Happy Micks Fishing Report

by Brian Lund

Mike and his first Dundee Sailfish

What a weekend!

Friday I managed to get away as planned and took a couple of mates to Dundee for a spot of bottom bouncing and some sail hunting. The weather gods smiled on us, the fish played the game and the day was nearly perfect.

The Sail scene is nothing short of balistic at the moment with Sail Fish nearly everywhere. My good mate Joynsie managed to land his first NT Sail Fish over some of my favourite grounds off Dundee after a very short period of time tolling the Soft Head Pluggas on sale in the shop. He also managed to raise a number (in excess of 15) more during the day. His counterpart Jarboy managed to get a couple of nice Mackeral under his belt that same trip. I took a mate Brad on my boat and though we were mainly targeting bottom fish we too managed to raise a good number of Sails and small Blacks in and around the same area and in the vacinity of Sail City.

On the bottom scene the Stripies were as thick as thieves with some cracker 45 – 50 cm fish caught mixed witha lot of smaller bait sized stripies amongst them all around Long Lost however there were also some nice Tricky Snapper in with them. After getting a few Stripies for bait we headed towards Sail City to chase some larger bottom dwellers  and succeeded in getting a few nice Red Emperor, larger Tricky Snapper, a few Rosy Job Fish and a Trout or two. Brad managed to out fish me on the Red Emperors as all I seemed to manage was Tricky after Tricky.

The Tuna schools while being everywhere consisted of very small fish to less than 1kg. Perfect bait schools for the maurading Sail Fish.

On return to the boat ramp I spoke to a number of fishermen who had tackled the Finniss River with the plethora of other boats. Most reported that the rivers had appeared to close down and the barra were very hard to get. The ones caught all appeared to be good quality solid fish but there definately is not the numbers there that were there the last few weeks. Speaking with other crews that had fished around Blaze they reported getting some thumper Goldies and a few nice Jewies.

6 Mile and the harbour wrecks have all been producing quality Goldies and smaller Jewies. There have been some scattered reports of Mackeral showing up around Lee Point and the Bottle Washer while further afield there have been good reports of big Goldies and assorted reef fish around some of the other artificial reefs. Charlie Chambers has said that his customers have been doing really well with Goldies. Charlie himself managed to pick himself up a nice sized Black Marlin last weekend.

Dean Blackman with his biggest yet - a 102cm barra from the mouth of Shady Camp

One of our regular customers Dean Blackman dropped in yesterday and happened to mention that he joined the meter club on the weekend with a very solid fish trolled up at the mouth of Shady Camp. He also explained that they managed to get a few other fish there too. Others are comming in saying that they are still getting good fish at the mouths in Chambers Bay however there appears to be more Salmon than Barra being caught.

Reports from the Adelaide and the Aligators have been very promising with the best reports coming from the upsteam section of the South Aligator, 1 crew reported catches in the region of 40 fish.

The reports of muddies have been patchy at present however the ones that are filtering in have me planning a trip in the near future. The pick of the spots for a feed appear to be Bynoe Harbour, Shoal Bay and the deeper water in the Elizabeth and Middle Arms.

Weather

I am sitting in the shop right now looking at a big storm front moving into the Palmerston area. There are storms building over the catchment area for the Adelaide. Please God start the water works and give the N.T a much needed drenching.

The weather has really warmed up over the last week or so and there has been days in the mid 30’s. This makes fishing the upper reaches of the big rivers very hot during the day but in is worth it because the medium water temp has risen and this drive the fish to become more active.

 The fishing in the Harbour over the last couple of days has been up and down. Some crews have been getting good catches of Barra and Salmon. They have been targeting the schools of jelly prawns that can be found in most of the Harbour arms. As everyone knows these fish can be real hard to target and catch when they are gorging themselves on jelly prawns. Small prawn imitation soft plastics and small blade lures seem to be the way to go to catch these fussy fish. With the neaper tides this week the schools of jelly prawns should be holding deeper on the rock bars in Elizabeth River and Pioneer creek. Golden snapper and vast schools of bream can be encountered attacking the same schools as the barra and salmon. Using pilchard and prawn baits are the best ways to target these bread and butter fish.

Blue water fishing is on the cards for the next couple of days as the tides become neaper. The Vernon Islands fished quite well last set of neaps with goldies to 4kg and the odd jewie. But be careful because of the squalls that can rip across the islands making it quite dangerous, but they past quickly.

