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Fly Fishing

Chasing Golden Trevalley on the Magnetic Island flats.

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Monday 27 July 2009

Townsville Boat Ramps - Morrissey's Creek

Back when I had my 475 Topender, Morrissey's Creek was one of my favorite creeks to fish in. And I have to admit that one of the main reasons for this was the quality of the ramp! By Townsville creek standards, the Morrissey's creek ramp is in pretty good order. Morrissey's is also a pretty deep creek, and is navigable all the way to the mouth even on a low tide. In fact, if there was a pontoon at the ramp, I would happily launch my Cruise Craft and head out of the mouth to Bowling Green Bay.

The ramp is a 2 lane concrete ramp with one side newer and in slightly better condition than the other. But both are quite good. As a two lane ramp its a bit of a tight squeeze with two on the ramp at a time, but it's usually not that busy anyway.

When I was using the ramp consistently a few years ago, I found the ramp was quite usable on any tide above about 1m. Below that and its ok for smaller boats, but there is a sharp drop at the end of the ramp. I have seen quite a few people put the trailer off the end! But its just something you need to be aware of.

Other amenities include a septic toilet and two nice large covered table areas. The area is also well light at night by several solar powered lights. In fact, it would be a lovely area to camp for the weekend. As far as I know there is no security for the parking here, but I have not had any bad reports.


Parking in simply on a gravel area at the top of the ramp. I have never seen parking and issue here. At most I think I may have seen a dozen or so boats in the system at a time. But things might have changed now. Considering the drive in takes you over a fair portion of gravel road, parking on the gravel will pose little problem for most people. But I have never seen the area after a good rain!

The ramp is not an easy one to find! There is no indication of the existence of a ramp from the Highway. And there are a couple of branches in the road along the track that also have no directions given. The turn off from the Highway is simply the first left after going over the Haughton River Bridge (assuming you are going South from Townsville). Follow the main branch of the road until you get to the railway line. Just over the railway the main section of road seems to go to the left, but you need to keep to the right. A couple more minutes down the road and you will see an open area appear with the toilet block.


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View Larger Map

Saturday 25 July 2009

In search of Barra!

I took Fly Fisherman Ward and Richard out today in search of the Barramundi that Dad and I were targeting last weekend. The ideal tide for this location seems to be bottom and first of the run it. That happened to be at a nice early time this morning. So Ward picked me up about 5.30am and we headed off.

On arrival at our location the last of the run out tide was just dribbling by. But there was a bit of bait activity when we got started. We got a few Barracouda and small Trevalley, but the action was by no means fast!

Eventually the tide started running back in and I got a solid hit from a good fish. It hit hard and ran very fast on the light 8lb gear. Clearly not a Barra, it had me guessing for a minute. But soon the silver flanks of a nice health GT appeared. The fish was netted, photographed and let go.

The action went real quiet from here. Although I did get 'boofed' but a nice Barra. It hit hard, pulled drag fast, came up and shook its head and hooks parted. Probably a 50-60cm specimen.


After MANY more dead casts we decided to head into the fresh for a poke around in some new country. We found some beautiful looking water, but really struggle for a fish. We found this one set of snags that had a small Barra sitting under it. It came out time and time again looking at both my plastic and Wards fly. We persisted for quite a few casts but eventually gave up. A few mins later Richard managed to pull him out! Didn't get a pic as I had move some distance away.

After exploring numerous empty water holes we headed home about lunch time. A nice morning again, but not as successful on the Barra as we would have liked.

Tuesday 21 July 2009

New site design

EDIT: I was having some problems with some of the graphical elements of the page not loading. Not sure if anyone else noticed? Anyway, these graphics are now being stored on another server, so with any luck things should now work properly. Please let me know if anything else is broken.

I have just uploaded my new site design to the main page. I was looking for something that would display content better and more efficiently than the old design. So I have gone with something that has an extra column to the left, as well as added links above and below the banner. Site Search has been embedded into the banner image.

I would love to hear peoples feedback in the comments!

Monday 20 July 2009

Barramundi the order of the day!

Dad and I went for a drive yesterday afternoon to have a look at some of the ramps on the smaller creeks and rivers around Townsville. "Throw your plastics rod in" I said, thinking we might find some water to have a cast for a Flathead. After heading off just after lunch I was texting Ward back and forward about his 82cm Barra from that morning. Dad I joked about how funny it would be if one of us got an 83cm fish! So after we had a look at some ramps, including the new Bohle ramp, I took him to a location I thought we might have at least a chance at a small fish.

First cast and a very nice Mangrove Jack rolled on my plastic, but he failed to find the hooks! Bugga, he was a good keeper for sure. I persisted in that spot for many more casts, but only managed to pull out a smaller Jack.

