February is sure to be a great month for fishing in the Whitsundays. With the limitless amount of saltwater options and the sizzling summer fishing available at Peter Faust Dam, this month is set to be crackerjack.

We’ll start at Peter Faust Dam because there are some truly excellent fishing opportunities out there. This lake is a fish factory at the moment, with plenty of mid-sized fish and a healthy supply of monster fish to be caught. But that doesn’t mean you can just go out there and catch them without a worry. Having an understanding of the fish and proven technique always helps. If you are new to the game, doing some homework before your trip will always give you a better chance of success. Impoundment barramundi are a notoriously tricky fish to consistently catch and it can take years of fishing for them to eventually work out key ideas. The best way to learn more about them is to go out there and fish with constant awareness of everything around you. The ever changing weather conditions; wind, waves and sun all have an effect on the lake water and the behaviour of the barramundi that live in it. Generally, the warmer months of the year offer better fishing. If you had to pick the easiest time to catch a barramundi at Peter Faust, it would likely be during one of these spring or summer nights. When the conditions are just right and you’re on the fish, you can have a truly memorable fishing session. Angry, aggressive strikes, big fish launching out of the water and warm drags – it sure is a hard style of fishing to beat!

The Whitsunday islands are a unique part of the Queensland coastline. In no other coastal area are there as many islands, beaches, deep channels, rocky headlands and fringing reefs that are so close together. It’s like a fish city! There are hundreds of acres of structure and cover for a range of saltwater species from big muscular pelagics like the giant trevally to estuarine species such as mangrove jacks.

Pelagics that should be well worth targeting this month are queenfish, GT, golden trevally and a range of mackerel species. There are a number of techniques that will work well to catch these fish. In the deep water of 10m+ you can try baitfishing with a burley trail, bottom bait fishing, trolling lures or jigging metal jigs over deep structure. Anywhere there is current flowing onto some sort of reef or rock feature with plenty of baitfish in the area is always worth a fish. A depth sounder is very important for finding these places as it lets you easily find any underwater rises and drop-offs. In shallow water, you also have a range of fishing options for catching these fast fish. Casting and retrieving soft plastics, metal jigs and surface lures over shallow to medium depth structure are great techniques to try. Rocky headlands are usually productive areas as currents often sweep past them and create still water behind the flow. Pelagics such as GT and queenfish will often hang around these areas where the water movement is disturbed, patrolling back and forward through the zone waiting for baitfish and crustaceans coming through with the moving water.