Merry Christmas from FishingTownsville.net

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Motor Trouble

I had my share of motor trouble today. Left thr ramp at 4am with my sister and fiance from VIC to take them for a run to the shoals. We only got a few hundred meters from the harbor mouth and I started loosing power. The boat slowed and fell off the plane despite pushing the throttle forward. I limped the boat back to the ramp and drove home and back to bed. After a bit of a sleep in I gave Graham at Rising Sun Marine a call and said to bring it straight in and they would look at it. Unfortunately my wife had taken off with the car, so I was unable to get it in until later in the afternoon. Graham was off on lunch, but Brett and guys looked at it immediately. When Brett took the cover off it was pretty obvious what the problem was! A couple of leads had come of the spark plugs. He put them back on and gave the motor a tank test, all was good. I should have poped the cover off myself and taken a look, but not knowing anything about what is under there I didn't bother. So a BIG thankyou to the guys in at RSM, not everyone would take a look at a motor on the spot for you. At least I know one thing to look for now.

On a more positive note, Dad and I hit the creeks yesterday morning hoping to get some crabs to go with my Nannygai for Christmas lunch. We planned to spend the whole day in there if need be. But we were able to head home early with 10 crabs caught by 11am. We also managed a few more Bream and Jack, best fish being a 35cm Bream. Who ever said Bream are a winter species?

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Good fishing on the Maggie Shoals

Just finished cleaning up from a trip out to the shoals today. Dad and I went off in search of Christmas dinner, and got more than we expected. We left the ramp about 4am, at which we were quite surprised to see it getting busy already, and headed off down the channel. It was a little lumpy and uncomfortable, but with the forecast for things to improve as the day went on, we continued steadily out. However, we did decided to take a look at some closer shoals and slowly make our way further out as conditions improved.

I am going to keep things short as I fish for dinner to prepare. But we ended up bagging 7 doggie mackerel to 2kg, 2 nice Nannygai including one thumper 7kg specimen and 3 Cobia. We also landed several Trevalley and lose a few good fish too. But that big Nannygai is designated Christmas lunch.

Mackerel were taken on a variety of baits and metal slices. But most of the other fish we taken on whole pillies. The Cobia were very cool, coming right up under the boat in small school or 3 or 4.

Just 2 pics today as we were so busy all morning.

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Herbert River provides another feast

After the run with Richard on Saturday I decided to take Liam to another spot on the Herbert River on Tuesday afternoon. After our usual run of about 2 hrs we arrived at our designated spot. We fished different snags trying to avoid getting in to deep, yeah right! The photo opposite suggests good water but were Liam is standing was the deepest part. It was a little interesting as we both were thinking about crocs as the evening progressed. Liam landed a nice sooty straight up, and then we both followed with a final tally of 7 sooties and 2 tarpon. Not too bad for about one and a half hours fishing. It is becoming increasing difficult to fish this system now, as the water levels have dropped, and the need for a nice pool of deeper water with water running in is becoming harder to find. Bring on the wet!

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Cardwell Boat Ramp - Port Hinchinbrook

The main Cardwell boat ramp is located in the marina at Port Hinchinbrook. Its pretty easy to find, just follow the signs to Port Hinchinbrook (turn right on the way into Cardwell), and then follow the signs to the boat ramp.

The ramp is an excellent quality 3 lance concrete ramp with floating pontoon. 2 lanes are on one side of the pontoon and 1 is on the other. The floating pontoon is invaluable. I could easily launch and retrieve my 575 CC on my own. Something I would never even attempt in Townsville. There is not a massive amount of parking, but I never came close to encountering a problem while I was there. There are no toilet or other facilities. There is, however, a very handy tackle store located right beside the ramp!

This ramp gives good access to the Northern end of Hinchinbrook channel as well as Gould Island and the Great Barrier Reef. Gould island is approximately 8.5nm and the closest reef about 30nm.

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Bream Bonanza!

Dad and I took the tinnie into the creeks today for the big high tide. Thought we might lure up some Mangrove Jack as the flood tide started to run out from the mangroves. We put the crab pots in about 7.30am and started luring the last of the run in. But it was dead quiet. So we anchored up and threw out a couple of trusty pillies. But even the pillies were very quite. The only thing we could manage was a small GT hunting the edge of the channel.

Once the tide turned we resumed out lure casting. But after an hour of casting and not a single hookup we decided to go back to bait for a while. The tide was still quite high, and water was pretty quick. But the bites started almost immediately after anchoring. The first fish landed was a thumper 36cm Bream by Dad. Over the next couple of hours we landed a total of 13 Bream, the biggest 37cm quite a few not that far short. It was one of the best Bream session I think I have ever had. I even managed a double hookup of 30cm bream on both my rods at the same time. I had one rod in each hand with fish attached. Funniest thing ever, one bricked me so I put the rod between my legs while I landed the other fish. By the time I got back to the first rod the fish had swum free, so I landed him too....lol.

As the tide dropped even the crabs came in for a look. We managed to boat about 5 good keeper bucks on rod and reel. And when we emptied the pots we had another 4. A great session and a good feed for the next couple of days. I hope we can manage another good session like this in the lead up to Christmas Day!

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Nq Flyfishers Learn to Flyfish day

Over the last few years the NQ Flyfishers have put on a learn to fly fish day at the Barra Farm in Townsville. After collecting the nominations from people at the Cluden Fishing Expo we made a final call round and met for the day. This was also the concluding activity for the club so we had a good roll up of approximately 20 fly fishers. The day starts with a general introduction to fly fishing, followed by instruction in fly casting, fly tying and and putting the rig together. The new fly fishers then put all the knowledge together including using there own fly and try and catch a barra. The final activity is a 30 minute fishing competition to see who can land the most fish. The day was enjoyed by all. Through the year the club has fished in blue water estuary and flats fishing. The club has competited in a number of events and we ran our inaugural top 10 competition. We also were involved in the Ginn Clear Film Festival, so quite a busy year. I would like to thank all the club members for a great day and a great fishing year.

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Baptist Church fishing club website

The Baptist Church fishing club has launched its own website! They are yet to purchase a specific domain name, but the site is running under the blogger address http://www.bcfctownsville.blogspot.com/

Trisha has done a great job on the design and getting things up and running. So head on over and check it out. You'll find info about the club as well as details for up and coming events.

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Northern Beaches Festival 2010 - Fishing Competitions

I have been asked by Olaf Schubert, president of the Northern Beaches Festival Assoc, to publicise some up and coming fishing competitions associated with the Northern Beaches Festival 2010. There are 3 competitions that are being run.

* May 1st to May 28th - Club Competition. Member for Hinchinbrook Challenge for all clubs in the Cardwell to Townsville area.

* May 21st 4pm to May 23rd 3pm - Tackle World Open Competition.

* May 23rd - Pro Tackle Junior Beach Fishing Competition at Balgal Beach.

Brochures and registration forms are available for download below.

Junior Beach Fishing Flyer (PDF)
Junior Beach Fishing Registration (PDF)
Member for Hinchinbrook Flyer (PDF)
Member for Hinchinbrook Registration (PDF)
Member for Hinchinbrook Rules (PDF)
Open Fishing Flyer (PDF)
Open Fishing Registration (PDF)

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