Gday fishing fanatics a quick summary of the fishing around the Mackay and district in May !!

PIONEER RIVER, LOCAL BEACHES AND HARBOUR WALLS

With cool water temps in May saw some excellent fishing action along our local beaches. Town, Far, Eimeo and Bucasia beaches all produced some quality fish on both lures and baits. Shell Grit creek at the mouth of Far beach has seen good catches of Bream, Whiting and Flathead, fresh yabbies and blood worms produced some solid Whiting, slow rolling your bait (winding and retrieveing very slow) the last hour of the run in tide, and the first hour of the run out tide seemed to be most productive, whilst the odd large Silver Bream caught whilst muscling in for a feed.

Working the drop offs on the run out tide using small soft plastics and hard bodied lures has seen some very aggressive Flathead caught, Bushy’s Stiffy Minnows, T.T. S witch Blades and Killalure Flatz Rats have all accounted for good catches, whist the ever reliable( Berkley Drop shot 4” minnow pumpkin seed) has  dominated on  the bigger females.Night sessions fishing Bucasia beach has seen anglers with a good array of fish, Whiting, Bream, Flathead and some solid Blue Salmon. The yabbie beds near the boat ramp on the run in tide has been very productive, whilst fishing the main beach with slab Goldfin Mullet and Ribbon Fish around the top of the tide has resulted in some quality Blue Salmon. These fish have fine little teeth like sand paper and can rasp through standard fishing lines, using Flurocarbon leaders 40-60lb such as ( GALIS ABSORBER) and Gamakatsu or Owner circle hooks 5/0 -6/0 may help your catch rate on some of these hard fighting fish.With limited boating access in the Pioneer River ( Due to construction of the new Forgan Smith Bridge and the Board walk) has seen alot of anglers confined  to fishing one section of the river, one of the most productive areas has been the jetties near the old Seafresh building.

Working the first few hours of the run in tide using fresh slabs of mullet and gar has resulted in some very large Silver Bream, whilst casting small poppers towards the pylons has seen some hot action on small Queenies and Junior G.T.s. Whilst working small poppers and T.T. Switch Blades  around Cullen Island in  the shallows on the runout tide has seen land based anglers with a good assortment of fish ( Whiting, Bream, Flathead and some very aggressive Queenie TrevallyAnglers fishing the new “Fishing Platform “ at the Hospital Bridge have had constant catches of Bream , Grunter, Queenies and Trevally species, and large numbers of Mudcrabs caught on the runin tide in pots and dillies.With the South Harbour Wall still closed, has seen the North Harbour Wall inundated with anglers,  mild north easterly winds mid May saw good catches of Trevally, Oyster Crackers, Mackeral and big Cobia. Fresh yabbies or Ganged pillies resulted in catches of all Trevally species, whilst live senate rigged and floated under balloons resulted in good catches of Spanish Mackeral, Cobia and very large Barracuda. Boaties fishing the “Cove “ inside the South Wall targeting Black Jew, had there knots tested as some huge fish were hooked and lost  using slab and live baits.

SARINA AND SURROUNDING AREAS

The start of May saw some good catches of Barramundi from the ledge at the mouth of Bakers creek, live Whiting, Poddy Mullet and Herring all produced good fish, whilst fresh yabbies and prawns resulted in a good feed of bread and butter fish. Sandy and Alligator creeks have been alive with small whiting, and the first of the runout tide has seen the larger 30-35cm fish being caught. Fresh yabbies working well, though live blood worms accounting for bigger fish. Far back creek around the corner from McEwans beach has seen land based anglers with a good mixed bag, whiting, flathead, dart and some very aggressive  big Silver Bream. Whilst night fishing the run in tide around the High Sands with slab baits has seen good catches of Blue Salmon and bream.With the odd decent day in May saw the headlands fire, the rocky fore shores around Haypoint came alive with fish. Blue Groper, Grassy Lipper, Gold Spot Cod and Black Jew all on the chew.

Fresh squid, pillies and large green prawns  all worked well, and floating the odd pilly saw some quality School and Spotty Mackeral caught. With the odd 10-15Knt North easterly saw Sunken and Leeper reefs inundated with small tinnies, trolling Mackeral spoons or floating pillies resulted in good feeds of Mackeral. Whilst night fishing the shoals and rubble around Taffy Island and Glendower point saw quality catches of Grunter, Grassy Lipper and Fingermark on fresh squid.The mouth of Rocky Dam creek is still producing some quality fish, fresh slabs of gold fin mullet and ribbon fish on a running sinker rig has seen good catches of large grunter, Black Jew and Fingermark, whilst crabbing the small creeks and gutters has seen good catches of Muddies on the making tide.

