View Full Version : Fishing east coast of Australia.
Greetings all,
I am currently taking a year out to travel and have just returned from India with great success with Mahseer and Barramundi. I'm off to the east coast of Australia in a couple of weeks and have lots of info regarding boat charters but am lacking any leads for shore fishing.......
I will be spending time in Sydney, Airlie beach, Mission beach, Cape tribulation and Magnetic Island. If anyone has any experience of fishing in these locations from the shore I would love to hear from you and your experiences. Any tips, advice or tried and tested marks would be greatly appreciated.....
BTW my passion is for chucking lures....
Look forward to hearing from you.
PanamaJack
05-04-2006, 11:11
Hi Samfish
I imagine there're one or two rather envious individuals out there, me included of course! Racking my brains I can't recall any current members of the forums who have mentioned that part of the world before. But we'll see if anyone comes 'out of the woodwork'.
One of our Club members similarly during his gap year visited New Zealand and Australia. He spent most of his time I suspect rock or shore fishing. So he may well be able to help. Let me contact him and get him to participate in this thread.
I recall him lending me a video of, and I accept it's fairly specialised, rock fishing for Black Marlin from Jervis Bay, just south of Sidney. But that's very much 50 wide game reels on stepped up beach casters. And your truism about fishing being more about enjoyment - they seem to hook many more than they ever land!
Casting the 'Net' further (whoops - sorry, my apologies) have you tried any of the Australian forums? If not here're a couple of fairly active sites where I'm sure you should get some feedback - http://www.sportsfishaustralia.com.au/ and http://www.fishnet.com.au/.
I suspect you don't need your appetite whetting any more, but for others that might read this thread here's the url to a brief report and photographs from one of our members trip to Oz - http://www.scbi.org.uk/pages/News_WhatsNewNfc200404.asp. It covers a trip, light tackle fishing, to Cape York - much further north - and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Finally Samfish do please post details of your trip as it progresses back to this thread. I'm sure a number of us - particularly those with aspirations to visit those 'long lost' relatives from the Antipodes (well that's the excuse) - would be delighted to read of your experiences.
Every success, sorry - Enjoyment!
Dave
Hello dave,
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of those links! I will check them out and see what I can find! I had'nt thought about getting on the australian forums - thats got to be the best way of getting some inside info. I'll give it a bash.
If you're interested, I've posted some piccys of my India trip on the "Asia" section of the international angler forum threads. It's entitled ' fishing in Goa India' . Hope you like em!
I will keep in touch with regards to results in Oz too! Thanks again for the links and info!
Sam
Kingfish81
09-04-2006, 17:22
Drat! Just wrote a long reply to you Samfish which then didn't post! I'm the club member Dave mentioned and I spent three months travelling up the East Coast of Oz, doing a fair bit of fishing. I devoted a lot of my time to land-based game-fishing with livebaits, although there is some pretty decent lure fishing available too.
Let me know if you want any specific info, particularly with regards to land-based game as I have a heap of info about it. Once out there, you should definitely get a copy of the 'North Australia Fish Finder' aka 'The Barra Bible'! That will point you in the right direction of spots to fish. Your best bet however is to go into local tackle stores and ask for advice - most are pretty friendly!
Dave's right about the Black Marlin from the shore. The video contains the immortal quote that 'One fish for every ten years of trying is an above average strike rate'. The mind boggles!
Hello Kingfish!
Good to hear from you!
Shame about the reply that did'nt post! Blinking pooters eh!
As I said I'm mostly into lures as the kit packs away nice and easy for travelling and the smell of fish associated with bait fishing seems to stay away! However, I always pack a few bungs, wire and trebles for live/deadbaiting as a back-up technique.
I'm guessing you did most of your fishing from rocky headlands or harbour walls etc.. and either float the baits out or tether them up and fish 'em static ??
How did you go about getting your livebaits then??
In India we were using a throw net for this purpose, however I'm not so sure the Aussies will take too kindly to this! I do'nt really have time to sit around snatching baits and wondered how you got 'em!
I named the spots I will be spending time at in the above post, if you have any info regarding these locations I would love to hear about them. I'm generally going to be fishing blind have to do the groundwork upon arrival, so anything to save a bit of time and point me in the right direction would be greatly recieved.
