Fishing Reports

Crisis, What Crisis?

The worldwide slowdown is having its impact on many people, but some cunning sorts have a pretty good bandaid. Fisho’s. With the cellphone unable to ring, traffic worries as rare as Black Marlin at Anchorite Rock, throw in some outstanding (if somewhat brief) weather windows and legitimate holidays with friends, family, mates…or just taking some personal time out…it has been a great change-of-year vacation period. An awesome excuse for getting the kids into some excellent fishing fun.

Marlin are now here in reach of trailer boats, the fish are in good size and in good numbers for early season. Already Stripeys and Blues have been caught, and a Black given a free lip piercing. Super exciting stuff and music to many Fisho’s ears including mine – I’ll tramp out there in Marlin mode as soon as the planets of life line up, especially good calm weather for several days in a row. Snapper have also been in reasonable numbers and size as well as Gurnard, as well as a number of unusual fish guests that have been closer in and around the Gulf.

Fisho’s were treated to early season big male Snapper marauding the Gulf and hassling the keen Spring Fisho’s, and catching them was relatively easy.  A lull while wintry winds cooled the early males fishes eagerness, followed quickly by an influx of big healthy spawning fish that moved right in close, leaving most of the middle Gulf as a Snapper-free zone for  a couple of weeks…and now it's mostly hot fishing with the odd cold shower thrown in for good measure all around the place. The Snapper schools have been moving all around the Gulf on any given day. 3 day old ‘inside’ information on hot spots is not necessarily reliable, combined with the move into the full moon phase (and no I don’t need to check, I just know!!) and a fish catching ‘certainty’ sounds more like a TAB tip, taken with a big chunk of salt. Right now I'd suggest late afternoon and evening fishing as that's when the Big Reds are on the bite at the moment, great when the daytime sea breezes calm down for either a drift with the soft plastics or an anchor and bait ‘n burley session at your preferred Spot X.

Spice of Life

While enjoying family ‘n friends time catching many varieties of fish - Snapper, Kingfish, John Dory, Gurnard and Squid we’ve also been just having some fun by watching and following pods of Whales, hundreds of Dolphins, Eagle Rays, Seals and Orcas along with a big 6ft Hammerhead yesterday putting the dampener on my mid day  swim out in the middle of the Gulf. Massive swathes of pink algae as bright as Gurnard has been prolific especially closer into the Firth – it doesn’t seem to put the fish off feeding though, it just looks odd. Oh and the Gurnard are big, fat and very tasty crumbed!

And now, sitting back on a beautiful summers evening is a nice insulation from the many situations around the world. Eating fresh crayfish after smoking some big fat snapper for tomorrows lunch, so even though my prize possession – a custom made ultra-light rod has had to be repaired from its owner having too much fun, the Marlin gear's 100% sorted, the soft bait gear in full cry. Let the good times roll.

Happy New Year to you, this one’s bound to be an adventure!