Fishin’ Maggie
What’s Happening On Maggie
Schools back for all those except N.S.W and the Island roads are gradually getting back to normal. I had to wait for 4 cars at 5.20am on the Mandalay/Sooning intersection last week going to the shop. That’s never happened before.
The northerly winds have caused some issues at Horseshoe bay with visitors. One boat snapped anchor and had to be rescued, whilst another, a tinny sunk, being too close to the beach. Local neighbours had to bang on the holiday makers door for more than 10 minutes trying to wake them, but all the sunken boats contents were strewn all up Horseshoe Bay beach by the time they woke up. A third boat hit Sunken rock at speed, causing extensive damage to hull and motor, and a fourth ran out of fuel off Orchard Rocks and had to be towed back in.
An Olive sea snake (Aipysurus laevis) was caught on a fishing line in Gustav on Tuesday on a peeled prawn. That’s a highly venomous sea snake, and was an unusual catch in the harbour. I’ve seen plenty of Moray Eels but no sea snakes in my time fishing in the harbour.
Congratulations to 5 year old Clarence McInerney on his 53 cm Grunter caught on a special bait combo of squid layered with Pillie. Whilst being cagey about their “secret” fishing spot, Cockle Bay Westside was loosely mentioned. That’s a top catch Clarence.
Aquascene has been continuing to catch heathy good size Common Coral Trout, but this week also managed to land a magnificent 1.5kg Flathead in 30 feet of water. Flatties have been scarce the past few months, so this was a welcome surprise.
There are some big schools of Cobia just off the Cape, all solid fish and always a top fight.
Grunter, Queenies and Mangrove Jack are the winners of the what’s biting this week section. With the Northerly’s persisting WestPoint, Picnic Bay Jetty and Nelly Bay have been more heavily fished than normal, with good results. Hungry Queenies have taken slab baits as well as lures, and provided top action for everyone. Big Mangrove Jack are hitting prawn and livie’s just on the high at night, in Nelly, and off the eastern harbour wall.
New Stuff
This awesome novelty is called the “Anglr” Tracker and is a small device that’s mounts to your fishing rod. When paired with the companion smart app, it detects your location and automatically mark a map of it with pins to show the exact spots where you managed to land a catch. A button on the device allows you to manually add pins on the map, which can be useful for keeping track of dangers or bait schools etc. The device detects every cast you throw, the direction of those casts, fight time (how long it took to finish reeling your fish in), and reeling behaviours for all your terminal tackle. It can track you trolling hook-ups and hits and drops, mapping all the information. Features include waterproof construction, real-time streaming over Bluetooth, and local condition recording so you can have all information at your fingertips when reviewing your performances later. It releases very cheap at $129 US and coming soon. I see it working around the island to build an annual picture of fish movements from soft plastics, jigging and trolling. I love gadgets. (Anyone want my little bait releasing RC boat? $50)
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 plus $4. New BIKE section. Rod and reel repair available.