FISH AROUND LOW ROCK AND SOME SNAPPER

With a forecast of 10-15 knots today I was excited to get up early and head out to Long Island for a fish but when I woke up at 5 am it was windy as. I decided to go back to bed and see what it was like when I hoped up, I checked the weather report and it changed to 15-20 knots and it didn't look like it was going to calm down.

I ended waiting till 1 pm to head out and I decided to go out from Shute even tho it was blowing straight into the Harbour. I went straight to Low Rock and did a few drifts on the east side along with the wind in about 20-30 meters of water. The first pass I got baited and on the second pass I caught a small Sweetlip. I decided to anchor up in about 15 meters of water and floated a Pilchard out the back and dropped a piece of squid down the bottom. In 2 hours I ended up with one 55 cm Reef Flathead and a 50 cm Grassy Sweetlip among a fair few little sweetlip.

I kept the larger Grassy Sweetlip for dinner because something had a go at him on the way up and he had a large chunk missing out of his tail, He tasted really nice. I then had a Barracuda take of on my floating Pilchard he jumped a couple of times and spat the hooks near the boat, He was only small I would say about 40 cm or so. When I go fishing at night I tend to catch really large ones around Low Rock and also just out from the jetty. They are a lot of fun to catch on light tackle. There is a local guy that works at the bait and tackle shop that has a Australian record for a 3.6k Barracuda on a 1 kg line check out some records on http://www.qgfa.asn.au/record.php.

I moved to one of my favorite spots that I keep secret sorry, Here there are 1000s of Small Mouth Nannygai and every now and again you can hook up on a Large Mouth. Today I only ended up with a bunch of Small mouth around 40-50 cm that I let go but they are heaps of fun to catch. I have never seen anyone else fish this spot and I found it by accident its a permeant structure and there are always lots of fish around it. I have caught large Cat fish, Nannygai, Indo Snapper, Snapper, Mother In Law Fish and many others and this spot I don't think a lot of people would even think about fishing. Next time you go out from Shute and its windy just try some spots that don't seem like a spot you would normally try you never know your luck.

Today we caught 4  Snapper which I didn't know you could catch in the Whitsunday's and the sounder showed bigger ones below. There is a photo of my mate holding one 

Well that was my Sunday out, I am going to try to get out one night this week and maybe have some drifts around unsafe for some Reds and have a fish around the Moles to see if there are any Jews around. Let me know how you went this weekend and send any pics into fishingwhitsundays@hotmail.com

WHO'S LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO FISH WITH IN THE WHITSUNDAY'S

This is just a quick post to try to help out a few viewers that have sent me emails about not owning a boat and boat rentals being to expensive. A few people said all I talk about is fishing on the water and its not fair because they don't own a boat. If anybody that owns a boat that wants to go out and doesn't have anyone to go with or wants someone extra to help pay for fuel email me at fishingwhitsundays@hotmail.com and I will connect you with someone thats keen. Also anyone wanting to go out email me with your contact info as well. I want to see more people enjoying there time on the water and you never know you might make a new fishing buddy. I will do a post on fishing around the whitsunday's were you don't need a boat in the next week.

FISHING AROUND THE MOLES AND THE DAM

Today was a still a bit rough and I really wanted to get out and have a fish around the islands so I ventured over to North Mole. It was a rough trip over in a 4 Mt tinny but coming home was nice and smooth. I got a few good hours fishing in but the fish were not wanting to play. I got a few Stripes, 2 under size Trout and a few little Red Emperor but not much else.

 I was over there for about 4 hours and there weren't many boats fishing. I started of at Hanna's Point first and then worked my way all the way back to the end of South Mole. It was a bit disappointing not catching anything worth while to write about even tho no one really reads my posts any way.

 I tried lots of different baits today from Squid, Pillies, Fusiliers and some slugs. On the way back to Shute I had a drift between South Mole and White rock and had a few hits but never hooked up on anything.