SEAFORTH AND SURROUNDING AREAS

Bird Rock at the mouth of Constant and Landing creeks has seen anglers with a good mixed bag. Grunter , bream, whiting, flathead and the odd large King Salmon. The deep gutter to the right of Bird Rock on the making tide seems to be most productive, whilst the sand spit on the top of the tide at the mouth of Bobongies creek using live whiting and mullet has seen good catches of 70-80cm King Salmon caught.With big night tides in the middle of May saw excellent catches of Mudcrabs, working your pots like dillies( checking them every 10 min) or leaving them over night resulted in ridiculous catches.

Murray, Mathers and Mystery creeks have all been fishing and crabbing well, twin gullies in Murray has seen anglers with good catches of grunter, bream, fingermark and king salmon and the odd barra taken on live bait. Whilst fishing the neap tides in Mathers floating live prawns has seen good catches of Barra and fingermark around the Barra hole, and fishing  the rock bar inside the creek with fresh prawns and slab bait has seen anglers with some big grunter and estuarie cod.The front of St Helens beach has been been alive with whiting although most are small, there has been enough larger fish caught for a good feed. Home creek has been alive with mudcrabs, working the the deep gutters on making tide has produced some quality muddies. Whilst the mouths of Jane and Black rock  have seen good catches of grunnter, salmon and Silver bream.

PROSERPINE RIVER AND SURROUNDING AREAS

The beginning of May saw some awesome neap tides in the Proserpine River with the river finally clean, saw good results on both lures and live baits. The break through ( Between Prossy River and Kelsey creek) on run out tide saw some very finicky King Salmon caught, live prawns on a running sinker rig produced some good fish. Though one lucky angler landed half a dozen big Salmon using live prawns on a “Paternoster Rig.” The small gutters in Kelsey creek at low tide produced some good quality prawns for live bait, whilst fishing the snags around “Mcphersons Bend using live mullet resulted in quality Barra and King Salmon.

Anglers trolling 5-8Mtr lures around Mcphersons bend and Flying Fox Island produced some solid Barramundi, whilst smaller lures ( Killalure Flatz Rat,  Terminators,Tilsen Barra’s all produced some big King Salmon in the upper reaches of the river..Thompson creek and the O’Connell river have been fishing extremely well, grunter, bream , whiting and blue salmon have been on the chew in both systems. The shallow gutters at the mouth of the O’Connell river has been alive with whiting, with alot of extra large fish being caught on both yabbies and bloodworms.

ISLANDS AND REEFS

Finally the middle of May saw some awesome 10-15 Knt  North easterly winds, and with the Northerleys brought the Mackeral. School, Spotty and Spanish Mackeral were all on the chew, caught either trolling lures or floating live and dead baits produced some solid fish. The Four and Six mile patches were inundated with both mackeral and Trevally species, whilst a couple of anglers baiting a pinnacle near the six mile patch found a good school of Snapper feeding aggressively on fresh squid and pillies.Brampton, Keswick and St Bees Islands have all been producing quality fish, Coral Trout, Grassy Lipper and some huge Maori Wrasse. The Trout have moved to deeper water (20-30mtr) and have been very finicky, using  a 9/0 fly hook, with a hole pilly and light weighted sinker should see you with some quality Trout.

The “Spike or Telegraph pole” west of Caulder Island has seen anglers with a good assortment of fish. Black Jew, Nannygai, Lipper and some huge Silver Grunter. Fishing the runout tide seems to be most productive though anchoring is sometimes near impossible.The “Pope Shoals” have been alive with huge Large Mouth Nannygai and the odd Red Emporer, large slab baits and whole squid on a Paternoster rig have seen anglers in good battle’s with some big fish. Anglers venturing wide around Prince, Alarm, Sandpiper and Kindermah reefs have all reported in good catches of mixed reef fish. Working the shallow reefs early mornings for Coral Trout, Red Throat and Lipper then working the deep gutters and rubble grounds afternoon and evenings have produced quality RedEmporer, Nannygai and huge Grassy Lipper.

DAMS

With the start of the cool weather saw most of the dams extemeley quiet. Teemburra Dam saw the odd angler with a Barra or two, fishing the shallow bays in the warmest part of the day using surface poppers and soft plastics. Middle and Pinnacle creeks have been producing some solid Sootys, using spinnerbaits and small hard bodied lures whilst Kinchant has seen the odd large Barra caught trolling the Dam wall late evenings with 5mtr R.M.G.s and Classics lures.Anglers fishing the timber in Eungella Dam have produced some solid Sootys,  using River 2 Sea’s Phantom Vibes and Cotton cordells.

A fishing party working the southern bays landing 17 fish the largest measuring 48cm. Peter Faust Dam has been the most productive dam over winter, working the timber and old creek beds around the middle of the day with large soft plastics has produced some big Barra. Whilst trolling the channel on eastern side of the dam has produced some metre plus Barra.

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