I hear what you're saying about popping in the local tackle shops and asking! Theres no substitute for local knowledge.....you can't beat it!:secret:
Look forward to hearing from you,
All the best,
Sam.
Kingfish81
10-04-2006, 19:45
Samfish,
Yeah most of the fishing was from rocky headlands, break walls, jetties etc. I personally chose to fish the baits either under a balloon if they were mackeral/Australian salmon or under a pike bung if they were herring (which in Oz are little fish about 5-6" long and a bit herring-like!). Lots of the Aussies use throw-nets to catch the herring, although I didn't buy one and just used very small jigged flies which are sold in all tackle stores. Bigger livies I got with smaller spinners and lures. Essential bit of kit was a small kids paddling pool to keep the livies in though!
I didn't fish much in the spots you mentioned and think you may struggle from the shore at Mission Beach and Cape Trib, but I could be wrong... I know from the book I've got that Magnetic Island's west point gets lots of pelagics off it, some of which come close enough to catch from the shore. There are some pretty good spots around Sydney, although they're a car journey away. Think there may be some OK fishing in the harbour though... The Whitsunday's btw are awesome! If you can get some people together, it's worth hiring your own boat for a few days, but that's not really a fishing-related topic!
I'll have a hunt for some more specific info on the spots you're going to and get back to you...
Hey kingfish,
Thanks for the top tips there! Especially like the one about the paddling pool - tip of the day I reckon!
Cant wait for the whitsundays though. Missed out on it when I was in Oz ten years ago due to a lack of funds, this time will be different!
I like the sound of the fishing on magnetic island! You are not the first person who has said that it is a good spot there. It comes highly recommended!
If you have any more info there it would be great, I really appreciate you taking the time to pass the it on!
Many thanks,
Sam.:sun:
Hello all,
I'm heading out to Oz tomorrow (easter sunday) evening. Will keep you posted on how things go as we work our way up the coast. I'll try to keep y'all up to speed with some fishy tales and piccies (with any luck!!) on this thread. Watch this space!
Regards and tight lines.
Samfish.
Hey Sam.
Been looking arround a few sites for a little inspiration and have discovered that there are charters out of Fraiser Island going out to chase the GT's with poppers.
No idea of the price but it might just let you beat Scott's 10Kg fish.
Hi Sam - I'm from Sydney originally. Don't know if your still out in Oz but here's some info on a place called Berowra Waters in Sydney. I haven't been there for many years but in those days we used to fish the Hawkesbury River which is a fair size river about 45 mins drive north of the city centre. We used to hire a dinghy with a small outboard for the day from the marina at Berowra Waters. It was quite cheap back then but I think they charge about AUS$90 these days - about £37 for an eight hour day plus gas - still pretty good if you can manage to split it between two or three of you. Bait, ice and fuel were available at the marina. You will probably need a car to get there as it's inside Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. There is a rail station at Berowra but I'm unsure just how far this is from the marina itself. Being surrounded by national park Berowra Waters still remains a beautiful and relatively unspoilt spot. Common fish species included bream, flathead and leatherjackets - all good eating. We always used to fish with bait which was mainly prawns and sometimes beach worms but I believe they fish for flathead these days quite successfully with lures. You would normally also catch the odd small Yellowtail which were also good bait. You can either fish Berowra Creek - a good size body of water itself or head down it to the main stream of the Hawkesbury. Here's a couple of links:
http://www.sportsfish.com.au/fishing/top-fishing-spots/berowra-creek.html
http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/NSWBerowraWaters.shtml
Also here's a link to some guidebooks on fishing in Australia. Ther's a couple which focus specifically on marks in Sydney. The Fishing Guide to Sydney - Hawkesbury maybe helpful as it would probably give information on a lot of shore marks in Sydney that are accessible by public transport. I believe a lot of fishing is now done in the harbour and on the Parramatta River which runs into the harbour. This wasn't the case many years ago due to pollution so I don't know much about marks on these waters.
http://www.guidesgalore.com.au/default.asp?p=subcategory&SubCategoryID=97&ParentID=3
and here's some Aussie fish:
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/rcalcaratus.htm
Good luck.
Hello All,
I've just returned from Australia after 5 weeks of great fun. As always the rod was packed and I planned to squeeze in few sessions along the way. I was travelling with my girlfriend who is thankfully very understanding of my life-long obsession and quite enjoys a dangle too.
