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What more can an angler ask for?
  |  First Published: July 2014



The recent cold has provided many opportunities for land-based and boat anglers. The cold waters have created lots of different fishable areas, from awesome early morning flats for estuary species to patches of warm water where big barra are starting to congregate. Bream are firing up in the narrows, flathead grouping together in river mouths and whiting in exceptional numbers – what more could an angler ask for?

Fresh water regions

The freshwater areas around town have unfortunately shut down to most fishing techniques, however early morning with a small popper trying to mimic little insects can still cause a reaction strike from the local barramundi population.

This winter has not been as cold as normal so the freshwater will fire up earlier than usual, which is great news for the land-based anglers that love fishing the lagoons in the afternoons

The Fitzroy

The river has been fishing well for many anglers and a lot of people have been producing good fish, it shows persistence pays off. A lot of the fish as per usual have been taken between the bridges up in the city reaches. A great number of blue salmon have been found around the rubble and mud flats along the mouth of the river. The move to these areas suggests that the salmon are getting ready for spawning season and will be feeding up on the prawns and smaller crustaceans in the area.

The barramundi are still active, especially after the few days of weather that would not be deemed as winter weather. The barra have been productive on trolling hardbodies against the tide and casting vibes around the rocks.

Heading to the Narrows can be quite good this time of year as the well-known winter bread and butter species, like grunter and flathead, have become more active. There are also quite a few spots to target barra and salmon up in the Narrows, which makes for a great day fishing.

Inshore regions

The Keppel Group has been fishing well along with coastal headlands around Curtis Island. A great variety of species have been caught, anything from large tuna through to mackerel and coral trout. Many people casting for these large long tail tuna are using ‘barra’ spin gear with small metal lures the same size as the baitfish in the water.

Many of the trout and other reef species have been pulled on shrimp imitation lures, such as Zereks and the ever-popular Gulp Jerk Shads, are still taking the fish by storm.

A lot of the rock bars present around the Keppel Group have resulted in the capture of a large number of mackerel on barra-sized hardbodies and barra gear, the size of the grey mackerel being caught this year is unreal!

Estuaries

The estuarine regions have been fishing very well for almost every species, this time of year the bream have moved quite well and the flathead will be more active in a few weeks.

Many people have been taking their children out recently to show them how good fishing is which is good to see and the amount of people coming in this year to try and target bream and flathead on lures is great. Our waterways are full of good fish to be targeted on lures, a bit of effort and learning is all it takes to unlock the systems.

Crabbing

Although the river has been slow for barra fishing from the fresh and cold many people are still pulling ripper crabs out around the port and Thompsons point. Mullet heads and heavy-duty pots have been selling like crazy and the feedback from people and the photos have been insane. Anyone who likes a crabbing session should definitely get down and get some crabs while they are going hard or if you’re new to the process crab pot kits are readily available.

Fish light get the bite,

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