It’s definitely heating up towards summer now and many of the winter locals have retreated south as the days reach the high 30’s.  Lucky for anglers, fishing is good every month of the year and there are always options for the keen angler.  Good schools of bait are starting to move in to the gulf now, both in the deeper waters and shallower areas near Bundegi Reef.  Birds feeding on morsels left behind by predatory species can be seen from the shore and action can be awesome from a small tinny.  Small soft plastics and minnows imitating the size and colour of the bait works well when cast into or slightly off the school.  Small poppers can also result in some spectacular chases by competitive fish.  Fly fishing at these times is great too.  At times you can also get in to the action from shore, but you will need to hike out across the flats during the low tide to cast in to the action as the tide rises.

One of the local sports fishing charter operators measured up a recently caught GT to be approximately 42kg!  GT fishing can be hot one day and cold the next, but it’s good to see the operators taking the care to teach punters about care with barbless hooks, careful handling techniques and releasing these magnificent sports fish.  Many new visiting anglers these days don’t want to fill esky’s, but rather enjoy and respect the environment: which is good to see.

The marina has been great through the holidays for the kids with many coming in to tell us they’ve been catching bream, cod, queenfish, trevally and even an early report of a mangrove jack!  The new canal blocks will be a great place for new residents to kick back after work and throw a line in from the back door.  The waters have settled well over the years since it was built and there are plenty of fish about, which is great for young and old.

Last week we had some crew fishing the flats in the gulf.  They were sight-casting for queenies, trevally or whatever was in the line of sight! They had an awesome day that was glass and crystal clear.  While they were chasing sportsfish, to their surprise, they saw at least 50 blue-swimmer crabs! They weren’t prepared to take home crabs, but couldn’t resist the temptation when a big muddy showed up on the scene.  It’s hard to believe that the crabs are still thick down there and it’s a reminder that we are so lucky to have such a healthy ecosystem at our back door.