The weather over the past month has been terrible. I finished all of my boat maintenance, cleaned my reels and tackle box and put new hooks on my lures, but still it blew! We fished only about two weeks out of the month, although it was even worse for anglers who couldn’t sneak out mid-week, as it was windy almost every weekend.

Most of our fishing was restricted to the southern end, where we put the boat in at Fishers Creek. We caught a lot of flathead as a by-catch, as well as heaps of barracuda. On one trip we hooked about a dozen barracuda, with one of them pushing the 1m mark.

There were heaps of giant trevally sitting under the canopy and smashing lures. The interesting thing was that every time we hooked up on a GT, a jack would follow it out, biting at the line and harassing the GT. Some of them hooked up and some didn’t.

Jacks have been the mainstay this month with our best being a fat 45cm fish. It was absolutely delicious when crumbed and served with some chips. The small boat passage has been producing reasonable fishing as well, with jacks and cod at the southern end.

Damper Creek has been fun with some small barra, plenty of cod and the odd jack. I have had reports of some doggie mackerel at the Haven and Gould Island. There was also a report of two barra (both of them keepers) hooked in the Bay, but the angler, understandably, wanted to keep their spot a secret.

The Dugong Channel is still producing nice grunter to 60cm on prawns, while bigger specimens have been hooked on fish strips. The fishing at Wreck Creek has been okay, with some small barra. The wreck near Hecate Point has been giving up some big bream on peeled prawn. I always give this spot a cast as I go by, and have hooked some barra and the odd pelagic.

After the crocodile incident at Lakefield, it’s clear that all anglers need to be extremely careful. If you are coming up this way please be aware that some of our creeks, such as Wreck, Delachy and Damper, have large crocs in them. There was even a small one living near the mouth of the Marina for a while. Don’t clean fish at the ramps, dispose of unused live and dead bait at sea and keep out of the water!

The best lures last month were the rainbow trout coloured B52, the fluoro green Leads shad and the ever reliable pink Flatratz.

This month, it should be more of the same. As the weather warms up, the barra should move into the snags and onto the flats. With breeding season almost upon us, the bigger females will be a little more aggressive and will be looking to feed more regularly. At this time of year it’s good to release these breeding females. When chasing barra, I like to give the deeper drains a good going over by casting deep diving lures.

Safe boating and I’ll see you on the water. Remember to fish for the future by practising catch and release!