July Fishing Reports

[Scorcher]

Has anybody got any fishing reports this month?

What's on the bite? Which areas have you fished? Show us your catch !

Cheers

Scorcher

[geoffjy]

Not sure whats been happening. Have been out of the loop for a couple of weeks. I was told by a local fishing guide that the tuna had started although have no pics to prove this.

I hope to be out and about a lot next month as my new boat should arive. Cant wait.

Only just found out yesterday that Seaswift's Trinity Bay has broken a drive shaft and had to be towed back to Cairns. They seem to think it will take about a month to fit a new one. Meantime, until this is fixed there is a good chance that my boat will be living in Cairns for a bit. :eek:

[No Barra]

After having friends talk about fishing Weipa and the Cape I decided that for school holidays my son and I would pack up the ute and boat and head to Weipa to do some fishing. This happened about 3 weeks before school holidays so was a little supprised when that Camping Ground informed me that they had vacancies.
We arrived on the afternoon of the 1st and unpacked every and set the boat up for fishing the next morning after a drive around to check out the 3 major boat ramps. We also spoke to the people at the tackle shop opposite Woolworths who gave up some pointers.
During our stay we fished that Hey river a couple of times, Andoon Ck (once day and once evening) shipping leads and the Mission river. We caught most fish except for a Barra (my alias still holding true) and as my son is only 5 we would fish for a couple of and have a day looking around, him playing and mine tour. Leaving on the 12 July.
We caught alot of undersize fish but we were catching fish and I was not at work. I also learnt alot about the area for the next trip.
Would also like to have some feedback on what I thought a Frigate Mackerel was, as some seem to think it is a Finney Scad and as I am still learing welcome any feedback to increase my knowledge.
Alot of our fish were caught on live bait and the lure of choice was the gold bomber. The mackerel were caught at the second or third shipping channel maker outside the bay, by floating pillies on the run out tide, we lost quite a few until I put a wire leader on.

Jeff

[No Barra]

The not quite so Gold Bomber that was the best working lure. If people would like to know further where I fished then PM, only to willing to help as while I was in Weipa there were quite a few people who helped me out. Both the tackle shops were very good for some local knowledge.

Jeff

[Scorcher]

Nice Threadfin Jeff !!

As for the gold bomber, time for him to "go straight to the pool room" !! I always like to pension off my favourite lures once they have been hammered by fish and lost a lot of their colour. Always a good talking point !

I've got countless Nilsmaster Stallwarts downstairs missing their bibs & looking very worse for wear !

Not sure what the locals call the Mackeral in your photo's, but I would call it Live Bait !! Bridle him up & throw him back in to see what else is lurking around !

Did you throw a line in up at the Pennifather River?

Cheers

Scorcher

[No Barra]

We didn't quite get to Pennefather. I have submitted why and some of my distaste in a thread called 'Way to Pennefather River' in General Discussion

Jeff

[geoffjy]

Nice Threadfin Jeff !!

As for the gold bomber, time for him to "go straight to the pool room" !! I always like to pension off my favourite lures once they have been hammered by fish and lost a lot of their colour. Always a good talking point !

I've got countless Nilsmaster Stallwarts downstairs missing their bibs & looking very worse for wear !


If only they knew that you dragged them behind the car to get that effect. :) :D

[Scorcher]

If only they knew that you dragged them behind the car to get that effect. :) :D

Ahhh....so that's what happened to them !

Actually, one day I'll write to Mr Nilsmaster in Sweden, and ask him how I go about getting some replacement bibs. Stalwarts seem harder to get nowadays, and I've got a dozen or so downstairs that still have 1 more trip in them !

Scorcher

[campdog]

Ahhh....so that's what happened to them !

Actually, one day I'll write to Mr Nilsmaster in Sweden, and ask him how I go about getting some replacement bibs. Stalwarts seem harder to get nowadays, and I've got a dozen or so downstairs that still have 1 more trip in them !

Scorcher
I bought heaps for a kimberley tip in 1989 and never used them.Sold the lures at the markets a few years later.Kept all the bigger ones though.Still new after 20 years.

[plucker]

gold bombers have worked best for me once they start to resemble your photo and get better with more paint missing. I have discussed this with a few fishing adicto's and they all agree. So my tip is to throw the bomber at the rocks until the paint starts to disappear and you will catch more.

