Fishin’ Maggie
What’s Happening On Maggie
New shops are about to be built on the land near the roundabout at Nelly Bay, (3 ½ shops.) The new shopping precinct will commence shortly and follows a recent building boom on the island. The chippies are all busy on new houses, and reno’s, that’s great to see. What shops do we need here now? If you want a lease, contact Ross at First National. Its getting quite busy down the ferry terminal way, with more businesses getting closer.
I read a report this week showing that every single sample taken from our local reefs from Townsville to Cairns by JCU investigators shows microfibers from our synthetic clothing. The washing water from doing our laundry goes to sewerage plants, then to the ocean, and the tiny fibres are settling on the ocean floors and reefs. The impacts on the reef are still being investigated, but its food for thought in these days of cheap throwaway clothing.
Our Teenage Koala Tommy is still a real hit with visitors, and currently moves between only 2 trees, a Box Gum and a Ghost Gum, making him easy to find daily for our visitors.
Did you know Chlamydia is one of the biggest problems affecting the Australian koala population? Baby koala’s often get it by eating Pap, that’s the high nutrient poo that babies eat after breast milk from mum, (Gag) I note that there is an application for extension of the Koala Hospital on the Island, as well as an Eco resort at Horseshoe Bay. What a great initiative, the care of one of our main tourist attractions should always be a priority.
Happy 50th Birthday to Adam Hinks. Adam received a sexy white Spark Drone for his birthday present from his loving family, so look out for some amazing aerial pics on his Facebook when he gets it set up. Its my birthday in 2 weeks if anyone wants to buy me a drone??
Happy 60th to Benny Kalsgaard who would have loved a fish but was laid up with a bad knee injury, that sucks Benny. Hope you had a great day anyway with family.
Fishing Maggie
Many of the the commercial and charter boats finally got the hulls wet on Saturday as a tiny window in the constant winds allowed trips to the reefs and Yongala Wreck. Whilst travel conditions were average, for those on angling trips, the fishing was top notch. NQ Charters did a day trip, very successfully, Pro- Dive got out to the reef and Adrtenalin made it to Yongala. Local Troy Lane finally found a weather window to test out his new Cat, the twin 135hp Mercury’s pushing the big beast smoothly through the chop. The boys had a ball pulling plenty of quality Trout from Brewer Reef.
It’s a rare thing to see a school of Finger-mark at the Jetty but last week as Peb’s was chasing squid after dark, a big school moved in under the pylons, chasing Hardyhead schools. Peb’s bolted home to grab a bait rod and dropped a chunk of squid down on a big hook. The closest fish grabbed the bait and took off at full noise. Peb’s wrestled it to shore and it was a respectable 62cm Golden Snapper. Well done Pebbles.
Catching Grunter is one of the more successful ventures of Maggie currently of year. Whilst prawns are popular, gar fillet floated are going to land you the big ones. Roo showed me 5 big fish he caught last session, all fat and decent sizes.
Drue landed some quality Reds off Horseshoe Bay last week dropping baits into the mid water current near Orchard Rocks., they were great size for inshore. As Red season fires up we should see more of these quality fish taking baits, see below for my tips. Reds are not targeted so often around the Island but are common over the next 6 months. Read on.
Catching Reds
April signals the start of the Red Emperor and small and large mouth Nannygai season, or at least the best time to catch these top table fish. The shoals, Palms and even our Island rocks produce plenty of good fish, just find your spot. I have a couple of marks off Arthur Bay and around Liver Point that hold Reds and Finger-mark, but there are many spots. Best rigs are Running, droppers and paternoster rigs. When you’re using a dropper rig you can set the distance above the sea floor. Small fish will rarely travel up too far to eat for fear of being eaten and keeping the sinker on the bottom means big fish won’t feel the weight until they have the bait in their mouth, hopefully during a strike.
Running rigs are tops when fishing live-baits as they tend to spin when they’re dropped. Dropper rigs often get tangled but running rigs can spin without tangling around the bait and will keep the hook exposed. 30-50lb line is plenty.
I use mainly 6/0-9/0 Octopus, wide gap and circle often and have found these sizes cover the targeted fish and the extra bonus fish, Robinson Sea Bream, Cobia, Trout, Cod and Trevally.
Hard Baits work well, but don’t cover the Barb of the hook with tough fish skin, I’ve seen plenty of fish dropped that way. Mack Tuna, Trevally or other fresh fish should be cut into chunks and small strips. Here’s a tip from a mate . If you are insisting on leaving the silver skin on the bait, take a little area of skin from around the hook so the hook sets properly.
Any live baits of yellowtail, yakka, herring and even mullet should attract interest from the reds. Most shipping pylons have some livie’s. Try hooking your live baits through the mouth or bridle rigging them just near the eyes or nostril holes. This will enable your live baitto swim with a natural action and will allow you to drift over your spot with a running rig.
Until next time gone Fishin’…. be back at dark-thirty
Cheers Dale
Fish’n N Fuel’n Sports and Tackle
36 Mandalay Ave, Nelly Bay 4778-5126
For all of your fishing and sports hire gear. We hire and sell fishing rods, plus snorkel equipment, bait, tackle, ice, spear fishing equipment, sports, party, pool toys, bike hire and new Reefboards for safe easy snorkelling. We also have car hire, E- bike hire and Segway tours, plus HUGE lolly wall and convenience supplies. Check out Kooler 24 hour Ice 7kg $5.