There’s something about fishing sub-tropical waters that gets the saltwater running through the veins of your body especially during the warmer months of the year.
Knowing the fish you can catch can vary from tropical species such as wahoo, red emperor and even coral trout through to the cooler temperate species of snapper, yellowtail kingfish and bar cod that are found well south of the Queensland-New South Wales border.
For me it’s all about trudging to new places, working out the territory by utilising new tech from the best in the business such as Garmin and their new shade relief data system. It feels like a new land and a new mission every time you hook the boat up and tow it a few hours north of south of the Gold Coast.
You see the Gold Coast has the highest number of registered boats per capita in the southern hemisphere and this equates to pressure and loads of it. The local grounds still fish well but not as good as previous years unless you’re targeting pelagic species such as mackerel or marlin or even dolphin, fish that make their annual journey down the eastern seaboard with the warmer currents during Summer
Personally, I love fishing the waters off Double Island Point in the north. A simple 4 hour leisure drive up the M1, over the Gateway, hit the Bruce and once at Gympie you’re nearly there. Here the waters are teeming with fish and so many different varieties. The continental shelf lies a long way out to sea, but the bommies dot the floor of the ocean in close and it’s these that house so many different varieties of fish.
From casting out lightly weighted soft plastics through float lining a pilchard or even jigging metals all work incredibly well.
These trips must be juggled between the weather, as it can get seriously rough up there, and the bar which never seems to end. It just keeps on going. Wide Bay Bar is a notorious piece of work and if you don’t know then make sure you cross during daylight hours and preferably on the run-in tide. I mentioned before the Garmin Shade Relief System, this tech is incredible and very useful in areas you’ve never been before. In fact it’s very useful in areas you may have thought you had nailed till you see what the screen shows up. No one likes pimples except the ones the shade relief screen shows. These small dots are rises from the floor of the ocean, satellite imagery picks up the details along naval or survey ships mapping the sea floor mark every bit of detail which gets passed onto the consumer and this helpful piece of information is what helps us fish areas not often fished before. From casting to pelagics schooling around a shallow bommie to micro jigging a pinnacle layered with baitfish being hounded by larger predators – all await in these sub-tropical waters just a few hours north of the Gold Coast. It is like fishing on the doorstep of paradise.
Gear to take, well lots of it. Micro jigging rods such as Shimano Grappler PE3 matched to a 2000 Ocea Jigger reel along with a bunch of micro jigs from 60 grams through to 100 grams.
A spin stick for surface and sub surface lures like a 7’ Grappler hooked up with an 8 or 10000 Stradic. Grab a few Ocea flash boost stick baits and some 80lb leader.
For the bottom come here gear, a TLD 25 spooled with 60lb monofilament Snyder line (not braid) matched to a Terez 40 to 70lb stick and 80lb leader would be enough. Here’s where you’ll want to tie a paternoster rig on with a single long leader dropper with a set of 8/0 ganged hooks for a whole squid or diver whiting. Red emperor love them and if there’s one swimming around the broken rubble down deep he’ll be sure to smash your offering. Again if you are venturing up or keen to give it a crack, see if you can line up a mate to go with you in his boat and leave either the day prior and spend the night up there in your boat at Carlos Marina or leave 4hours before dawn but after a monstrous day on the water it will be a mammoth mission to come back that same day. Good luck and tight lines! “You’ll never know what will hit the jigs!”
Published in print January-March 2023
