Commonly known as the skinny, these speedsters are the favourite of many lure and fly tossers; the way they will charge at the target, swooping on the lure with care abandoned, has turned many a miserable day into joy, peeling off an unbelievable amount of line for the relative size of the fish.
Pound for pound the best of our saltwater tropical tuggers they fight clean hard and long, yet once spent enter the net docilely. Preferring shallow reef and headlands, they will often school bait balls in such a manner as to appear like a school of tuna. Small epoxy flies such as the RAB fly developed locally by Rod Brownsey, small fast poppers or shiny sparkling lures of almost any make and description will catch Queenies.
Sight fishing for Queenies on the flats of places like Bynoe Harbour is fast becoming a popular pastime with fly fishers.
Often the best method is to dead drift the flies in a current line – we’ve caught 2 fish over a metre within ten minutes of each other using this method. Also drifting along rocky edges on a rising tide will produce results. Fun to catch, they are not bad eating provided they are bled and iced immediately. |