The kit consisted of a 5 piece med/heavy spin rod, shimano reel, box of lures and basic end tackle.
After flying into Sydney and spending a few days hanging there it was up to Airlie Beach and the whitsundays to get into some sailing and snorkelling fun and games. This also gave us some time to chuck a few lures about from various harbour walls and rock structures. A few trevally of the golden and giant variety were bagged and gave good sport for their size, the biggest not being much greater than a couple of kg's. The old metal wedge/slice seemed to be the best bet here. I also had a clonking bite on a rubber shad, but did'nt manage a hook up! I just got a very mauled lure back on the end of the line! Whatever it was, had a good set of teeth and was pretty hungry!!
From here it was up to magnetic island where we spent a week chilling on the beaches and fishing. The local hot spot seemed to be the jetty at picnic bay, there was a nice spanish mackerel of around 8kg's caught while I was there and a couple of nice trevally. The hot technique seemed to be a freelined live-bait. We tried hard but the best we could do was a 2 foot long barracuda which was a real menace once up on the decking!!! They're all teeth and attitude!! Not a touch on lures all week!!!!
We also bagged a load of smaller stuff on hand-line and prawn - it was like fishing in a tropical fish tank - what the fish lacked in size they made up for in variety and colour!! Species like fingermark, snapper, stripeys, strange looking cod varieties and many more....
We took a trip out from the island on a boat for an afternoon too. Many species were caught on bottom fished pilchards including some rather large parrot fish which were the most amazing blue colour imaginable. We drifted live-baits out the rear of the boat under balloons in the hope of a pelagic or two. There were apparently a few queenfish doing the rounds which would have been nice, but the only hit we had was from a coral-trout that was estimated at around 3 or 4 kg's. Unfortunately, it slipped the hook at the rear of the boat!!! That's fishing for you...... There were no other runs that day but we did see a 300lb black marlin leap a couple times which was pretty cool!!
Once back on the mainland, a campervan was hired and we made the trek north to Cooktown, which is as far north as the sealed road goes. Cooktown is a crazy place that has hung on after the gold rush of the late 19th century and has only a small population of several hundred. The fact that the sealed road has only just been completed to this this far flung destination means it is new to the tourist trail and has very little commercial fishing in operation. The waters up here are therefore fairly untouched and full of hard fighting tropical fish.
On the first evening I popped down to wharfe on the endeavour river and paternostered a live-bait next to the pier legs. First cast resulted in an estuary cod of around a kilo, good start I thought. The rig was re-baited and plonked back in the same spot next to the woodwork. Within 5 mins the clutch was screaming again and after a very healthy scrap a nice plump mangrove jack made it's way to the decking and straight into the ice box in the van. That was dinner sorted!
I thought I'd try my luck for one more cast as the sun was well on it's way to the horizon by now. A rather large 6" mullet was lip hooked and sent back down beside the woodwork. Sure enough, after a few minutes and several swigs of a celebratory bottle of XXXX the clutch was off again!!! I could'nt believe my luck as this time I latched into something far bigger that was off round the pier legs like a freight train!!! After much tugging and hopping over and under boat mooring ropes a beautiful barramundi came up alongside and was ready for chinning. It was well over the 55cm size limit and was also kept for the pot. Within a couple of hours both fish were bled, cleaned and on the barbecue........delicious, as fresh as it gets. For me personally the mangrove jack was the better eating of the two.
Next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to catch the next incoming phase of the tide. With a few live-baits secured it was back down by the woodwork to see if anymore beasties were lurking and in the mood for a feed. Sure enough, the first two runs of the day produced an acrobatic queenfish and chunky giant trevally that were both returned. We had enough fish to last us a couple of days after all!!
Truly great fishing can be found at Cooktown, there even 200lb+ grouper that live under the wharfe and try to steal your fish as you're playing them!!! They are a protected species too, so if you get one you have to cut your line.......that is if they do'nt spool you first!!! We also saw a shark I estimate at nearly 2 meters cruise on by the jetty........great stuff!
Final stop was Darwin, Northern Territory. I was booked on a day charter on the famed Mary river system in search of meter + barramundi, salmon and jewfish. Unfortunately the only fish taken on our boat was a 10" catfish on a 7" lure!!! We launched at Shady Camp and headed downstream but to no avail. It was not to be our day, or anyone elses for that matter. Of the 12 other boats we saw out only one had a managed a barramundi of average size. The tides were too heavy on the day and the water like the colour of hot chocolate. You win some you lose some........maybe next time!
