mackerel

PICKING up where I left off last month on my week-long live-aboard Swain Reefs charter trip with Carlo Fishing Charters, we’d just wrapped up an incredible morning of fishing a glassed-out Great Barrier Reef. This unreal start to the fishing had us salivating, but not for lunch, rather to get back out in the dories and catch more epic fish! …

SUMMER is well and truly here and so are the spotted mackerel on the Gold Coast. With a very slowly climbing water temperature, everyone was anticipating the Gold Coast mackerel turning up in November like they have in recent years. But this was mostly to do with the early arrival of warm water. In reality, while you may get the …

HI all, I hope everyone has been getting stuck into a few fish since last month’s edition of BNB. I have been taking full advantage of the Easter school holidays, enjoying fishing in both local and out of town destinations. I recently had my first experience of the bluewater fishing options at Hervey Bay with good mates Mitch and Josh. …

THE wind continues, but it has settled a bit. With the prevailing wind coming from the east, we’ve beem able to get out and catch fish. Plenty of bait has moved in closer to the shores of Fraser Island and it’s not too small, predominantly being white anchovies and blue pilchards. The dominant successful lures have been soft plastics and …

HOW crazy has the fishing been? The Gold Coast has had a golden month, with what seems like fish jumping on anything that hits the water, and it shows no sign of slowing as the weather remains stable. With the current bringing that warm nutrient-filled water down from the north, the fish have followed in their masses. On the local …

AN invitation to join a Swain Reefs fishing trip is pretty hard to knock back, and to do a trip with essentially the same nucleus of guys from previous years that all get on well and love their fishing makes it even harder. We headed out from Yeppoon late in the evening on the Capricorn Star with owner/skipper Scott Wilson …

Lewan and I were trying to skull drag our mackerel to the boat on many days and this often worked on the smaller fish but boy did we lose some. We pulled hooks, broke hooks, broke wire traces and broke the line in an effort to get the mackerel past the sharks. As annoying as it is not being able …

If you would like to join me on a charter, give me a call on 0433 732 310, check out the Moreton Bay Charters Facebook page or visit moretonbaycharters.com.au Until next month, stay safe on the water.

It had been a long time since I’d caught decent size pelagic fish and I’d forgotten just how much fun it is to have your line-burning retrieve stopped in its tracks as a super-fast sportfish takes off in the other direction with your lure in its mouth. Having not previously caught mackerel on anything heavier than 10lb gear, I was …

ALL in all the weather around the Bundaberg area hasn’t been too bad for the kids on school holidays.  Some excellent reports have come in from both estuary and offshore during this past week. The Burnett River has continued to produce the goods with some top quality flathead and grunter keeping the youngsters amused.  Both soft plastics and fresh baits …