This month’s report is going to be fairly short as for most of June it’s did nothing but blow 20-40 knots! Not conducive to good fishing.

Barra have been hard to entice and then hook, and it can be a bit frustrating watching a nice fish float up and have a look at the lure and then swim off!

Missionary Bay fished quite well when anglers had the chance to get there. Some nice barra and salmon have been coming off the flats on the run-out tide and are providing great fun for anglers on the spot at the right time.

On one of the few calm days we fished the creeks first and struggled with slow barra and small jacks. We switched to chasing pelagic fish and found some nice GTs in the entrance to Creek 7, and as a bonus I managed to hook a tripletail. This is only the second one I’ve boated and I’ve only seen half a dozen in my time at Hinchinbrook. There were two tripletail finning under structure. Tripletail are very distinctive and easy to spot.

On this trip I had three rods set up with various lures. I knew tripletail favoured floating lures so I was fishing with a B52 and it was great to see it get hammered. The amount of line that a tripletail can peel off the reel in a short time is amazing. After a quick picture the rare catch was released.

The southern end has been fishing reasonably well considering the number of boats fishing and the wind. Mostly small barra are getting caught with a keeper or two amongst them. There are also plenty of cod and GTs to keep anglers on their toes.

Meunga Creek has been taking the brunt of the fishing and some useful catches of barra and a few grunter have been about for those in the know. Lures and baits have been working and patience is needed.

Eva Rock is still on fire with huge numbers of squid being netted for livebait and the table. Big fingermark have been the main catch but some good mackerel have also been hooked on live squid. Fish position themselves under the boat and attack the squid attracted to the light. The secret is to slowly lower a livie and hang on!

A few extra casts will work wonders and once you have gotten one barra to attack a lure the rest usually follow. I suggest fishing the flats when the tide allows and trying to find the warmer water. It’s still possible to find some around 25, but try and keep away from anything under that. The drains are still producing for anglers, despite being a bit slow, but if they are holding bait the fish will be there. The drains are always worth a try and I never miss giving them a cast or three.

The best lures have been B52s and Storm Shad soft plastics. The Lead’s deep divers are still working in the creeks and snags as has the Mad Mullet in silver and black.

Hopefully next month the winds will be back to normal and we’ll get some reasonable fishing done.

Safe Boating and remember ‘fish for the future, practice catch and release’.