Gladstone Blog

Wow what a difference a week makes with flat as seas, next to no breeze to speak of and school holidays!

What a mix and to have that coupled with the first quarter with little wee tides those chasing the big fish out in the deep have certainly been rewarded.

Massive reds, and good numbers of Trout, and Sweetlip have been reported right across the region.

One chap even skiting to me that he bagged out with Lipper but didn’t keep one less than 40 cm.

This chasing the pelagics have also been scoring with some good quality Spanish being brought home along with solid numbers of Cobia.

In shore the fishing has been red hot as well with some very solid Grunter, Bream and the odd Fingermark being caught.

There are quite a number of cod in the system at present and one or two have ended up with a very young Queensland Groper on the end of their lines.

These are protected and rightly so as they are a spectacularly coloured fish with their bright yellow spots and tips.

The crabbing has also been very successful with The Calliope, Flying fox, Targinnie, Mundoolin, 7 mile, and through Southtrees all yielding excellent numbers.

I see that Queensland Fisheries last Friday posted an article about catching a recreational fisher who was trying to sell his catch over the social media.

In this instance they were selling live or cooked Mudcrabs, and some crayfish tails. He was fined $3,000.

Now obviously its very illegal to be selling your catch unless you have the correct licences and permits in place to do that.

Buying fresh off the trawler or fresh from your favourite fish monger or market guarantees you certain quality and also helps to employ people, plus its saves those who can’t catch a fish or are unable to like me at the present.

The commercial guys do cop a flogging but they do allow those who can’t get out or catch anything, to purchase Queensland reef fish, and I doubt that you would find better quality fish anywhere.

So next time you see the fleet slip out of the marina just give them some credit as they do play a vital role in our economy from restaurants through to Takeaways and those times you haven’t been able to catch a keeper!

This weather we are enjoying at the moment is going to be all over come Sunday when we will see the breeze fill in by lunchtime and then just increase to the predicted 20 knots SE by Wednesday evening.

Finally we are putting together the revised edition of the regional fishing guide for visitors to the region and I have to say it looks spectacular and for those outside the region we are certainly aiming squarely at them to come to our region for a visit and spend their money in our tackle shops, fuel up at our service stations, stay in our Hotel, resorts, motels and caravan parks, and leave here with memories of the best fishing adventure they have ever had.

Max Allen took this picture this week at Wistari Reef, and how good is that??

World class

Hooroo Dags