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Fly Fishing

Chasing Golden Trevalley on the Magnetic Island flats.

Relaxing!

Enjoying one of the many beautiful beaches of Magnetic Island.

Sunday 27 April 2008

Some fish!

Well strange weekend for fly. Not unexpected but still a few more fish than I thought. We fished the salt on Friday and Saturday around Magnetic and West point areas. I managed a couple of nice cod on Saturday but nothing but a few bite offs on Friday. We got home and hand a phone call from the North. Apparently the Barra and Tarpon were working in the fresh! So off we go, well worth while with 2 nice Barra to 53cm and a handy Sooty Grunter to 35cm. Back home on Saturday thinking I will get up at 0430hrs on Sunday to fish with Malcolm! Not likely as it turned (am I getting old?) I tried but woke about 0215hrs and as I was not feeling well, text Malcolm and had a sleep in. Still managed to go to the fly fishing club outing (not me) and the report was a number of yellow tail sea pike, 2 cod and a couple of reef fish. Not our best but not to bad based on the tide. After the sausage sizzle home and to finish the long weekend a short fish for tarpon in my favourite spot and 6 small fish to hand, not to bad a weekend after all, oh yeah Happy Birthday Malcolm!

Saturday 26 April 2008

Slack Tides = No Fish!

Report for 25/4/08

With the forecast of 5knot winds all weekend how could you not be on the water? And judging by the boat ramp, most where (parking on the grass yet again!). But with one tide change for the day and almost no movement in the water, I knew it was going to be a day of 'boating' rather than 'fishing'. And being that it was my birthday and I has out with Tania and the boys, I didn't mind.

We managed to hit the water quite early for us, about 7 I think. Straight to West Point to try for some Mackerel. We fished a few marks there for a while, both with live bait and metal slices. But nothing! After couple of hours playing around there we headed into 5-beach Bay for a swim and walk on the beach. We anchored the boat just off the beach and had a lovely time swimming and playing around in the sand. Lachy especially had a great time.

After some some lunch the water was still glassed out, so we decided to circumvent the Island. Lachy fell asleep in the cabin as we raced across the dead calm ocean. We ducked out to the North cardinal for a bit of a look. That particular marker is an old favorite of ours, but we have not fished it in over a year (maybe more!). Masses of bait surrounded the pylon (as the shot below shows), but nothing feeding on it.

With Lachy still sleeping we headed for Nelly Bay and an Ice cream. We pulled up at one of the jetties there when a security guy came down. Apparently there is a $20 per day charge to tie up, but he was really nice when I said we just wanted an Ice cream for the boys. Thanks!

Heading home about 2.30pm there was a light NE wind just blowing. Enough to create the usual mess between the island and harbor. But nothing worth even slowing down for. Again, the ramp was incredibly busy. Something has to be done about that ramp. With Tania lacking the confidence to reverse a trailer on the a busy ramp, I have no choice but to tie up. One jetty to service 8 lance of ramp is nothing short of ridiculous. But I suspect nothing will change for a very long time.

And how's about those fuel prices? We used a little over 40lts for our morning. Not to bad for what we did. But that was $66!!!! Ludicrous!!!

I also managed to snap a few pics of my boat anchored off the beach.....

Thursday 24 April 2008

Domain Name

Ok, I did it. I have purchased a Domain Name for this site. We are now located at www.fishingtownsville.net unfortunately .com was taken! It turned out it wasn't that expensive to do, but I would apprecited support by clicking on some adds every now and then. You never know, you might find something interesting! http://fishingtownsville.blogspot.com will continue to opperate.
And remember, feel free to use the comments section for posts!

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Sponsorship

Its starting to look like this blog site is becoming quite popular. Although the number of comments made against posts does not reflect this at this stage. Statistics for the site however, show since beginning on 19th March 2008, there have been 401 visitors to the site and 742 page views. Average time spent on the site is 2min 15sec. Visitors have been coming from 7 different countries around the world, 96.76% of which are obviously Australian. Statistics also show that the vast majority of people are revisiting the site on a regular basis, with new visits currently at 33%.

