Fishin’ Maggie
What’s Happening Around The Rock
Pods of Humpback Whales slowed the Ferries several times last week as they frolicked in the bay close to Rocky Bay and over near the shipping channel drop-off. With 2017 set to be a bumper year for these magnificent creatures, Cleveland Bay should attract lots of visitors. (Last year we had a Humpback mother and calf, who spent 3 weeks here in our bay, and watching the baby learn was incredible)
Peter from Adrenalin Jet ski was telling me about the Massive Flatback Turtles swimming recently off Horseshoe Bay. Flatback’s are endangered in QLD and we love seeing them cruising around Maggie. We are privileged in Cleveland Bay to have Flatback’s, Greens some Loggerheads, and an occasional Leatherback, that’s 4 of the 6 turtle species found in QLD.
Uploading this week to my fishingmaggie website is the yearly fish calendar, the seasonal guide fishing the waters around the Island and offshore. Please feel free to input, I’m happy to be proved wrong. The guide is compiled from 20 years of information, anglers, articles, and personal experience.
The subject of fishing licences comes up every day in the shop in holiday season; southerners are astounded that we in QLD don’t have one. I’m still in favour of a Maggie Island fishing licence, proceeds to be used to improve fishing facilities, and jetty fishing infrastructure.
Sunday saw 2 mega yachts visit Horseshoe Bay, my favourite was the 163 foot pursuit with helicopter and tenders ranging to 35 feet long. All that for only 12 lucky guests. It did have outriggers but Im not sure why with a beam like that.
The Ports upgrade is still in its final consultation phases. One of the local raised included location of water quality testing stations. The ideal would be to have measuring sensors in our critical areas like Geoffrey and Florence Bay’s to measure any impacts.
I was reading a New Scientist article about a parasite Fluke that controls fish while living inside fish the eyeball. This unique parasite breeds inside birds guts, then the juveniles expel themselves in bird facies to the ocean, find a water snail to grow up inside. They then move into a fish for its maturing stage. Then the eye Fluke (Diplostomum pseudospathaceum) needs to get back into a bird to breed. Studies show when the Fluke is mature and ready the fish is more active ( visible to birds) and moves to the surface of the water, so birds can see it better and eat it. The cycle starts again. Crazy Nature
About Fishing
That Herring school keeps increasing in size at Picnic Bay. The big adult Greenback Herring are so numerous that the bulk of them can’t fit under the Jetty anymore and the school is hanging out all sides of the pylons. On the Jetty the Queenie of the week to Brad with a 1.15m monster at crack of dawn, great seeing the big girl leaping the height of the tinny anchored nearby fishing. It must have given them quite a start, and maybe a bit disappointing when they realised it wasn’t on their lines. Lou was a winner with a 22kg Spaniard, the biggest off the jetty. Other Spaniards were caught in the 8-15kg range along with GT’s and a host of other predators. Picnic Bay is still the place to fish.
Here is a story from a visitor from Bendigo who had an evening fish at WestPoint last week. The family was fishing in the northern end after dark, near the rocks. MB was standing knee deep in the water when his line took off, frantic headshakes on the line indicating a good size fish. After about 5 minutes he was winning the battle and the fish was almost landed, when a huge commotion caused his startled daughter to turn the torch on to see what was happening. A large and very hungry bull shark was in the shallow water, and had just eaten the luckless fish on his line and was leaving the scene. My source told me the shark was less than 3 m from his legs and that after that he pulled stumps and went home. Would you?
The Barra are in the harbour again, taking Herring and Mullet near the harbour entrance. The water must be a bit warmer over there, keeping the fish active. All in the 60-70 cm range there is a few of them.
Fishing This Week
Horseshoe Bay- Trevally and small Queenies off the beach, silver strip flesh or silver Twisty lures.
Nelly Bay- Barra and Mangrove Jack. – Live Hardyhead, Herring and Mullet or vibes.
Picnic Bay- Queenies, Spaniards, Trevally, Cobia- Live Herring Spoons and jigs.
WestPoint- Grunter and Blue Salmon Peeled Prawns Squid and Gulp soft plastics.
Rocky Bay- Whiting- Yabby (Young Bay) small prawn and gulp sandworm.
Picnic Bay Beach- Flathead Whiting Trevally As above
Nelly Bay Rock walls – Coral Trout Cod Stripey Tuskies- Pillie, prawn, Popper and shallow divers.
Remember, “To the world it may be just one fish but to me it is the World”
Until next time gone Fishin’…. be back dark-thirty
Cheers Dale
Fish’n N Fuel’n
36 Mandalay Ave, Nelly Bay 4778-5126