Fishing Report 21 April 2020
by Brian Lund
Kelsey Considine with a great Goldie taken last week off Dundee!
Its is a case of deja’vu all week - the Finniss River is going off with catches in the 20’s per boat. Reports of fish in the 80s and 90s more common than the reports of smaller fish. Speaking with a few people that have been fishing there recently they had intended on fishing the rock bars but barely got past the mouth.
The Little Finniss is also fishing well but the reports are fewer possibly because of less anglers fishing there.
On the harbour scene one of our customers Mark came in saying that he has had a couple of good sessions on snapper in Middle Arm drifting squid baits near the rock bars while waiting for his pots. The crab scene has been good from all reports but they seem to have backed off in numbers some what. The deeper waters on the incoming tides still seem to get a feed.
Reports filtering in from Shoal Bay tell a similar story with some good catches happening but not to the extent of before the rain. The barra seem to be a bit more prolific in Shoal Bay than the harbour at the moment. Most report that if the bait are there than the barra are there if there is no mullet most are saying it is not worth hanging around.
Adelaide River has again proven itself the challenge that it normally has been with a few reported on lures and more taken on live cherabin and tarpon. With the recent rains these neap tides should see an improvement around the mouths of Beatrice, Last Cast, Second Maraki and Manton Creeks over the change of the high tide and the first part of the outgoing tides.
Shady Camp is still throwing up the odd report of excellent fishing but as a couple of customers have reported you need to be there at the right time. The South Aligator has had differing reports, just yesterday I had 2 customers in here who had fished the South Aligator at the same time without knowing it 1 crew caught fish and 1 didn’t with both fishing downstream near the mouth.
Eugene Odell came in today and said that he had been fishing in Bynoe Harbour last weekend and managed to get a couple of barra and went to Corroboree Billabong and tangled with a number of tarpon over and over again.
I have not spoken to anyone who has been fishing the Daly River at the moment but with the Barra Classic starting yesterday I am sure we will start to get reports as to how the river is fishing following the last lot of rain hopefully there will be a bit more action there for the teams than there was for me when I was there a couple of weeks ago.
Charlie Chambers came in yesterday and let us know that they have been doing well in the Harbour on the 1/2 day charters for jewies. This has been reported from customers but again it has been a case of you need to be there when the fish are there. 6mile has been producing some nice snapper and some assorted reef fish on a regular basis.
The offshore scene has been relatively quiet for reports at the moment with the main reports coming from the Perons, Sail City and Dundee with good catches of the normal reef fish and the raising of sail after sail. There are some good reports of Mackeral being caught offshore from Fenton Patches to Sail City. I am hopefully going to be able to report on this scene first hand after Friday when I spend a day chasing the illusive Sail Fish intertwined with some serious bottom bouncing chasing Goldies, Coral Trout and Red Emperor.
It has been a hard decision to make between the Finniss River Barramundi and Sail Fish so I am hoping that we wont be disappointed.