Unfortunately advertising on the site has not contributed enough income to purchase a proper domain name. Simply, very few people are clicking on the adds shown. I would like to see if I can drum up interest for a specific company/shop that would like to sponsor the site. For a small contribution I would have a permanent banner/advertisement, and link to website, place on the main page. I'm not chasing big money here, just enough to purchase a proper domain name.

I would also like to encourage people to make comments to the various posts. This helps provide us posters with feedback to the material we are presenting, and may generate some interesting discussion. Posting can be made anonymously. However, there is a basic verification process in place to prevent spam.

Hope you are enjoying the site?

Monday 21 April 2008

Slow weekend but still we caught some fish!

Well this weekend was not as bad as it could have been. The wind stopped access to wider pastures but we decided to play in the fresh this weekend. First we fished our favourite Tarpon spot. After landing some small Tarpon we went to the bigger dam and chased larger. Liam landed a nice .6kg fish and I landed a .8kg fish. We decided to keep these as they were a nice size for our top ten. The following morning Chris, Liam, and I went to the Macrossan Bridge on the Burdekin River to see if the Sooties were ready to play. The Burdekin was stilling running high so we used the kayaks. We all managed to get hits but with only one hook up. So I am thinking give it another month and fish in the afternoon. Finally, on Sunday morning I had a quick paddle of Pallarenda and landed two small Trevelly and one Queenfish. Well thats all for this week have fun on the water.

Wednesday 16 April 2008

Baptist Church Fishing Club - April 2008 Results

The Baptist Church Fishing Club competition for April 2008 was well contested with 13 anglers weighing 23 fish for a total weight of 43.61kg. An additional 50 fish were released.

Division Winners:

Senior Male: Chris Riley 230 points
Senior Female: Bev Anderson 55 points
Junior: Nick O’Sullivan 36.75 points
Spearfishing: James Beresford 7.52 points
Lure/Fly: Chris Riley 230 points
Hard Yakka: Ian Fergusson 90 points
Encouragement: Michael Beresford

Individual Results:

Senior Male
Chris Riley 230 points

Queenfish 4.6kg 69pnts
Queenfish 4.2kg 63pnts
Mackerel (School) 1.28kg 51.2pnts
Mackerel (School) 1.17kg 46.8pnts

Malcolm Brown 214.5 points
Queenfish 4.8kg 72pnts
Mackerel (Grey) 5.7kg 142.5pnts

Ian Ferguson 187 points
Queenfish 4.5kg 67.5pnts
Queenfish 4.1kg 61.5pnts
Trevally (Giant) 1.5kg 19.5pnts
Grunter (Javelin) 0.47kg 23.5pnts
Whiting 0.12kg 15pnts

Dion Forman 90 points
Mackerel (School) 1.15kg 46pnts
Mackerel (School) 1.1kg 44pnts

Jordan Quayle 32.8 points
Mackerel (School) 0.82kg 32.8pnts

Greg Tanner 15.34 points
Trevally (Giant) 1.18kg 15.34pnts

Senior Female
Bev Anderson 55 points
Grunter (Javelin) 0.4kg 20pnts
Salmon (Blue) 1.0kg 35pnts

Trisha Forman 27 points
Cod (Estuary) 1.35kg 27pnts

Angie Holloway 13.2 points
Cod (Estuary) 0.66kg 13.2pnts

Junior
Nick O’Sullivan 36.75 points
Salmon (Blue) 1.05kg 36.75pnts

Chris Nicholas 36 points
Grunter (Javelin) 0.72kg 36pnts

Teylah Doyle 16 points
Cod (Estuary) 0.8kg 16pnts

Spearfishing
James Beresford 7.52 points
Coral Trout 0.94kg 7.52pnts

Sunday 13 April 2008

West Point

Report for 12/4/08

What is it about West Point at the moment? It just does not seem to be producing for me. I did a run yesterday and came home empty handed. Admittedly it was a family run so we were late getting to the ramp, but not that late as to miss a run of fish. First drop of my metal slice over one of my marks resulted in an instant hookup of a quality fish. But I pulled the hooks just out of view. And that was the last we saw of anything decent. We tried live bait, metal sliced and even trolling around the area. There seemed to be a few boats in the area too, none of which were doing too much either. So unless there was a run of fish before we arrived, it was pretty dead!

