G’day Crew, hope you’ve all been keeping well and getting out and wetting a line over the last few weeks. How good is it to see lots of new faces in town since Queenslanders have been allowed to travel state wide. It’s so good for our little town, our region and our state. Our local retailers and industries are all benefitting from seeing tourists return.
Welcome back to The Bay guys!!
Now, let’s have a look at what has been getting caught in our local area the last few weeks.
Customers have been reporting some solid catches of Sand Crabs in The Bay, in the deeper water. The Mud Crabs are also around all though they are starting to slow up a little but the crabs we have seen have be of quality. Crabbing at the back of the bay, in the shallows, around full moon has been producing. We have weighed a few here in the shop during the month that were getting up around the 1.7kg mark.
Schools of Choppers are about in The Bay, nothing of size really, just big enough to cut a soft plastic in half. A few legal fish up around the Power Lines and even in Browns a couple of weeks ago. The bigger fish should be showing up along the beaches now. Speaking of fishing the beaches, Jew fish have been showing up, though only a handful of smaller specimens so far. Slide baiting a live Tailor, Whiting or Squid into a good gutter is a good place to start with a good measure of patience added in the mix. Surprisingly, a couple of decent Mangrove Jacks were caught off Rainbow Beach by a few Whiting Fishos last week! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it on Facebook…
Offshore Fishos had a few opportunities to get over the WBB. We spent night out wide at the start of the month but were plagued with NW winds from daybreak. We did manage to scratch up a good feed of Tuskfish, Coronation Trout, Lippers and some nice Jobfish. Didn’t see a Pearly a Snapper or a legal Red for all our efforts but that’s fine, our families still got a good feed of fresh local reef fish!
On that note, Snapper & Pearl Perch are off the menu!
DO NOT FORGET, closed season starts this month and runs from the 15th of July to the 15th of August. They will be NO TAKE and no target species, just like Barra are in their closed season.
Winter Whiting are still being caught in good numbers with Fishos reporting good size fish being bagged. The Bream will now be on the chew and targeting these guys with a small hardbody lure or small plastics and some light line is sure to make for some good fun. Strips of fresh Mullet on a 3/0 suicide hook fished back into the structure should also see you bag a feed. The Squid are not disappointing this year either and have been copping a pounding the last few week.
There are a few Spotted Mackerel getting around in The Bay around the yachts now, so keep your eyes out as the bust-ups are quick. A light spin rod or a 7wt flyrod would make for some good fun on these guys.
Golden and Dimond Trevally have been making an appearance along the drop-offs on the runout tide and the first couple of hours of the flood. Using vibes in a 65mm to 95mm sizes have been working well. It may pay to go heavier with your choice of vibe so you can spend more time in the strike zone. Even trolling small deep divers along the drop offs will work and you have a good chance of pulling a Flathead or two. If all that sounds like a bit of hard work you can always pup a few Yabbies and soak a bait for them.
Well that’s it from me this month Crew. Stay safe and healthy and if you haven’t popped in and seen the new layout of the shop lately, well you should 😉
Find us at the Tin Can Bay Marina, Emperor Street for all your boating and fishing needs.
Cheers & Tight Lines
Chris