 I was in 40 meters of water hoping to catch the fish that showed up on the sounder. I think that they were Nannygai and they seemed to be sitting on a rough patch in the middle of nowhere I kept the GPS mark to try next time I go out. I would of stayed longer today and kept trying but i had other commitments to attend.

 Now if I didn't have to work this week I would be out the next 3 days, Its forecasted to be 10-15 till thursday with just showers inland. I finish at 12 on wednesday so I might get out for a few hours in the afternoon.

 On Saturday I spent a couple hours out on Peter Faust Dam I stayed around the spill way and caught 3 Barra but they were all under 50 cm but they still put up a good fight. I was using a med bubble pop and it produced the fish. I trolled a shallow diving Barra lure but had no luck with it. There were a few people fishing around the spill way as its protected. I saw one guy hook a nice Barra but lost it as it jumped right near his boat.

I put down a few Red Claw pots along the bank to the right of the boat ramp, When I came back about 2 hours later I had 18 in the two pots. I used Potato as bait as someone told me it was the best and I had never tried it before, and it worked like a charm. I just chopped it into chunks and put it in the trap. I ended letting the red claw go I was just trying out the Potato to see if it worked.

Well that was my weekend out and about, I hope you guys had better luck then I did and I hope this coming weekend the weather gods send us some nice days.
Until next time happy fishing

THIS WEEKS FISHING AND WEATHER REPORTS

This weekend looks like we might get a bit of sunshine and maybe a few showers, winds should stay around 15-20 knots. The upcoming wet season is going to be a big one so I recommend taking any chance you can get to get out on the water before the rain sets in. It is also expected to start a lot earlier then normal and we might see another cyclone this year maybe even before Christmas.

Now this week there has been a lot of reports about the dam fishing very well with the bad weather, I took a drive out there this afternoon and there was 10 boats in the water at 5 pm. The Barra are taking surface lures, so a bubble pop or a skitter pop will produce fish. They have been caught around the rock wall at the dam late afternoon.

There are not many crabs around the river but the King Salmon have been on the bite, They should start to drop off with the smaller tides tho. There also been a few large Barra being caught up river and Grunter being caught around the Oyster banks.

The rock walls still have schools of Trevally around early mornings and late afternoon. There taking live bait as well as metal slugs. There have also been Salmon around the outer rock walls from Able Point. And also Wolf Herring being caught on metal slugs or small lures being trolled.

The island have been producing a few Coral Trout and Mackerel, but not many people have ventured out over the past week with the weather still not letting off. I never heard anyone going out to the reef, And if you did i bet it was a horrible day.
Im going to be hitting the dam this weekend see if i cant land my next monster Barra and i hope to see you out there. Till next week happy fishing

CORAL TROUT FISHING AROUND THE WHITSUNDAY'S

Coral Trout are one of the most targeted fish around the Whitsunday's. They have superb eating qualities and are fished for commercially and for recreation. They can live up to 16 years and can exceed 20 kg but smaller fish are better eating. With the larger fish there is a risk of Ciguatera poisoning.

There are a few species of Coral Trout which are:

• Common or Leopard Trout
• Blue-Spot Trout
• Passionfruit Trout
• Bar-Cheecked Trout
• Footballer Trout

They will take a wide range of baits and lures, From cut dead bait, Prawns, Squid, Pilchards, Lazer lures and metal slugs. They live in holes around Reefs, Inshore Reefs, Drop offs, Sunken boats and rocky holes. They are ambush predators and normally don't move far from there homes. When catching them it is best to get them away from there homes as fast as possible other wise you run the risk of having your line cut or broken off on the structure they came from.

I find one of there favorite food is Fusilier they just love them. Around the reef fish like Mackerel attack the schools of Fusilier and Trout eat the pieces that pass by. A way that commercial line fishing boats are fishing for them now, is by cutting a piece of rubber tube into strips and placing it on the hook. When they place it in to the water they jig it up and down. This type of lure can save them a lot of money. There are a few types you can buy as well as making your own.

