Whitsundays Help.

[Elvis]

Hey there, long time lurker, first time poster.

I'm going on my honeymoon very shortly and the girl and I are Bare-back yachting around the Whitsundays.

As such I'm going to have a lot of time to dangle a line in. In fact I'm planning on taking 4 rods.
The bulk of the fishing will be trolling I think, and as such I've been increasing the number of lures I have by tenfold.
But no doubt I'll also find time to do some anchored bait fishing, hopefully even some sight-fishing (I've never done this properly and would love to have a go). Thank god the girl likes catching (and eating) fish, or I'd have to come up with a new plan....

Since this is largely a Queensland site (Go the Blues) I was hoping some of you guys could give me a few pointers/tips, hot-spots etc.

Any advice or assistance is appreciated.
Thanks.

[adrian]

hi Elvis
are taking a sailboat or motor boat? no difference . firstly check with the charter company or tackle shop on the rules reguarding fishing areas in the whitsundays as some areas are national park with no fishing but most of the place is open . use the dinghy to troll around the bays and rocky outcorps . use the birds ( the flying kind ) to loacte schools of feeding fish on or near the surface . one spot is the shute harbour jetty and the wall near the boat ramp . the charter company or tackle shop ( remember to buy something of them that info might be more easy to get ) might be able to give you an area to try as they are local poeple . enjoy the trip hope you catch some
anzac

[Lucky_Phill]

Firstly Elvis...........Go The Mighty Maroons

The Whitsundays offer a huge variety of fishing. Most places you anchor for the night will produce fish. Like Sawmill Beach, Nari Inlet. When sailing from one destination to another, keep within a couple of casting distances of the fringing reefs that hug the inside of the main islands and your lures should do well. Langford Reef holds great bottom action for Sweetlip and the Trevally love the poppas and slugs around the same area. My fav is casting Nilssies at the fringing reefs on a rising tide. Chucking the lure at the " canyons" you'll see with the Polaroids.

Anything can happen and probably will. Good luck with the fish, good luck with the new wife and bad luck for your Blues

[Elvis]

Thanks very much lads, appreciate it. Particulalry how we'll kick your butt (as per usual)

Get in the dinghy and troll eh ? Didn't think of that to be honest. I was planning on simply leaning the rods (strapped of course) off the back of the boat (36.5 ft motor cruiser) as I drove around.

As for the restricted areas, that's not a big problem, I've got all the maps and whatnot, the no-fishing areas don't look too big, I certainly don't plan on stopping in any of those areas, and it won't kill me to pull in my lines in for an hour as I motor thru the restricted areas.

bugger ... got to go to a meeting. I'll be back.

[Elvis]

yeah, so anyway.

There's a place up the top of Hayman Island that apparently has lots of gamefish, I plan on motoring thru there quite a few times

Quick question for anybody ? Can you troll Poppers ?
I was planning on trolling 3 lines, with say 2 skirts and a minnow. Or maybe 2 minnows and a popper... any thoughts ?

What's the stroy with this guy carking it at Hamilton Island after being stung by a Irrukanji Jellyfish ? Bloody Hell, not too keen on that!

[Lucky_Phill]

The minnows sound the go. I use Mal Florence Master Blasters in Hot Pink. The good old Rapala CD18 will never let you down up there.

Skirted Lures sound good, but the poppas ??? Just keep one tied to a casting rod for when you see the mack's working.

Good luck ( cockroach )

[jagman]

I fished the whitsunday's over christmas/new year.plenty of tuna working eveywhere they wouldn't take minnows but they couldn't resist small slugs like crystal eyes or small raiders.as for bottom bashing there is a lot of small trout just about on any reef but i only caught 2 keepers for the trip.try pinnacle point at the top of hook island fish in the deep water
near the rocks,lost some big fish to the reef, need heavy line.also good anchorage in this area

[Elvis]

thanks very much lads, I appreciate it.

Of course you probably won't like me so much when I catch the world record size fish next week.

Weddings on Sat, fly up Monday, by Tuesday I plan on having caught 2 at least.

Jagman- you mentioned heaps of Tuna, what sort of size are you talking ?

I'm taking 4 rods.
1 (borrowed) game rod with overhead reel and double stranded 20kg line leading to braid. This will be the main line, and in the water almost all the time.

A 9ft big boat/small beach rod, with 30 pound (13.6kg) normal line on a beach threadline reel. The rods a little big I know, but I needed another heavy duty rod, and I didn't want to buy one.

2 normal rods about 7-8 foot each, both with threadlinse reels. One has 7kg line and 3kg (have 2 spools for this, my favourite rod) and the other with I think 3-5 kg line that I borrowed, I'll use this mainly for the bait fishing, maybe casting a poppa or two.

I'm also thinking about using a improvised berley trail made out of a old-stocking as I troll -Is this a good idea ?