Ramp was pretty busy, and again the park filled up. It is so unfair for us family fisherman who cannot get to the ramp at 4am. We had to park on the grass and hope not to get a ticket. Facilities really do need to be improved.

Friday 11 April 2008

Bloody Tides!

Report for 10/4/08

Dad and I tried again yesterday. Trying to make the most of the half-decent weather before he headed home today. Due to the huge cost of fuel running wide, we thought we would try some marks closer in to West Point. But we had very little success. Even the live baits just swam around all morning hardly being harassed at all. There was plenty of bait hanging off the various structures, and I sear there were mackerel amongst them, but we couldn't entice anything. Good thing the weather was so good, cus the fishing really sucked! I am blaming the tide. Only a 0.5m change in tide. Even the day earlier had just over 1.1m change. Oh well. As Dad has retruned to Batemans Bay again, tomorrow (Saturday) I will have the family on the water. Hope a better run in tide improves the fishing for us.

Thursday 10 April 2008

No Fingermark for me

Report for 9/4/08

Took another run out wide yesterday with Dad to try for some more Fingermark. Ward came along in his boat with Julie and Liam. Collected live bait from Middle Reef and headed wide off West Point. Fingermark came in quick succession. Dad landed 3 and Ward had 1 in no time. But I couldn't seem to hook up! The bite didn't last long, and with a few bite offs to Mackerel I stated spinning. There seemed to be good numbers of mackerel around, but there were in patches. We would get a short run of fish, then nothing for a while. We left there with 3 Fingermark, 6 Mackerel, 1 nice GT and a big Queenfish. We tried to release the Queenie, but he just wouldn't go. I'm not sure what Ward's boat finished up with, but he has also got onto the Mackerel.

Tuesday 8 April 2008

It worked

The flathead fly did the job. A couple of weekends ago the fly club went to Alva beach and I mangaed to get 3 small flatheads. I tried as mentioned earlier and failed last weekend.I did get out yesterday on the bottom of the tide and yippee! 2 flathead, 1 bartail and and 1 northern sand both just under size but still happy! The fly has a red neckle hackle tail, red cheniele and UV polar cheniele twisted together for a body and large dumbell eyes on a size 1 hook. 7 wt rod with an intermedite fly line. Hope this helps, I will try and do some photos of the flys if anyone is interested.

Crazy Video

Came across this the other day on Ausfish. This is just nuts. I'm glad we don't have to cross a bar to get out of Townsville!

Welcome Dion

Well this little blog continues to grow more and more every day! Dion had now accepted my offer to post to the site. Dion is a blue water fanatic who admits to being completely addicted to chasing pelagics on high-speed metal slices. In fact he is the person who convinced me that there is more success and fun from chasing mackerel on metal than the traditional pilchard! Dion is married to Trisha and the pair have 3 young kids who all enjoy fishing on board his 6m Hooker. Dion is currently President of the Baptist Church Fishing Club, and has been writing the fishing report for the Bush'n Beach for the past 3 years. He will be a great addition to this site!

