifying fish, distributing free bait and tackle plus presentation of the prizes. With more prizes than children, there were many happy families. The next one is in September, the Magnetic Adventure & Hire super comp. Get ready for a biggie.
A timely reminder to watch for Stone Fish (Synanceia) in the shallow waters. A visitor child stood on one while getting ready to board a jet ski near the boat ramp at HB on Thursday. These fish are hard to spot and the sting is agonising.
The crazy season is over for a while. I do love seeing visitors seeking out all those little fishing nooks, and fishing the strangest places. I wish I had a dollar for every person who comes in and asks for my secret fishing spots. On the downside in busy season we have extra crime. One unlucky tourist who refused to pay for a taxi fare found out its better to pay the $10 fare than the $470 fine for fare evasion. Why would you try? The poor girls in traffic control on HB hill had their esky full of cold drinks stolen while they were working, can you believe that? Another boatie on Hols found his anchor missing, cut off the anchor rope after dark. The other issue is the increase in rubbish everywhere, including bait bags. In Nambucca Heads they have a campaign. Anywhere you go around Nambucca collect 3 pieces of rubbish per person and bin it. It helps to keep their town clean. TOBMI, maybe we can do the same?
Fishing Maggie by Boat
Last Tuesday saw the island boaties preparing for the only gap in the windy weather, as Willyweather’s wind forecast showed Wednesdays and Thursday had the possibility for good weather offshore. There was a line-up of boats for fuel, ice and bait, with no driveway rage like they get in town. I got the call-up too, negotiated with Janie for the time off on 2 days for one basis, (She is a hard negotiator and I was desperate for a fish, and she knew it so had me over a barrel.) Never show weakness in the negotiation process, or you end up losing. Ray, John, and I went out on Shy Tot, chasing Billy’s, and hoping to bycatch some Spannie’s. The day turned out to be rougher than predicted, but we still had a great time. Hook ups prove to be quite elusive, and when the line went off on my watch, we managed to tag our first Billie and started feeling a bit more confident. About 10.45am the back reel went screaming off at a pace I haven’t seen in a long time, before the suspected sailfish dropped the gar. What a blow. The rest of the day saw a couple of Mack Tuna’s, but no Spaniards despite the big bait balls. We did raise another Marlin but he missed the hook. After stopping at container on the way back for a couple of Tea Leaf Trevally, we were absolutely amazed just off Magnetic, to have an amazing whale encounter with the breaching not 20 m of the back of the boat. After posting the video on our Facebook’s, it was picked up by 106.3, and then Friday the Bully rang for a chat. Last time I checked, 106.3s link to the video had over 20,000 views. Encounters like that are really rare, but stunning.
Fishing Maggie on Land
With Gar thick in most bays including Picnic Bay, it would be nice to see some big predators following them but alas, not yet. Mind you the Gar lovers like Pattie from IGA tell me how good they are to eat, apparently they taste like Bug. I would still rather use them for bait. The water temp is slowly dropping, now having reached a low of 20.25 degrees on the 17th July but is now back up to 21 degrees.
All credit to young Jackson for getting a Barra on soft plastic at HB, in this cold weather. Jackson Toby and their young crew have been working lures when many others are still tucked under the blankets refusing to get up. They also landed a respectable 3kg GT as well as a range of smaller fish.
Graham got his first flattie in a while off HB beach midway down, also on soft plastics.
A rare but appreciated catch off the public ramp at Nelly was a Steephead Parrot fish 4 kg. Although I see them snorkelling the reef I rarely see them around the Island at that size. Great catch to Barry from Mackay.
Until next time gone 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 BIKE HIRE, SEGWAY TOURS and convenience supplies. Check out Kooler 24 hour Ice 7kg $4. New BIKE section opening soon. Rod and reel repair available.