Mackeral are still being caught in the deeper channels using big soft plastics and Reidys metal slices. Why they are in so close this time of the year is anyone’s guess. There are still good reports of Jew fish and Golden snapper around the Harbour wrecks and Charles point. These locations are ideal for a quick day out and aren’t to far away if the storms do move in.

Brian Lund, the new store weekday manager, spent his last days of semi retirement fishing the Adelaide River with some success. Last Wednesday during the end of the neaps and at the start of the run out tide, saw him bring home three good solid barra and dropped two others. This was all within an hour of flicking Berkley Powerbait Hollow Belly in the Blueback Herring colour and 5 inch Tsunami Pro Super Softies in the Pearl Spot colour.

Saturday saw him venture to Shady Camp (along with about 50 other boats) to troll and flick the mouth of Sampan only to be blown back to the Adelaide River before lunch. This was a successful decision as again he managed to bag another beautiful silver barra on the Pearl Spot Tsunami.

Sunday again saw him fish the Adelaide though despite some near perfect colour colour change at both Beatrice and Last Cast creeks it was a non event day on the barra scene. Placing some cherabin pots around Goat Island proved successful with some very nice take home (and live bait) cherabin caught. However his mate Steve managed a 60cm barra from the forks in Beatrice Creek on a Reidies Little Lucifer in the black and gold colour.

Monday again saw Brian on the Adelaide for an exploration trip more than a fishing trip. After leaving the cherabin pots in overnight he managed to bag another good feed of cherabin and a 7 foot file snake (which ate a pot full of nice cherabin).

Remember the new laws in relation to cherabin pots if venturing out to get a good feed of these beautiful freshwater prawns.

Keep an eye out for next weeks report as the two store managers are heading out early next week to combine efforts, knowledge and skills to target all the harbour species.

By Douglas Hewett

Tynos 10 only $299 including braid only while stocks last!

With all the talk based around the lack of rain lately a lot of people are starting to worry about missing out on the run-off fishing.

Some crews have been finding good run-off in places and some good fish have been taken. But we are in the NT and the weather can change in a heart beat. There is a low forecast for the start of the week, so we could be swimming in it in a couple of weeks, but it’s the monsoonal trough  the serious fishermen are waiting for. We need a good trough to form  and give us a good soaking. With the Daly falling fast and the Adelaide and Shady camp pumping out quickly the rain can’t come quick enough.

With the break in the weather some people have made the trip off shore. I fished South Gutter last Sunday on the super neap tide ( 1 metre movement second stage). We fished 50 metre marks for some good Goldies up to 5kg and lots of  little Saddle Tail snapper and Spanish Flag. The Spanish flag filleted and fished on the bottom acounted for all the big Goldies. There are large schools of Yellowtail Trevally up to 7kg. Patrol the pinnacles found in the deep gutters of South Gutter. They are lots of fun to catch in 60 metres of water but it gets too much like hard work went you drop to the bottom and hook up instantly and have to fight it back to the boa,t and then hook up instantly next drop. They are good on the tooth if bleed properly and filleted properly. Cut their throats all the way to the backbone and bleed them in abient tempurature water. This helps to carry as much blood out as possible. Ice them down for a minimum of 24hrs until rigimortis sets in. When filleting  remove all of the red drive muscle in the middle of the fillet. This is what makes Trevally taste bad. Yellowtail and Tea Leaf trevally are worth eating but Giant Trevally have to much drive musle in their fillets and are not worth eating. This is why Giant Trevally fight like underwater Brahman Bulls.

There have been good reports coming from Shady Camp of a couple of metre plus Barra and some good numbers of smaller ones being caught on the neaper tides that just passed.

 The top of Tommycut and Sampan seemed to acount for large numbers of fish. With some metre plus monsters being encounter. The Reidy’s B52 in the Krytonite colour acounted for some of the fish because of the uniqe under belly chrome that flashes when twitched and pierces the muddy water attracting the strike, a little bit of X-factor always helps and the Nils Master Spearheads in Elton John colours are working well.

Have a good week fishing and keep those reports coming in. Thanks to the guys that go out of their way to pop into the shop and let me know how they are going in the big rivers. Because some poor fellows like me are stuck at work on the good tides.

Cheers Douglas Hewett and the boys from Happy Micks Darwin

happy day fish that people dream about..

