Fishin’ Maggie
What’s Happening Locally
Another distressing dog attack on a Koala, this time in Horseshoe Bay last week. The Koala was with baby and walking along a fence when a yarded dog jumped and pulled it down into the yard, mauling the poor creature. The area is one of the most popular places to see Koalas day in day out and a stable population. Mother is currently under vet care and hopefully both may survive. Koalas are iconic on Maggie and it is always distressing to see attacks like recent ones. We are however lucky though to have the wonderful wildlife vet care of AB who does great work with injured wildlife.
I heard a wild rumour that the Picnic Bay Boat ramp is earmarked for removal. Can I get this one checked? The boat ramp has been there for many years and is a great launching spot in bad Southerlies and Easterlies for those trips around the Mangroves. I know there are those who want it gone for beach erosion issues but with HB ramp being such a tricky one I would hate to lose Picnic ramp.
At the big Gala School event we hosted over 40 kids on Segway rides in one night for school fundraising, all the kids had a ball. On the night I was chatting to a guy about how good they were, and recounted a story or 2 which I decided to put in print here.
Last week I was gliding (that’s Segway speak) down Mandalay Ave to the QCCU when I saw a broken down car, (that’s island speak for out of fuel) being pushed up to Magnetic Adventure & Hire. They were doing it tough and I thought I had better help. Well I didn’t want to leave an $11k Segway in the middle of nowhere so I wondered if I could seg push the car. I casually glided on the Segway up to the rear of the car, rested a hand on the tailgate, and leant the Segway forward for maximum grunt. Well crazily enough it worked and the car started moving much faster, they guys had tyo start jogging to keep up. I must have looked like a lazy bugger, (overweight superhero?) as I pushed the car with one hand up to the servo, but it looked pretty cool.
The other recent experience was about a possible thief in store. There was a youngster being a bit sus in the shop but I couldn’t see if he had stolen, without going back on the cameras. As he walked off up the road I followed him so I could find out where he lived, watch the playback, and if he stole I would have an address for the cops. What’s the quickest was to follow someone? Why on a Segway of course. So here’s me on a Segway sliding behind trees, gliding along in the long grass and quietly following this guy without being noticed (except by every car going past). After I found his address, I went back supremely confident and he hadn’t stolen anything. Whoops. I did learn that Segways are great for stealthy stalking.
Congratulations to the winner of those huge Crays caught by Wade for the fundraising raffle at the School Gala Friday. These Nelly Bay tasty Lobsters were won by Leonie Gibson, lucky lady and Wade raised over $500.
About Fishing
I don’t generally target Flathead around Maggie because down south , that about all you can catch is flathead and Whiting and we have so much more to offer. However as the Flathead have moved back in to the shallows, and other species are quieter, it’s a good time to check out different Lures on Flatties. Cockle Bay on Sunday, James and I went out with intent to find a big flathead and the magical and picture perfect Cockle Bay didn’t disappoint. Using a small Ballista Lure from Magnetic Adventure & Hire James hooked up an absolute stonker 70 cm female Dusky, while I filmed. It is very risky to pull in big Flatties on small trebles too fast, their hard mouths don’t set the hooks and they get off. James made himself comfortable on a rock and started careful and slow retrieve, pulling in the big girl without issue, where we photographed and carefully released almost immediately. With so many smaller Duskies hanging around all the sandflats it was on the cards the bigger lizards would follow the Hardyhead Schools on the run-off tide. (That blue and silver ballista is a beautiful little lure.)
I’ve had a few queries about the rules of collecting oysters on Magnetic Island, so here are the regulations.
“You may not remove oysters and take them home. You may only consume oysters on the spot when you collect them. If they are attached to any mangroves you must not damage the mangroves in removing the oysters.” Pregnant Women, children, and the elderly are advised never to consume raw oysters. Some are safe and some can be contaminated.
If you are targeting those tasty local Coral Trout, they are definitely on the chew. Local boats were bagging out on the calm days last week with hauls of 1.5-2kg fish common. Mixing up the bag were big Lipper’s, Nannygai and Red throat. Most boat crews were stoked with the results, including some of those bigger Spaniards that we wait all year for 20kg plus. All the reefs are firing well. I had one of the biggest Bluefin Tunas on for over 15 minutes off the Shoals before he wore the gear out and won his freedom. They are such tough fish to fight and at over 35 kg (est) I reckon the only reason we got him to the boat once was that he wanted to check us out. I was devastated and lost my brand new Zerek Bluewater, first time out of the packet.
Location a secret but one angler hooked up to 7 Barra last week in a single night session on those big PM tides. More next week.
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