Hope you enjoyed the report, heres a few piccys to keep you going!
Tight lines!
Sam.
The wharfe @ Cooktown
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/samwadman/P1010061.jpg
Nice Cooktown Barramundi
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/samwadman/P1010054.jpg
Cooktown Mangrove Jack
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/samwadman/P1010056.jpg
Queensland Croc......no wading here then!!!
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/samwadman/P1010073.jpg
PanamaJack
22-05-2006, 20:25
Well done Sam, and welcome back. Great report! What was that you said about a Barracuda with attitude? I think I'd take my chance with one of those, as opposed to the 'saltie'. How big do you think that one was?
I recall a friend foul hooking a small - 8' 'jobbie' - saltwater crocodile at night, off Turneffe Atoll in Belize, one year on 12lb spin gear - whilst fast cranking a jig along the surface. Except he assured me it had to be a shark. I believed him until - with my outstretched hand, holding a short release gaff - was just two foot from the end of its tail. Then I saw its FEET. OK, we were on a small jetty, BUT without that I'm sure I could have come up with a passable imitation of the 'man that walks on water'!
Dave
Hey Dave,
Nice to hear from you again. Hope all is well with you?
The Saltie in the pic was at least 4m maybe more. There were literally hundreds of them populating the river systems up in the northern territory where we were fishing. I agree though.... give me a barracuda anyday!!!
I like the story about the Belize croc.... you were lucky there! If you like crocs, then check out these monsters our guide was feeding off the back of the boat!!
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/samwadman/P1010052.jpg
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/samwadman/P1010009.jpg
best wishes,
Sam.
Ian Houlton
23-05-2006, 01:39
Greetings all,
I am currently taking a year out to travel and have just returned from India with great success with Mahseer and Barramundi. I'm off to the east coast of Australia in a couple of weeks and have lots of info regarding boat charters but am lacking any leads for shore fishing.......
I will be spending time in Sydney, Airlie beach, Mission beach, Cape tribulation and Magnetic Island. If anyone has any experience of fishing in these locations from the shore I would love to hear from you and your experiences. Any tips, advice or tried and tested marks would be greatly appreciated.....
BTW my passion is for chucking lures....
Look forward to hearing from you.
i can get you some info on Coffs harbour and Narrooma if you want it and i may be able to get you somewhere to stay at both. If you go to Narooma, or anywhere close, try fishing Mystery bay. If you go to Coff,s head for the local library and ask the whereabouts of Bret Parsons and tell him i sent you
Ian Houlton
23-05-2006, 01:43
I suppse that is what i get for not reading the whole thread before i post a reply, sorry :unsure:
PanamaJack
23-05-2006, 09:14
Hi Sam
Hopefully I can attach the image of the croc. If so you should be able to see the little yellow jig at the base of its tail - just sub-surface. The guide's got a snake noose around its jaws - they also get rather large constrictors on the island! However soon after the picture was taken it started to spin - 'death rolls' (usually 'reserved' for its prey) - and, thankfully, broke the wire.
The other one I can't resist telling was of a friend who was shooting feral African buffalo (Didn't they use to 'farm' them out there? I think it was for the cows' milk used in making Mozzarella.) in the Northern Territories on aboriginal lands. As well as a buffalo he also shot a wild pig. In that they were camping by the side of a tidal river – the haunt of sharks - they cut a haunch off it and baited a large hook attached to a wire trace and heavy cord handline. Vic, a fairly large individual, got a bite and, holding on, got dragged down the beach. His Aussie friend then launched the dingy and they eventually managed to position themselves above it. Any amount of heaving didn't seem to work, so Vic allowed some line to slip between his fingers and then held on tight. His friend then powered the boat away. And, in a welter of surface foam, up popped a BIG 'saltie' - Vic thought around 16 - 18' long - and threw the hook.
His Aussie friend found it quite humorous and referred to the croc as 'Clarence'. When questioned he admitted that a local ornithologist - Clarence - had gone missing in that area the previous year. They’d found his camp, but not him. And big ‘salties’ are reputed to be very territorial……….
Dave
Hey Dave,
Thats a pretty cool picture there! I would'nt fancy having one attached to my wrist for love nor money!