With another year coming to a close, it has been another great oner for fishing in both
   blue water and the fresh. I guess the standout was the Sailfish mayhem off Dundee and
   around the Peron Islands earlier in the year. The lucky ones that tangled with them had many
   stories to tell, getting every one fired up to go out and chase these speed demons of the sea.
 One sailfish was caught on the every trusty Maribou jig intended for a tuna! more

 The wet season finish a month early but despite that the run off was short and sweet with most big rivers firing up  like the Daly river and the Shady Camp S bend with plenty of quality
   Barramundi being caught and lots of them.

The Billabongs fished well this year with Corroborree being the most visited freshwater water hole with some real large fish coming from the area.
   

Most boats have been fishing around  the  Harbour with some nice mixed reef fish. Others have been heading  a bit wider around Charlies Point for the many jewfish being caught but l have heard of snapper other reef fish been in good numbers out there as well.

 
Charles Pt and the mouth of Bynoe Harbour have been the pick of areas , with the Adelaide Narrows also
  producing Snapper and Barramundi as the tide comes in. Still in that area the Vernons has been very good
  for the bait fisherman,  as well as for the jig fishing folk with some great sized snapper and the odd coral
  trout thrown in the mix of things. 

The Shoal bay area came alive last week with qaulity barra being caught and lost, live bait as well as big lures like bombers and killalures were the most effective,   and kept fisho’s on the toes with nice action as the tide rolled back in – some were too big and busted off on the rock. Maybe jewfish l’m thinking.

With most bigger rivers now starting to flow there have been some great reports from them, with the first push of water to get things flowing it seems  that alot of land locked barra are on the move trying to get to better parts of the river or the salt water sections of the river system. Heaps of fish were stuck as the wet stopped so quickly.  

 Shady camp last week was going nuts. Almost a fish a cast on surface lures. Awesome fishing up to 85cm and consistent 70cm fish. As it,s flowing over the Barrage the fishing has slowed right down and the fish kill that happens every  year is now happening. Very sad to see so many barra dead. 

The Daly river at the crossing also went gang  busters and the Finnis River and the Marrikai Road where the Adelaide river flows over had its fair share  of great barra action with fish on the move down the river eating anything they could get their mouth around.

Iin the New Year the Harbour will be a great spot to try to kick start the barra  count for the year. l might be giving West Arm and Little West arm a hit   and even Woods Inlet on the incoming tide which are around lunch time. 

If you are planning to get away for a couple of days the Daly river is another place to try. We’ve  been hearing good reports from there with some nice barra  on the chew. If the river does not rise it should be good.
  Bynoe Harbour will be another place if you want to get out of town.  l like the area around Six Pack Creek.  As you come out  of the creek you are at the bottom of Indian Island and can sneak up to Sims Reef on the change of tide for a jewfish.
  Six pack is a fine river system for snapper, barra and jewfish. Crabs are also plentiful in the system and ita good place to get out of the wind  if it blows up.

Closer to home the Narrows will be worth a shot on the change of tide for a jewfish. Its a big tide so a small
  window before the tide becomes too strong and you can’t keep connected to the bottom but the area will be worth a troll or a cast around the rocks at the mouth of Saltwater Arm and along the Narrows itself.

It is a bit early for the culverts  but Scotts Creek is starting to run and there have been some barra caught there.

Remember to play it safe and keep one eye on the weather- no fish is worth put yourself in danger for, if the rain keeps falling l cant wait for next year hopefully we can get a few more   monsoons in mix of things. Should be good, keep safe from the team at Happy Micks Happy New Year..

The Weather

The storms are starting to rock up around the place so don’t forget to check the weather report on our site before you head out for a fish. Nobody likes a wet ride home. It’s good to see the North Easterlies dropping off a bit and letting the blue water fan-tics get some fishing time in before the big storms start to rock up.

The Harbour

The habour arms are still producing some good goldies for those who put in the time on the change of tides. They seem to be feeding on the rock bars as the first of the run-in pushes the bait up the creeks. Prawns and squid work well, but fresh mullet caught in a cast net and filleted for bait beats squid hands down. Pikey Bream are always a chance when fishing these rock bars.  Vast schools of baby jelly prawns can be found at large creek mouths on the low tide. Plenty of blue salmon and tarpon are feeding on the schools. Tempting these fish can be a problem when there is alot of bait around. Small clear soft plastics are the way to go. Saltwater flys have the goods as well and the larger tarpon are a real challenge on the lighter grade fly rods.The odd barra is being caught on the flats that form on the lows, fishing bombers in the large gutters that form at some of the larger creeks in Elizabeth and Woods Inlet.