Monday 7 April 2008

Still trying for Flathead

Well what an hour can do. We went for a fish at Alva beach on Sunday and chased some flathead Liam, Malcolm and Ted did nice all brought home fish. The fly fisher not a touch, oh forgot a good size ray had a bit of fun on that one! So look again at the flies and try again Monday with a different tide. We then moved to Pioneer Mill for a look at some rising tarpon but the fish were a little distance away so on to the next location! We tried our small Barra spot. Different story here eveybody caught fish and finally the flyfisher got some as well. I used a size 8 hook with a pink tail and wing, and a black chenielle body with dumbell eyes. This little fly caught small barra to 25cm, giant herring and tarpon all under 30cm but great fun. To finish off the day back to a local spot and 6 tarpon landed in 30minutes great stuff. I will let you know how I got on with the flathead today!

Saturday 5 April 2008

Some Nice Fingermark

My dad and I fished today, braving the windy conditions. Hitting the ramp about 5.30am it was not too bad at all. Collected live bait and headed wide off West Point. It got pretty lumpy out there, but by the time it got too windy, we were almost on the mark. So we decided to stay long enough to drop a couple of baits. Dad dropped a live herring, and I dropped a metal slice. The slice went of quick smart, just a couple of turns on the reel. Fish turned out to be a nice Broad-Barred Mackerel. Probably 5kg or so. Dad was soon smashed by a good fish too. A 4kg Fingermark. So we stuck it out for a while. Finished with 3 Fingermark, 1 Mackerel and a nice 5kg Queenfish.



We then headed back to West Point for a break from the swell and wind. It was nice in there behind the island. But none of my marks wanted to produce the goods. So we ran home about 10am. Weigh-in for the Baptist Church is 5.30pm tonight. It will be interesting to see how the others went.

Missed again

Hello everybody my name is Ward and I will try to put some info on fly fishing in Townsville on Malcolm's site. I have been fly fishing since 2000 after I caught my first trout! Since then I now only fly fish and try to catch all the species available to me. Lately I have been chasing small Barra and tarpon in the fresh and Nannagai, Trevally, mackerel, Flathead and Queenfish in the salt. I had an interesting experience with the Townsville Baptist fishing club today. My boys and I decided to beat the wind and fish from 2030hrs till early morning. This worked well for the boys with Nannagai, cod, Sweetlip and Grunter caught all on bait, but I managed to miss all the fish at the sites we went to, so I will have to work on the night fishing!! The places we fished included a barge off Pallarenda, an inside spot off Magnetic Island and a seaward spot near West Point (Magnetic Island). I hope this info helps? As the site develops I will try to give reports on types of flies that work and how to fish them.

Friday 4 April 2008

Fishing this weekend!

Well I think the weather has everyone guessing for this weekend! Today would have been pretty sweet. But tomorrow is looking like 15's most of the day. I am going to try get out in the morning, and hope the wind holds back until lunchtime. Somehow I don't think it will.

If you do get out, there should be some Doggie Mackerel come in the channel on the big tide in the morning. 1st New Moon in April is usually the start of some better Mackerel fishing. So its probably worth trying some high speed spinning around the markers. I myself am going to try shoot out early and chase some Fingers off the Island. Then I will try for some Mackerel.

This weekend is also the Baptist Church Fishing Club competition weekend. So good luck to everyone fishing in that. I think some will be heading to Sally today, some around the cape, and I think Don is going to stay in the creeks. So there should be plenty to report on after the BBQ weigh-in at the Church tomorrow afternoon.

Thursday 3 April 2008

Welcome Ward

I would like to welcome Ward as a contributor to the Fishing Townsville Blog. Since launching this site only a few weeks ago, the number of hits to the site has been steadily increasing. This is great to see and encourages me to keep updates coming as regularly as possible. However, I don't fish THAT much, and I don't do all types of fishing. So as the site grows, I plan to have more people contribute their expertise to the page.

Ward is president of the North Queensland Fly Fishers, and will be able to contribute a wealth of knowledge in that area. He also fishes quite regularly, and will be able to keep people posted on whats happening where.

Please bookmark this site and check back frequently for updates on fishing reports and tips. In the near future I plan to release the odd GPS mark or two, so keep checking for that!