A few casts later and Dad nailed a good quality Flathead. A good fish, but I remember him mumbling something about coming to this place to get away from Flathead! We put the fish in a pool of water behind us to keep it fresh, but it was later released by the rising tide!

I put some casts into the area where he had hooked the flathead, and was soon connected to what I thought was to be a good fish. If it was a Flatty, he was a ripper. But as the fish approached I could see the silver flanks of a small GT. Nice fish for in the upper reaches of the salt.

Dad moved down the shore a little, and first cast he hooked up a nice little Barra. The fish was probably in the 40-50cm range. But where he was standing there was no room to 'beach' the fish. So when I tried to do a lift the 20lb leader snapped. Next time I will throw in my little net! But only a few casts later he was hooked up again. A much bigger fish this time, clearly a keeper. But again the 20lb leader was not enough and fish broke free after a couple of jumps. I was getting a little jealous by this stage, all I could manage here was Barracouda. But a good cast along the bank soon had me hooked up. Lucking the fish was hooked on the outside of the mouth, and I was able to work it to an area of the bank where it could be pulled ashore. We didn't measure the fish, but I didn't care what length it was, it was a nice catch on light bream gear.

The tide soon started flooding back up the creek. But even though the bait started going crazy, and fish were rounding up the mullet all over the place, we couldn't manage another strike! So by about 5pm we headed home. A fun afternoon on plastics!

Sunday 19 July 2009

Barra on fly

Well I think everyone enjoyed there evening at the fly fishing film festival, I will put a report up when the photos come in. More importantly! I haven't cracked the answer but I was a little bit closer to catching barramundi on fly in the salt. I went to my normal morning kayak spot for a short fish on the way to church. I was very happy looking at the water and as I paddled closer I saw some nervous water near the area I fish. This always looks good and suggested that there was either trevally or sea pike around. Cool! After laying the anchor I let the fly out and a couple of casts later the fly came up hard, then a surge and then a leap! I did not want to get to excited but I thought cool, then another leap! This was looking good, then the line went tight to the bottom and I thought not so good. As I eased the kayak closer, by letting out rode, the line starting moving and another leap and we were away. Finally the fish was beside the kayak and I realised my landing net was too small! So I played the fish out and pulled him into the kayak by his mouth, this was a keeper! Nice fish and very happy. The details, 8wt Sage with a Lamson waterworks reel, intermediate line and leader going to a 5kg tippet, no bite tippet, and a 1/0 white clouser. The fish 82cm and weighed 5.4kg gutted and gilled.

Saturday 18 July 2009

Short run nails me a Cobia!

Took Dad's boat for a short run out to West Point today. Didn't expect much from the weather, but we thought it would be good enough for a quick fish. We left the ramp about 5.30am and headed to our mark. The run was pretty good, slight chop over the shoulder.

Over the next couple of hours we had a look around several of my West Point spots, but not much was showing on any of them. Not even too much in the way of bait. I managed a very small Doggie Mackerel and some other rubbish fish, but nothing for the eski.

With the wind chopping up a bit we decided to head back inside the island to a small homey hole I have. The weather here was much better, just a ripple of the water. And withing half an hour it was almost a glass off.

Here we landed a few Nannygui to 40cm in quick time. But the bite slowed once the sun got high in the sky. The fish of the day was a 85cm Cobia that took a floating pilchard. A nice fish to catch no more than 15min from the front of the harbor.

Dad also managed to hook into something quite big. Had him going for a while. I called it early as a Shovel Nose Shark, but said it felt too big. But then when it surfaced all he could say is "they don't grow THAT big!" I think he has to get use to our NQ fish!

The wind came in pretty hard about 11, so we bailed. Probably left it a bit late to leave, but Dads Quinnie handled the chop well. Fresh Cobia for lunch wend down real well!!


Friday 10 July 2009

Film Festival Latest info

Just thought I would make a suggestion for the meet and great for the film Festival, for those that are interested. The club thought we could meet at Rowes Bay opposite the Rowes Bay caravan park, in Townsville. We can have a nice wade in the morning starting at about 7am and finish when you are done. I have seen the shorts for the night and there are 4 segments with 2 on fresh and 2 on saltwater, they look great! Hope to see everybody there. If you are going to either event, (if you haven't let me know) could you do so, particularly for the film festival for catering purposes. Thanks

Thursday 9 July 2009

Baptist Church Fishing Club July Tackle Night - SPEARFISHING


The Baptist Church Fishing Club is holding its July Tackle Night tonight on SPEARFISHING. Come along and join us as we watch some great DVD footage where the Pros share the secrets to spearing in the Coral Sea. This will be followed by a show-and-tell by Club members Russell and Chris who can answer all your questions on spearfishing in Townsville. Details are:

When: Thursday 9th July @ 7.00pm
Topic: Spearfishing
Speakers: Russell Beresford and Chris Riley
Where: BCFC Club Room (Church Hall 38 Canterbury Rd, Kirwan)


The July Fishing Comp is OPEN so you can fish wherever you like between 12.01am July 10th – 5.00pm July 11th. The Weigh-In and BBQ will be on Saturday July 11th @ 5.00pm (38 Canterbury Rd, Kirwan).