Landbased In The Habour

Some good queenies and Giant Trevally have been caught off Mandorah wharf and Elizabeth bridge casting slicers into the gaps of the pylons and letting them hit bottom before jigging them back to the surface. It takes a bit of skill and hard yakka to stop the larger queenies and Gt’s from busting you off as soon as you hook them. But the trick in the short stroke them with heavy drag on. Some goldies can be caught from Channel Island bridge and Elizabeth Bridge with the best time being a high tide at night.

Vernon Islands

Small schools of Mackerel and Giant trevally can still be found working bait near the Vernon islands and Gunn Point. Try to drift close enough to punch a small metal plug into the school and hang on. They aren’t big fish but lots of fun.Follow the birds and they will lead you to the feeding fish. The late afternoon seems to be the time the schools switch on and start to feed. Goldies and jewiescan be caught in the deeper channels on the change of tides. Night fishing is the way to go to target these fish. Some large Gaint Trevallies can be caught cast poppers over Smithand Harris reefs as the tide pumps out and the small bait fish congerate on these shallow reefs. Small to medium poppers and stick baits work great but for a bit of fun tried throwing a couple squid.

Crabbing

The crabs have slowed down a bite of late but some boats are still pulling the odd large buck out of shoal bay and some of the smaller feeder creeks in Pioneer creek and the Blackmore river. Chicken for bait seems to be all the rage, but the humble catfish still makes great crab bait. From all the team at Happy Micks tight lines and have a good week on the water.

 The harbour has turned it on with excellent reports of barra, salmon and the tasteful golden snapper coming from the many estuaries around Darwin harbour. The inland billabongs have produced some bigger then average barra on the late afternoons and early mornings. The wind is still hampering longer trips off shore but the few that have bigger boats have been doing well on snapper and the odd jew fish starting to show up around Charles point. The wind is doing no favours for folks wanting to stay longer, blowing up and making conditions most uncomfortable. Hopefully the wind should start dying off as the storms and rain become frequent lets hope any way..

 Corroboree has come to life again with some nice healthy barra being caught pretty much all over this great billabong. No stand out spots, just around weed beds and edges of large Lilly pads. Gold and green bombers and tiger lilly bombers doing the fair share of the damage and the trusty little Lucifer’s in green and gold; some sort of colour pattern happening there don’t you think. Saratoga have been performing on scum frogs and smaller poppers. Its a bit windy so early morning start if you wanted to throw the long fly rod about. Hardies has been hot and cold with some nice barra in the mid 80cm range being caught. Although some nice fish have come from there fisho’s are saying it is hard work. Although most anglers have been trolling the better re-action has come casting plastics around the long weed beds, sinking them right down and a slow rolling retrieve back has been very successful.

 Shoal bay and the salt water rivers to the east like the Adelaide and leader have been producing quality barra and salmon. Trolling either rock bars or deep banks. in the estuary systems they have also picking up good size snapper on the troll intended for barra or salmon. Big Bombers and Killalures have been the lure choice and live bait has un done some nice barra. The dark horse has been the the Nilsmaster Invincible in the green or bleeding mullet colour. The mouth of leaders always has you guessing on what you are going to hook up weather it be a big jewfish or one of the big female barra that are feeding around the mouth this time of year.  classics and barra baits seem to work on the change of the low tide however, incoming tides are always good for big feeding barra. Catching a jewfish on the troll is great fun. They fight hard and you have your work cut out for you when its on a bait caster reel, great fun..

The land based crew have been getting Queen fish and trevally around Channel Island with the odd barra thrown in just to keep things interesting. Fish out of the wind on a outgoing tide for best results. Talking of barra, east point has been going good with 70 to 80 cm barra coming from the rocks around the race horse creek side. They are fishing on the last of the out going and the first push of the incoming tide using shallower lures in classics and bombers. Just remember to keep one eye out for the snapping handbags as there have been sightings of crocs around channel island and east arm.

  Darwin harbour has been fishing great with snapper to one and half kilo being caught on rock bars and rubble bottom in creek mouths on the incoming tide. The crabs are around but have to work for them.

 With the tides tending more neap and as long as the wind stays away, a mid week trip wide should be productive for the bigger boats over the weekend. These tides look good for a  barra or two or to soak a bait on the change of the low for a jewfish on the many wrecks in the harbour. The late afternoon change should be good if you want to chase a few queenfish around Shell Island or Larrakeyah rock wall on the incoming tide.  Leeders and the mouth of the Adelaide river at the narrows should be worth a shot as well. From the team at happy micks have a good week and tight lines.

with Brenton Marschke 

Mick with a Queenie from Bynoe last week

Talking to some that spent one day on each of the billabongs over a two day camping trip and had a fat time. Good barra fishing and even some monster toga. There were not really any stand out lures, the days were warm and the barra were ready to go,  bashing anything that went near them. 

