22/08/2023
August Fishing Report
There’s been fairly typical winter fishing over the past couple of weeks. If you’re hoping to catch a fish and not fussy if it’s a keeper, then you’ll be happy. If you’re after the usual fare of flathead, whiting or flounder, then that’s good too. Anything fancier than that might have to wait - but there have been plenty of reports of good catches in the Pumicestone Passage.
Regular catches of flathead have been coming in from the creek entrances during the last of the falling tide, Bullock and Ningi creeks especially. Paul has been having a great run with fishing flathead on the drift south of Ningi Creek. One week, he had two, with the biggest one 52cm; the next week, another two, with 52cm being the smallest! Paul also said he lost a real biggie at the side of the boat, but it was probably too big to keep anyway. He’s been using cut-up pillies for bait.
Clint says there are loads of keeper flathead in the Passage right now, including inside Pacific Harbour. He’s been using soft plastics to lure them in – he used to use pinks and fluoros, but now favours natural, darker colours, like motor oil or camo. One customer, Shane, who has just settled at Bribie, told me he used to be quite successful with flathead fishing in the waters off Tasmania – using just a bit of alfoil patted around a longshank hook. Never can tell, it may take off here, too.
Over the past fortnight, there have been occasional showers that haven’t amounted to much and haven’t affected the clarity of the water. The water temperature has cooled a little and is predicted to drop further over the next week. Ideal conditions for algal growth, apparently, and there’s a lot of it on our lines when we wind in, as well as our rope when we pull up the anchor! Nothing much can be done about it, just a natural occurrence but try to avoid the spring tides with big flows, and you’ll find it less troublesome. There was a study, a few years ago, into whether “happy moments” could be encouraged to reduce algal growth – it came to nothing. In case anyone’s wondering, happy moments are also called black trevally – a mainly vegetarian fish which occasionally gets caught in the Passage, whose spines can give an incredibly painful sting, lasting hours. We’ve had a few caught in the past month, but no injuries, thank goodness!
Bream have been increasing in number and size. There are still plenty of undersized ones; the Fishability crew said they’ve seen record numbers of small bream. Utu and Paul brought in a few over 30cm, from north of Ningi Creek, Clint has been catching good-sized ones in Pacific Harbour, and Ben and family caught 47 just north of the bridge but not many legal.
Tailor and whiting are still keeping fishers busy over winter. Brent said he was among about 20 boats around the south cardinal marker, all of them catching whiting. Doug got onto a nice school of tailor near Turner’s Camp, using pillies for bait.
It’s almost EKKA time, but those strong westerlies haven’t really come in – yet. There are westerly breezes most mornings, but the stronger afternoon winds are all from the east. It will happen though, and then the best fishing might be from the mainland, places like Turner’s Camp in particular – nice big sandbank, tide falling out from Ningi Creek, a bit of shelter from the wind, and hey! – a handy toilet, too!
While you’re out near the water, keep an eye out for the little black cormorants – not for fishing clues but for sheer entertainment. During July and August, they get together in squadrons and herd the fish into a tight school, then go crazy – all diving together, coming up with a fish, dodging the seagulls and pelicans, who are trying to steal their catch. It’s great fun to watch – the biggest squadron I’ve ever seen, a couple of years ago, was well over one hundred!
Another amazing sight I saw, just a couple of weeks ago, was a flock of pelicans, that swung across the marina, then out and up the Passage – at least one hundred of them – unbelievable, I know. Fortunately, other people saw them too, so I knew I wasn’t imagining it – a wonderful event.
Talking of events, Fishability Queensland is about to celebrate its fifth birthday as a registered not-for-profit charity - that is five years of reaching out to isolated, disadvantaged and disabled community members, offering friendship, fresh air and fun. That is a milestone worth celebrating!
Lastly, let’s also celebrate August 15th - the end of the snapper closed season.