Trout colours can range from dark brown to light pink with iridescencant blue markings, Footballers look like the one to the left and can be Bright yellow. Coral Trout can grow over 110 cm.

Coral Trout are also a coral reef fin fish and must have a pectoral fin removed if you are keeping them and must still be whole when you return to the boat ramp. The are best bleed, Gilled and placed in a ice slurry when caught. Remember to only keep what you need and preserve the fishing for everyone including the future angler's.
Happy Fishing

SUNDAY FISH OFF ABLE POINT

Went out for a fish today, Even with the wind and swell. There were some big Trevally out around the sunk boat from Able Point, I got 3 that were over 40 cm. They were just taking squid. Then i got this big puffer. Also had a 20 min fight with a cat fish. He was like a train just didn't stop running. When I finally got him to the boat he was just over a meter. I picked him up with the gaff to get a photo and crapped sprayed out of him all over the boat and all over me, It stunk too. I let him go and the Trevally, Not really the fish I like to keep. The best fun was still to come.

 My girlfriend came out with me and she will only fish with a hand line, Which I hate especially when you hook a large fish. She just put a piece of squid on and started to drop it to the bottom. About 10 sec's after it hit the bottom the reel was pulled straight out of her hands and into the water, where it just spun. When I finally got it back into the boat the fish was still pulling and I decided to take over from There. I kept fighting this fish for about 10 mins and it was big, I expected a large shark. I got it close to the the boat but still could not see any colour, and then it took another run and ripped the hand line straight out of my hands. This time the hand line was about 20 Meters away, so up with the anchor and motored over and retrieved it.

Every time he saw the boat all he did was run. After about 20 mins of getting him to the boat and him running again I got him up. It was the biggest Shovel Nose Ray I have ever seen. He was at least 2 meters long nearly half the size of the boat. I didn't want to bring him aboard and hurt him so I tried to take a photo of him beside the boat but as I was taking the photo he trashed around and broke the line (sorry it's not a good photo).
Now that was a fight and a half, But well worth it.

I flicked some lures around the rock wall and then went home. I was only out for a couple of hours and it was more fun then what I have had on some nice days out around the islands. Just shows that there can be some good fishing in close when the weather is bad. I hope we start to get some 5-10 knots weekends so I can get back out around the islands across the passage, I think I am starting to have withdrawals or maybe i just need a bigger boat.

I will start taking better photo's when I get a new camera, these photo's were taken with a iphone.
Happy fishing all

SHIMANO TLD REVIEW

My reel of choice when I am catching the larger fish would have to be a Shimano Tld 25. I use this reel for bottom bashing across paddocks, trolling or floating a live bait out the back for a mackerel. I have used my Tld every time i have been out over the past year and have pulled in a lot of nice fish without any problems. It has a gear ratio of 3:6:1 and holds 600 yards of 30lb line. I run 30 lb braid with a 80 lb mono leader on mine. Its a single speed with a lever drag.

The only problem with this reel is because it's large, it tends to roll on the rod which can make your arms sore after a while. The Tld 20 is the same reel just smaller and holds less line but feels a lot more comfortable when holding it all day. I have caught some large Gt's, some big Reds, and some large Nannygai's. When trolling of Hook i have also hooked onto a really large Cobia but i lost him beside the boat. I have also hooked onto a Marlin but i lost him when he jumped, and that was one of the best days of my life on the water. So I have put this reel through a real work out and I have never had a hint of a problem.

Next time you are looking for a reel that can hold up to almost anything thats in the water, don't go past the Shimano range of Tld's. Price wise they are a lot cheaper then what they used to be, You can pick up a 25 from a tackel shop for around $200 - $250, or a lot cheaper on Amazon or Ebay. You will get a lot of pleasure from this reel and land some massive fish. I put a link on the side bar for Tld's being sold on Amazon where i brought mine from. Be sure to keep your fishing photos coming in to share with the readers just email me the photo and some information on fishingwhitsundays@hotmail.com and I will add them to the catch of the week photo section.
Drop a line for me and catch a big one