 There has been some more Sailfish action around Sail City and Long Lost. One crew fished the area the last couple of weekends and reported Mackerel and acres of tuna. The weather has been kind to them,  with no real rough weather, and always calming down in the afternoon. Last weekend they hooked and fought a big sailfish for nearly hour and half,  but lost it at the boat –  the hooks pulled! They were happy they hooked one,  but hurting that they never got any happy snaps holding the sailfish. Thats fishing! All sorts of reef fish have been around Dundee,  remember pick they weather and stay safe. 

Mick also got this Jewie at Lorna. Is he shrinking or is that a big fish?

(more…)

with Brenton Marschke

Firstly congrats to Athiena and Charlie Chambers, with a wonderful healthy  bady girl ”Lyla.”  All is well and  great effort to both parties. Mike and Aileen Chambers are more then chuffed with their new grandchild (number 7 they think), l did my bit on ABC Tails from the Tinnie with Tim Moore last weekend. l had a great time they are all great fellas loved it, you can listen to the show here.

The fishing has been going along slowly and they have been getting a wide range of fish from bream (sorry Tim) to snapper jewfish and tuna. Even good size Mackerel still coming from the usaul haunts at Lee Point, East Point and they have even been sighted around Channel Island on the in coming tides  chasing the bait fish as the water moves in .

  I’m hearing of jewfish being caught in deeper parts of the harbour,  then just the many wrecks, so have a look around for some good structure off Larrakeyah and you might be surpised. Snapper and Tuskfish,  yes even the odd Coral Trout have been landed. There is some pelagic action off Lee Point with Mackerel and good schools of Long Tails kept fishos on the look out. I have heard it was a bit hard to spot schools working the surface, with a bit of a chop in the morning, but it did calm off in the afternoon. (more…)

“It banked left and like the Star Trek Voyager  left the scene at the speed of light.”

You hear of stories that come through the shop and some are a bit hard to take. This is not one of them!

Shane showed the team at Happy Micks photos of a capture off Dundee, that some people pay big bucks to catch, or even to  see them is a great thrill in their natural enviroment. 

Well,  this is one for the books! Shane set out from Dundee boat ramp early on Saturday morning in his 4.5 metre boat and headed out to Long Lost Shoals on a very calm day to chase the large schools of tuna and the odd Mackerel,  and to do some bottom bouncing in between. Now being a responsible type he only went out there because the weather was so good. He said “if the morning had been breezy,  they would have stayed close.  Like one of those perfect days when every thing happened: tuna everywhere both Mack tuna and Northern Blue (long tails), after a few tuna landed headed to one to the many schools to get their arms stretched once more,and as he lobbed his (only)Maribuo into the feeding tuna he had one follow the Maribuo intent on eating the thing. (more…)

The weather blowing one day and the next it’s over cast with no wind; on Tuesday morning we even had a light shower out in the rural area in the early morning.

The blue water still producing. Sailfish have been on the lips of most fishos and the schools of Northern Blue Fin Tuna that inhabit our coastline and wider out this time of year. Reef fishing and the Mackerel scene around Dundee has been good with numbers of Coral Trout and a few Red Emperor have been on the chew around Long Lost and Peron Islands,  as well as some large Mackerel. Closer to home Lee Point and wider has been producing some good all round fishing for Pelagics and yes, even some billfish! Earlier in the week during the neaper tides there were large schools of tuna close along the coast. They were hungry and ready to go, with reports of Longtails up to a massive 20 kilos.

On the barra side of things its hot and cold in many of the Billabongs  and river systems but because of the events that have been happening in the blue water the humble barramundi has taken the back seat for the last month or so..

 Dean Blackman and his wife Melanie went out in the harbour during the week and tangled with the Northern Blue Fin. They landed a few and lost a few and  had a blast as there were heaps of schools busting the surface, working hard and fast and staying on top feeding,  so you could get a few cast in before you hooked up. At one stage they were all around the boat chopping through the bait schools. Still buzzing,  l got the call to head out with them the next day. As we cleared Emery Point and made towards Six Mile we scanned the surface of the water looking for jumping fish. As we came off the plane a group of young fellas in another boat had a double hook up on some very lively fish. It was not long,  only a matter of minutes, before we saw our first big school of tuna, turning the surface water to a foam and crushing bait schools.

