text: Weekly Report 17 aug 12 - Weekly Fishing Reports
  Weekly Report 17 aug 12
  Post by Brad » Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:57 pm
  With some stable weather conditions over the past week there has been some great catches still getting landed from the keen land based fishos. Numbers of Barra, jacks and some good size trevally are all hitting correctly worked lures and well rigged baits. Spots like the casino break wall, the rock pool and the bridges throughout Ross creek have all been productive, in particular fishing on the run in tide at sunset. Those that are fishing the break walls have been saying that the Barra have been a bit tricky to get a bite from and this is when subtle changes in your lure presentation can make a difference. Things like adding a stinger hook such as the Gamakatsu Twinex rig can turn small taps into solid hook-ups. Also try using lure scents as they can be the thing that changes the attitude of a shy fish to strike the lure because of its scent and lifelike appearance. Also areas to the north of Townsville like Saunders and Balgal beach have been turning up some nice catches of whiting, bream and grunter. Anglers using fresh bait have has good results although those that are putting in the extra effort and pumping a bucket of yabbies have reported that the have been red hot for these species. In terms of your rig use a light sinker around the size 1 and an Instinct Bloodworm hook in the 4-1 size range. This will allow for good hook-ups from smaller mouthed fish like whiting.
  Good tides saw many fishermen target the creeks and rivers for reasonable success with plenty of blue salmon getting caught. Deeper holes at creek mouths seemed to be the hot spot for the blueys with some anglers consistently catching them for hours along with smaller Barra and the odd threadfin salmon. Live bait works well in the deeper holes and will often give you a better chance of hooking any bigger fish that are close by. Alternatively paddle tail soft plastics rigged on a heavier jig head will score fish too, this technique can be a bit more fun as the bites are often felt as you are working the lure. There is starting to be a few more whiting around as reports suggest from anglers fishing the mouths of rivers along sand bars. Bait is always a good option for whiting although there is more and more getting caught on lures. Small poppers and stick baits have been the most successful and when cast on a light spin rod it is great fun as they put up a reasonable account for themselves. You will generally come across good size flathead in areas where whiting frequent and they are not usually shy from hitting a lure either which can make for a surprising catch.
  There were a few calm spells in the weather that allowed boats to head out and chase both mackerel and bottom fish such as nannygai and coral trout. The popular method of trolling produced a few mackerel along with plenty of tuna which have been around in big numbers recently. Headlands like Cape Cleveland and rocks such as Cordelia rock have been producing good mackerel and often the best bites have come when the tide is changing. Those bottom fishing with bait scored with good quantities of red throat emperor not being shy to take a decent bit of squid or slab bait. Red throat emperors are an excellent eating fish and often where you catch them you will also catch coral trout which are top eating also. Many anglers have been trolling for juvenile marlin using both pushers and gar with good success. From reports it has been one of the better few years with healthy numbers of marlin getting landed from anglers just starting out to the seasoned anglers.
  Heading up the creek and chasing a few Barra would be a good option as they are heating up. Casting a few soft plastics around should provide some fun for the day, it would be worth taking the crab pots too!