[jagman]

G'day elvis
The tuna only small macks and a few longtail around 4-5kg.
I used silstar powertip & a penn spinfisher 6500 loaded with 20pound fireline with a 40p jinkai leader.I was mainly casting the small slugs into the school hooking up nearly everytime.I tried trolling xmas trees & halco lazers but the wouldn't touch them.

SMALL SLUGS THE GO

[reelcrazy]

Hey Elvis

Try throwing some metal at them, I've found that they find the Yo-zuri metallic sardine and the Hydro Metal in mackerel colour very tasty indeed.

Dress the hooks regularly to razor sharp and crimp the barbs on the trebles.

[Elvis]

Cheers for that boys,
I've got a few slugs and metal spoons so I'll be sure to give them a go.

Last day at work today for almost a month. Gotta love that.

[Elvis]

Well I went, I saw but I would hardly say I conquered.

I trolled for at least 2 hours every day (mostly around the passage) and got nada. A big fat zip. Used skirts, minnows, slugs, you name it.

Did a bit better moored up at night though. A lot of little reef sharks. A few little Hammerheads (including one BIG one that spooled me)
Barra's, pikes and small mackerel made up the rest. Oh and one nice Groper maybe 5kilo ? From driving around in the dinghy with a lure out the back (whoever suggested that earlier, cheers)

Everything went back in, apart from a few of the mackerel that I cut up and used as bait.

[Lucky_Phill]

Sorry to hear you didn't go as well as expected.

Fishing is a funny thing though. I must say that we have never missed chucking those Nils'es over the coral at Whitsunday Island and the slugs at Bird rock near Hayman.

The scenery would have made up for the lack of fish anyway.

Breat place to be 8)

[Elvis]

Ridiculously big bump.


So, over 10 years later and I'm heading back to the Whitsundays to do it all again. It's interesting how time flies, last time was on my honeymoon with lots of loving and topless new wife happiness, this time it's with waist-high kids and I doubt there will be any loving or topless viewing

Anyhoo, my fishing skill level has increased exponentially since then, and I am back for any recent pointers.

I've got 6 days on a 44ft Cat motorcruiser, leaving from Shute Harbour.

I'm planning to troll 2 rods whenever we move. One is a Tiagra 30 on overhead 15kg with 50pd mono, the other a crappy 50 size Okuma on 12kg rod also with 50pb mono. I was planning on trolling small-mid size skirts, some Halco wobblers, and a variety of diving minnows ala Xrap 30's. I've also got a bird and flasher teaser I was considering taking (thoughts on whether this would be worth it?)

I'm also taking a couple of 4500 and 6500 baitrunners on snapper rods I was going to use for bait fishing at night/whilst anchored.

However one of my main focuses this time is GT's (and/or tuna) I've got a Shimano sustain Fg 3000 matched to a Nitro Viper 5-8kg rod with 20pd fireline that I was going to use for throwing small-mid size poppers (80mm type), metal slugs, other divers, Jackall transoms etc. Barra/snapper/jewfish type lures.

I'm also about to pick up one of the new Daiwa Saltiga Expeditions 5500 and match it to a Shimano T-curve King Mac 8-12kg. (I'm getting this for other reasons as well) I was planning to throw mid size poppers and divers on this mainly. Williamson Jet poppers, Xrap 10's long cast, megabass and lucky craft stickbaits in about 110mm and larger soft plastics - 120mm Sluggos, Gulp, Squidgy fish etc. Should I be considering bigger lures as well? I've yet to get any line for this, but I was thinking of 50pd TD Sensor braid - Is this too light ?

The rough plan was: Nara Inlet, Cid Harbour, up around the top of Hayman and down to Whitehaven, Hamilton Island, and whatever else I can fit in. Considering I am driving/navigating (as in deciding where we go) are there any spots that have great fishing that I should consider anchoring in for a day/night?

So 6 rods total, mainly 3 different purposes. Am I missing anything ? Targets are: Trout for eating, pelagics for trolling fun, GT's for sportfishing joy.

I've been Googling pretty heavily, but there is a bit of a lack of Whitsunday fishing specific information.

Is my plan to target GT's viable? What sort of rough size could I expect (as in - is my gear suitable).

Is there a tackle shop in Airlie Beach that is worth visiting?
Is is worth taking a throw net or am I better off trying to jig up some squid at night for live bait?

Thanks for any help gents.

(note I very politely have not mentioned either the Blues or the Waratahs..... oh...wait, I just did...oops )

[kc]

Hi Elvis, drop me a personal email kc@whitsunday.net.au. I have 30 years up my sleave here and am sure I can spend an hour or so with a zoning map and put you on some good fish. Plenty here but takes time to work them out. Happy to point you in the right direction and help show off how good we have it up here.

Regards

kc