As we moved into the path of the frenzied school of feeding fish, we made sure not to power into them, but allowed them to come to us. We fired a long cast into the school and two cranks of Dean’s reel and he was on  to the first screaming fish. They are such a good light game fish, no more then 10kg line class is needed, even though  my good mate Craig told me 50 pound braid was the go to get them in quicker. And  to get more fish! Yep,  two broken rods later and a bit of a dented ego! It was totally my fault as l certainly pushed the envelope on rods that were not suited to the for the line class l was using. We had spare rods, well at least Dean did. Thanks Dean. The fish were about for a good couple of hours and lots of  bust up’s every couple off minutes. Schools of up to thirty or forty tuna averaging 6kg to 8kg.

Brenton was as proud as punch - about a millisecond before his rod popped!

It’s a  great visual sight’  seeing busting schools of bait fish over all the place and forget all about the V8’s! Dean in the driver seat zooming around like he stole it, blasting around getting in front of feeding tuna was just as much fun as catching them. Just as well  it was a nice calm day. In the end Dean and l landed 6 tuna and lost a few but it  gets the blood going. Yahoo- like we were 16 again! Great fun the double hook up’s, l rate it big time! Chromes and even plastics were the weapon of choice to get hooked up to these speed demons. l’m also  hearing of Mackerel still floating about around East Point and Tuna and some larger models of G.T’s working close to shore,  with early morning land based fisho’s getting hooked up  on big Travelly  and the odd Queen fish getting in on the act. Poppers and large chrome slices are the shot. The Bottlewasher has mackerel and the odd jewfish hanging on it and maybe worth a shot on the bigger tides on the the change of tide.

 The Billabongs have not yet really fired up but we are hearing some reports filtering in that people are catching barra. Not in big numbers, but average 55cm to 65cm are the norm. The fishing folk have been changing their tactics and casting to the lillies and weed beds using fizzers, small poppers and scum frogs, as well as the ever reliable plastics. Saratoga have been aggressive, taking most lures cast into the lilies, and the fly brigade have been getting amongst it as well with Dalbergs and Pink Things. Trolling early mornings and late afternoons with the trusty Little Lucifer’s and spearhead  have been working OK.  Hardies is  the same as Coroborree,  and  casting has been getting the results. Early mornings have been good. Bigger fish have been coming in from 70cm to 80cm. Nice barra  and clean to boot. 

The land based fishermen have been getting barra off East Alligator crossing on the top of the tide with good schools of mullet getting harassed by rampaging big barra. Poppers seem to be the go as the tide moves out. The Daly has slowed down considerably and that’s thanks to the cold weather but they are still getting good fish down there on the bigger tides. Live bait has become the preffered method to catch a barra, but on the bigger tides deep lures have been working on the change of tides. Above the crossing has also slowed but if we get a few warm days things should start firing up again.

 Darwin Harbour now and the Bream have come into the Harbour in clouds, haunting most of the rocky points and rock bars in many of the estuaries. In the harbour itself the crabs have been a bit slower but the crab bait is still moving out the door. If the weather permits Shoal Bay has been a great place to catch a mud crab. One fella was the only boat in the whole Shoal Bay/Howard River system, and never saw another boat all day! He was rewarded with a heap of big mud crabs, salmon and also barra caught on some live mullet. The mud crabs have been active  in Elizabeth and Middle Arm on regular a basis but the share farming has been making fisho’s seeing red. But be sure the days are numberd where they get caught by the owners of the pots or the authorities. Be sure, they will be caught and dealt with..

  With the bigger tides this weekend chasing a few muddies bream and a few golden snapper could be a pleasent way to spend the day. Snapper are not around  in huge numbers like a few month ago,  but the odd deeper rock bar is still holding them on changes of tide. Use live bait  mullet to lift your average of catching a barra or even casting the gutters with plastics or Bombers 15A, even the smaller 14A and the little B52. Over the other side of the harbour in West Arm and Little West Arm wind plays a big factor so if it’s not to breezy,  jobs on.  Mackerel early morning off Lee point and East point will be also another place to be before the wind picks up, though early indications are that the wind is going to die off again over the nexdt few days! Call in and ask where they are biting and have a safe and sun smart weekend from the team from Happy Micks tight lines..