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Warm Weather Options
  |  First Published: October 2016



With the water temperatures rising, barra and jacks should be starting to fire. After the mild winter we had, and the unseasonable rain we received, we’re expecting a cracker season. With the likes of Baffle Creek, Deepwater Creek and Turkey Beach only just down the road, plus the Calliope and Boyne rivers in our backyard, the options are endless.

Most of Turkey Beach’s creeks hold good numbers of jacks – especially in the upper reaches where they turn to shallow rock pools with plenty of overhanging shrubs. Plastics like ZMan DieZel MinnowZ, Keitech Easy Shiners and Reflexions 5” Bammers work best because, unlike hardbodies, you can get them right into the strike zone with less chance of snagging. Skip-casting your plastic, to get it deep into the strike zone, will increase your catch rates.

Colours are different in every system, but natural browns, golds and greens seem to be a good bet on most occasions. ZMan’s Houdini being my all-round pick of the bunch.

Deepwater and Baffle creeks are two of my favourite jack haunts, with miles of fishable country, from the upper reaches to the mouths and every rock bar in between.

The harbour

The harbour has been hit-and-miss. There are good schools of barra but getting them to bite has been a different story. Those anglers who have managed to snag a few have few have found them sitting in deeper water. Using vibes like Jackall Transams and the Westin Bony Bream have enticed the bite, and have also been picking up golden snapper (fingermark). Any deep structure throughout the harbour will hold golden snapper, from man-made structures to the deep holes such as Tide Island. Big blue salmon are still popping up at places like Quoin Island, Worthington Island and Grahams Creek rock bars. As the weather heats up we can also expect to see XOS grunter in deeper water at places like the shipping channel markers and local wrecks.

Toolola Bends has been fishing well for those who put the effort in. Good numbers of barra have been taking plastics like 5” and 7” Zerek Live Cherabins and Castaic Jerky Js.

Offshore

Red-throat emperor have been thick in the shallows but the size hasn’t been massive. Plastics and stickbaits have enticed the better fish. The trout bit throughout winter and will start firing up more over the coming months, with the bigger fish taking stickbaits, plastics and micro jigs.

The first Fin Fish Closure is from 28 October to 1 November, which is the perfect opportunity to have a crack at the small black marlin run we have. Working the 20m and 30m line from Cape Capricorn all the way down to Bustard Head will put you in the right spot. For advice on skirted pusher colours, sizes, how to rig and how to set your spread, drop into the store and we’ll help.

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