The weather was sensational this last week and if you did manage to get out for a fish, you’re one of the lucky people! Young Rhys Clatworthy managed to get in to the water and speared the cobia pictured this week. He was in the gulf not far from the marina at the time and has entered the fish in this month’s fishing competition. Rhys is gearing up for the Freediving Fiesta comp that is on in December. The event is aimed at getting a few spear fishermen/women together and showing people different techniques and highlighting safety with Spearfishing.  It is also to focus on awareness of Spearfishing and how it is a selective method of getting a fresh catch, while also getting you fit.  It can also have less impact on fish than regular fishing: Sadly Spearfishing is often tainted with a bad reputation through misunderstanding.

Rhys speared cobia

William Cook caught a beautiful 7kg trout in the gulf on his Dad’s charter boat this week while the weather was good. In fact there has been quite a lot of reports of trout in the gulf. They can be tricky to catch, but will often take to a soft plastic lure that is jigged near structure. They are a curious fish and will come out to investigate any intruders in their territory.

Cookie trout

Massive schools of buff bream have been hanging around south passage. I found this out from a flight I did last week in an ultra-light to get a bird’s eye view of the reef (It was SO good!). You could see everything from whales outside the reef to schools of queenfish inside the reef and travelling trevally, small sharks and even a few tigers. One tiger shark was so big in the shallows, that I reckon his belly was scraping the ground! Looking from that high perspective certainly is amazing and if you are a fisherman I suggest trying it as the view is awesome! You could see every bombie, turtle, ray, fish school and all the reef structure. Now I want to give it a go in the gulf to see the sailfish. In fact the sails are really thick in the gulf now, so if you’re keen to catch a sailfish, then drop in to the store and we can show you where they are congregating.