The big crocs are certainly territorial, there was a nasty incident last year which our guide loved trelling us about:
Pat our guide pulled up at a river crossing in his 4wd with 6 tourists on board during a wetland safari. In the centre of the crossing was stood a chap upto his waist in the water chucking lures for barra with his little baitcasting outfit. Pat gets out to check the water for his crossing and notices a big old croc on the far bank some 60 meters away. He warned the guy, who was about 20 meters from the nearside bank of the croc, to which he replied " Ahh, she'll be right mate, she's miles away.....no worries!". Pat warned him a second time but the angler clearly thought he knew better and just carried on fishing. Pat returned to the jeep to make his crossing and noticed the croc slip in the water and start casually swimming towards the angler.
At the point the arrogant angler started to panic and run through the water, which is pretty slow and tiresome when it's up to your waist! The croc was in no hurry but was gaining on him with ease and by the time the guy was within several meters of safety the croc was on him, the fishing rod was thrown at the croc and the guy slipped. At this point the croc launched itself at the guy and took his head off with one clean snap of the jaws. All of this in front of the jeep full of tourists who were looking on in horror!:unsure:
I think the moral of this story has to be : RESPECT!
Sam.
PanamaJack
23-05-2006, 14:22
Hi Sam
Now that's a sobering tale! I heard as well from friends that have visited Oz to fish that there's also, accompanying what you describe, a prevailing mind set that - 'If you can't see it it ain't there'. And several fatal attacks by crocodiles have ensued.
But, like your story, this one from my friend Vic also takes the biscuit. It was back in those days when you could still fish for Great Whites off South Australia.
Any rate, on one occasion whilst he was 'down under', he'd heard on the grapevine that a commercial Lobster potter - 50 miles down the coast - had reported seeing a Great White in a bay where they'd never previously been encountered.
Well this sceptical mindset prevailed and a couple and a male friend went free diving for Crayfish. On their way in, in 30' of water, a big shark struck the women - she was swiming between the two men. She was badly injured and, although they tried to support and protect her, it returned and dragged her body away. All they ever found was part of one flipper.
It's all sumed up by that word you used - RESPECT - and CAUTION - when you're in creatures like that's environment.
Dave
Tim Watson
01-03-2011, 22:34
Hi
i hope you dont mind me asking you this - but do you know about the shore or harbour wall fishing on hamilton island on the great barrier reef? i believe there are some charters working from the island and will be booking with them at some point. Im there in late september this year and really like chucking some lures from shore and baitfishing on my jack....thanks in advance...
steveclem
12-04-2011, 20:30
Hey Dave,
Thats a pretty cool picture there! I would'nt fancy having one attached to my wrist for love nor money!
The big crocs are certainly territorial, there was a nasty incident last year which our guide loved trelling us about:
Pat our guide pulled up at a river crossing in his 4wd with 6 tourists on board during a wetland safari. In the centre of the crossing was stood a chap upto his waist in the water chucking lures for barra with his little baitcasting outfit. Pat gets out to check the water for his crossing and notices a big old croc on the far bank some 60 meters away. He warned the guy, who was about 20 meters from the nearside bank of the croc, to which he replied " Ahh, she'll be right mate, she's miles away.....no worries!". Pat warned him a second time but the angler clearly thought he knew better and just carried on fishing. Pat returned to the jeep to make his crossing and noticed the croc slip in the water and start casually swimming towards the angler.
At the point the arrogant angler started to panic and run through the water, which is pretty slow and tiresome when it's up to your waist! The croc was in no hurry but was gaining on him with ease and by the time the guy was within several meters of safety the croc was on him, the fishing rod was thrown at the croc and the guy slipped. At this point the croc launched itself at the guy and took his head off with one clean snap of the jaws. All of this in front of the jeep full of tourists who were looking on in horror!:unsure:
I think the moral of this story has to be : RESPECT!
Sam.
It was the East Alligator river crossing in the far Northern Territories and the bloke was blase, as most regular fisherman were about the local croc population at first until a newcomer 16' long arrived. The victim, Kerry McLoughlin had slipped off the flooded slipway into the oncoming tide and had just about reached dry land and grasped a branch when the croc struck. It was a stubby of beer he threw at the beast as it submerged for it's attack.
The incident occurred before the eyes of his 17 y.o. son among others. 17 March 1987.
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