[ant]

gold bombers have worked best for me once they start to resemble your photo and get better with more paint missing. I have discussed this with a few fishing adicto's and they all agree. So my tip is to throw the bomber at the rocks until the paint starts to disappear and you will catch more.

Knowing the quality of the paint on those lures, it wouldn't take long for the paint to fall off.
As most people are aware, I am not a fan of the 'gold bomber'. This is for a few reasons but the most common is that every angler has a gold bomber and thinks that they are the only lure to catch barra on. Believe it or not but I also have some bombers in my tackle trays, just not gold ones and I have caught many fish on them. By the way, the paint on the other colours does last a little longer too.

[No Barra]

I agree with you Ant that Barra will take other lures, to date they haven't taken any of mine. If fish are hungry I don't think it matters what lure or bait you put in front of them they will take it. But for fish like Barra you must get it right during winter months when they shut down, so a rainbow coloured lure swimming past a big fat fish that is not really feading doesn't look like any of its natural foods so why would it take it.
The photo below is a few of my choice lures with the top one being replaced a couple of times as it does seem to produce results on the threadies and was responsible for the threadie in my first photos.

Jeff

[ant]

Thanks Jeff,
There are a lot of other lures around that do perform quite well and often better than the bombers. For variety, try the locally produced Leads Lures, or Ridgeback Lures. Then of course there is the DK Icon which is also a top lure.
There are a heap of others as well.

I guess it is like anything out there (tyres, fridges, vehicles, etc) the ones that are marketed the most are usually the most popular. That doesn't mean they are always the best though.

[No Barra]

Thanks Jeff,
There are a lot of other lures around that do perform quite well and often better than the bombers. For variety, try the locally produced Leads Lures, or Ridgeback Lures. Then of course there is the DK Icon which is also a top lure.
There are a heap of others as well.

I guess it is like anything out there (tyres, fridges, vehicles, etc) the ones that are marketed the most are usually the most popular. That doesn't mean they are always the best though.

Ant, would like to know more about the local lures. A mate who heads up the Cape quite regular, reckons the Australian lures in the gold colour as the bibs are clear and work betters, suppose they look more real that way.

Jeff

[ant]

Ant, would like to know more about the local lures. A mate who heads up the Cape quite regular, reckons the Australian lures in the gold colour as the bibs are clear and work betters, suppose they look more real that way.

Jeff

Jeff,
I would do my best to have the following when I head up.

Halco RMG Scorpion 90 - get a few mixed colours

DK Icon - Try to get the 'grey ghost' colour

Ridgeback Lures: 'Scud' in the green colour (threadfin salmon love them)

Ridgeback Lures: 'Torpedo' (similar action to the bomber)

Leads Lures: Best to get these in Cairns on your way up as I don't know of many other places that have them. Try Bransfords Tackle on Clifton Beach or Cairns Tackle and Bait in Cairns.

Also try to get a few surface lures (poppers and fizzers).

You may notice that I have not mentioned colour that much. Keep in mind that most predatory fish do not see colours as we do. They actually see the contrast in colour (like greyscale). Keep that in mind when choosing lures and look for the contrast in colour patterns.
To add on this point, the majority of lures are tested in their draft stages as blank prototypes and work just as well.
The action and placement of the lure is far more important in my opinion.

[dingo]

When I was in the Kimberly's last I used some cheap as lures and found that the Barra attacked the ones with a rattle in them while the Threadfin were scared off.
I have only got a few of these cheap one left as they really got hammered over there plus I left a few with the Skipper of Kimberly Quest.

I also think that placement and action of a lure wins out over colour.

Saying that I have had very good results with a purple colour in muddy waters, poppers and fizzers just before dawn or just on dusk.
Fizzers especially when you need to lure a big fish away from snags before he nails it. Couple of meter long whips and let it sink a bit.

[geoffjy]

I spent 3-4 weeks in Princess Charlotte Bay back in the late 90's. I used a variety of different lures and the one that caught the most jackes and barra was a old timber black model with white vertical stripes on it. I was really amazed at the different catch rates.

I caught my firsty barra at night here on a popper.

[Teabag]

Lures always seems to be an interesting topic. Well this is my take on the whole thing.......All thoses very pretty colours don't mean much and catch more fisherman than fish IMO but what really counts is the action of the lure, how it swims and the depth it will work......Has Ant stated shading is more important the all those very pretty colour.....One of my most successful blue water lures is a Rapala CD18 in Qantas colours, seems to always do very well..........