Everyone is welcome. Even if you are not into spearfishing, still come along as this will be a great chance to catch up and organise a fishing trip for the weekend. If you would like any more info on the above, or BCFC in general, just shoot me an email at dtforman@bigpond.com or post a comment below.

Wednesday 8 July 2009

Townsville Boat Ramps - State Government Response

I have finally received an official response from the State Government following my letters to Premier Anna Bligh and Minister Rachel Nolan. However, the response has come from lower down the chain of command, highlighting just how important an issue this is for the State Government. NOT!

While the response says a lot, it says nothing too. It goes nowhere near answering the question of what will be done to improve the facilities in the Townsville region. Please take your time to read the Governments response and leave your comments below. I can assure you I will be responding to this letter and conveying my disappointment.

Monday 6 July 2009

Morrissey's Creek Bream

Dad and I took his 530 Quintrex Coast Runner for a run down to Morrissey's Creek today. I'm not that keen on creek fishing, but he wanted to check it out. With the cold water I didn't hold out much hope for anything big, but a bream or two wouldn't go astray.

We collected some live bait and headed to the mouth for a look around. The tide was slowing and about to turn. We tied up among a likely looking set of sticks. Dad put out a live bait, but I went straight to prawn in search of Bream. And it didn't take long for the first bite! Over the next hour we went quickly through a 1kg packet of prawns. We kept five fish over 30cm, and released a dozen in the 25cm range.

We then moved up the creek with the live bait to try for something bigger, but all we managed on was a small cod. I will have to get him back down there when the water warms back up later in the year. I use to know this creek pretty good when I had my old boat. I always managed some good fingermark and the odd Barra.

Sunday 5 July 2009

Alva Beach Flathead

Dad and I made a trip to Alva Beach today. With an early morning high tide we hoped to find some big Flathead on the chew. However, it turned out to be a quiet morning. Initially all we could catch were these small silver fish. I'm not sure what they are, I called them a salmon, but I don't think they are? Anyone know?

But as the tide turned and started to run out the Flathead came on the bite. Well, we got a few anyway. Not really what I would call a hot bite. Dad caught a very nice one that went 56cm, and we got another 2 just over the magic 40cm mark. Numerous smaller fish were released.

Fly fishing Film Festival

Just a reminder the event is very near only 2 weeks away. We are also having a fly tying night this week on Thursday starting at 7.15pm at Sunfish Hall on the corner of Elizebeth and Barnard St, Aitkenvale. You can also purchase your tickets from us direct on Thursday. We have also a couple of lucky door prizes including a Art of the Fly book donated by Tie-N-Fly and a pair of sunglasses from Barz Sunglasses.

Thursday 2 July 2009

Weather could not have been better

Well today I got to show my Dad just how good the weather 'can' be up this way. It was about as flat as it can get, and nothing over about 2knots of wind all day. In fact, each time a tiny little ripple appeared on the water that disturbed the glass off, we joked about having to get back before it got too rough!

We left the ramp a little after 4am. Tania and Lachy are in Cairns at the moment, so we had little Sebastian along for the ride. Initial plan was to hit our main shoal mark early and try for a Nannygai before sunrise. But, despite getting there on time, we didn't manage to boat one. Altough Dad surprised us by boating a lovely Mangrove Jack. A first for me off the shoals.

As soon as the sun appeared the trevalley started. So it was time to float Pilchards. This again proved a deadly technique, and it was not long and we had our 3 fish each in the eski and on ice. Now it was time to look harder for some red fish!

The hunt took us all over the place! But despite our best efforts we only managed one fish of just over 40cm. Although I think we lost a few to sharks. However, in our efforts, we did manage to boat 2 Cobia and a nice Rainbow Runner.

Feeling very tired and with an eski full of fish we made the dead flat run home at about 1pm. 30knots all the way. What a great day to have been on the water.

Spanish Mackerel How many is to many!

Liam and I went out to the shoals again this week. It was a perfect day so we figured the fish would not cooperate. We left from the ramp at Pallarenda and the ride out was perfect. As we arrived we found Malcolm and his Dad already into fish! This was looking good. Liam got his new reel out and set a pilchard and waited. He did not need to wait to long before he landed his first fish. I chased the trevally and mackerel as well on fly. This time I experimented with wire wnd wireless flies. All got eaten and all got eaten above the hook!! It can be very frustrating chasing these fish but eventually I will put it all together. It was a great day and Liam landed 12 spanish mackerel and a large number of trevally. I landed a good number of trevally, a nannagai but no mackerel, perhaps next time.