Gladstone Blog

This week has certainly been favourable for some as they were able to venture out to the reef and land some pretty decent fish like Rob Noe who landed this awesome Marlin while out at Cabbage Patch (between Masthead and Wistari Reefs).

Like most of us when you are bottom bashing we tend to throw out a speculator line out the back just in case a nice big juicy Spanish Mackeral swims within smelling distance of the pilly. In this instance a half decent marlin was hungry enough to chew on it.

Many others ventured out and with the new Moon lunar phase last weekend the fish were very active and everyone brought home an esky full of Reds, Trout and Lipper.

There were even some wahoo caught out beyond Heron which is a little unusual around here. Mighty nice to eat though.

Inshore things were running pretty hot too with excellent grunter caught between 600 and 700mm long, as well as plenty of cod, salmon and the Barra are starting to get active.

Speaking of Barra we only have a couple more weeks til it all starts again on February 1st at midday, but in the meantime Lake Awoonga is certainly the place to go to test those skills out this weekend.

Starting with nominations today at the Lake Awoonga Caravan Park office and right through the weekend the Awoonga Barra Tournament is on with plenty of prizes up for grabs.

Awoonga has certainly returned to its best with good numbers of over one metre Barra on the chew and I have no doubt this event will be a must do for those who want to put their money where their mouth is.

If you need any more info give Nudge a call or else visit the face book page “Barrabasstasstic” as there are some details on there.

The Boyne Tannum HookUp committee are now gathering momentum with this year’s event set down for 29th, 30th April and 1st May. They are still developing their website but the Face Book Page is certainly very active, so check it out as they are running regular competitions and regular notices of what they are up to.

With regard to crabbing in the region from all reports there are plenty around as well as plenty of Banana Prawns and for those with good cast nets and like to hunt them out the likes of Grahams creek is ideal as you can see the boil ups of muddy bottom where they are schooling up.

The pelagics are also schooling up in a few obviously places like Gatcombe Head, Sable Chief, North Entrance, Rundle Island and Cape Capricorn.

Further to the south Ethel Rocks, plus the middle and outer rocks outside Pancake have been attracting some pretty big fish.

Those chasing whiting and flathead have been rewarded in Colosseum Inlet, Mundoonlin, Seven Mile and it at Turkey Beach or Rodds Bay.

Southend and along the front of Curtis Island and facings Island have been coughing up some real elbow slappers. If you don’t have a boat then have a chat with Curtis ferry Services to see when they run. The GAPDL issue camping permits for the Oaks and its one of those spots right on your doorstep which you should explore.

Outside Round Hill Creek there are also plenty of pelagics like Spanish Mackeral and Tuna.

I also see that Jordan Roper and his mates have ventured out to Cania last weekend and landed some excellent Bass. This fishery is also right on your doorstep plus there’s some good camping grounds close by. Ideal for a weekend away.

This weekend however looks rather ordinary with a front coming through tomorrow night at the time of writing this producing strong 25+ knots of breeze and maybe some rain.

Have a cracker weekend.

Hooroo Dags