Righto let’s talk Covid 19 for a bit and all the doom and gloom that it has bought to the world the last few months….
Nar bugger that, let’s talk about how good the fishing has been the last few weeks!!!
I’m not too sure where to start really? The fishing has all been pretty good, inshore, offshore, Whiting, Flathead, Tuna, Crabs, Spanish, Squid…. As I write this even the weather has been playing the game the last couple of weeks. Cool nights, warm days and clear skies have been very welcome. With everyone doing the right thing and staying in their local areas & the water ways around TCB have been a bit quieter the last few weeks. The water in The Bay is still a little green from all the rain we had, but the rain seems to have really helped things fire up this month.
Good reports of Summer and Winter Whiting have been coming in thick and fast with one customer catching a few true elbow slapping 42cm Summeries earlier in the month. Fresh Yabbies and our locally caught Worms have been working a treat on the Summer Whiting. Fishing the last couple of hours of the runout tide at Norman Point has been a bit of a hot spot for some anglers. Fishing the making tides around the mangroves before they flood has also been producing. There have been some nice lizards getting caught in both of those situations and also some stud Bream in the mix. I have been having a good run catching a few Flatties on fly while fishing the last hour of the ebb tide and the 1st couple of hours of the flood tide in the late arvo after work while walking the drop off. I was socially isolated and caught a nice feed for the family.
The Squid are starting to show up in numbers and
I’m sure most of you know the likely spots to go to have a crack.
Maybe try the dead stick technique next time you are out. Rig a jig with
no extra weight & cast it out the back of your drift and only a couple of
meters down in the water column. This is a sure-fire way to pick up the hooked
Squid’s mate that follows him up, with all the commotion going on and it will
increase your catch rate.
There are still Muddies being caught in good
numbers and good sizes. Getting up the creeks and giving the pots a good
soak with good fresh bait is working the best. The Sandies should
start to become more active now and the amount of Sand Crabs I have been
seeing in the shallows while walking back in the afternoon is a sign that
this season they should be thick!
Offshore fishos have also been cleaning up the last few weeks. We have been seeing some great catches of Scarlets, Grassies, Tuskfish, Jew and RTE. A lot of the good catches have all been coming from the closer grounds inside that 4-10nm zone. The bigger fish have been quite susceptible to a well-presented live bait, that’s if you can find them. They have been a little hit and miss the last few weeks & the Spotties have been playing havoc with bait jigs lately, a full string soon turns to no weight at all. The FAD has been producing small to medium sizes Dollies. Small stickbaits, 4-5 inch soft plastics or flies should work for them. If not, try trolling Christmas trees or small skirted lures past at about 6-8knts and if all else fails, try pumping a burley trail and feeding unweighted pillies back into the FAD to see if that gets you hooked up.
There are loads of pods of Tuna outside the WBB still with a mixture of Longtails & Mac Tuna and there have been some big Longies hanging around Inskip and Big Mick. At 10kg+ they make for a good bit of fun on medium/heavy spin gear (30lb) or a 10wt fly rod. I recently got a nice 105cm, 11kg on the long wand. Our local guide Jon put the hooks in to a 116cm fish a couple of days before drifting live baits between the WBB and Inskip. Did I mention that they make beautiful Sashimi?
The Spanish have been out in numbers further up the beach from all reports and 15-18kg fish have been getting caught in good numbers. Slow trolled live baits and skirted Gars working well for the boys. One of the local crew even got a 35kg at the start of the month. And yes, we saw the picture of the scales so it wasn’t just a story, it was a slob of a Spanish.
Well that is it from me this month Crew, stay safe, stay healthy and keep washing those hands. We hope you all get out for an essential fishing trip in the coming weeks and catch a feed for the family.
Find us at the Tin Can Bay Marina, Emperor
Street for all your boating and fishing needs.
Chris
Cheers & Tight Lines
Rylan Day took out the April Fishing Photo Comp with this cracker of a Trout.