1770 ‘a beginners guide’ – By Gyula Vari
As the water temperatures start to cool and the currents start to slow, the offshore reef fishing starts to fire up.
1770, more specifically the Bunker Group, is a great and diverse area that offers some of the best reef fishing ground on the East Coast of Australia with ease of accessibility. Due to its sheer size though, it can be a bit difficult if you have never fished this area not knowing where to start, so I will try to cover the basics.
Launching the boat at 1770 boat ramp.
A relatively easy drive from Brisbane, it has been my go-to place for over 20 years, and it never disappoints. Planned trips are either one to two weeks or two to three days. If you are looking to do the longer stint, there is plenty of great accommodation available in the area that caters for boat storage and fishing facilities. The town facilities are also great, with a large tackle shop, supermarket, eateries, fuel and ice, everything a fisherman or fisherwoman needs. It is a vast difference from the days the road heading in to 1770 was unsealed! The place we generally stay in even has a filleting table set up! So, give the local rental agencies a call and they will help you out.
If you are looking to do the shorter trip, make sure you go prepared. One thing that catches a lot of people out is fuel.
Don’t run out of fuel, know what your boat capabilities are and take plenty of reserve.
On my last trip we covered 550klms in three days! If you spend this amount of time out there, I cannot emphasize enough, go prepared! Make sure your boat is seaworthy and you have all your safety gear and plenty of water. On more than one occasion I have had to assist boats back to the safety of the reefs so they could wait for the VMR and a long tow back home!
Launching your boat is relatively easy in 1770 with the recently upgraded boat ramp and facilities, however, the tides and timing are crucial. The Round Hill Creek is very shallow, and navigating it at low tide can be tricky, but more importantly, you will be lucky to have one foot of water at the bar crossing, which is forever shifting. Over the years it has moved hundreds of metres. The best advice I can give here is do your homework regarding the tides, and even at high tide, have a chat to some of the regulars at the boat ramp, they won’t have an issue for you to follow them out. Plot the route on your GPS heading out, as this will be very important when you are coming back in, and don’t forget to plan for the tides on your return. Whether you are doing a day trip or heading out for a few days, let the Round Hill VMR know what your plans are.
Gyula Vari with a 63cm blue spot tuskfish.
Where do you start with such a diverse place? Firstly, familiarise yourself with the Green Zones (no fishing zones). There is a map at the boat ramp, but don’t rely on this solely, do your research online. There are plenty of green zones in the Bunker Group area, but there is equally good fishing ground you can fish.
There are a few good reefs in close like 15 Mile Reef and 20 Mile Reef to target various reef species if you are not wanting to do the bigger trips out wide, but I want to focus on the bunker group. Most fishers these days will make the trip out to the Bunker Group and take advantage of the great fishing on offer. The closest reef and at the southern end of the Bunker Group is Lady Musgrave Island. This is also a great anchorage if you are staying overnight with relatively easy access into the Lagoon with great protection. This area fishes well on the Eastern side of the reef, with areas as shallow as fifteen metres which is perfect for coral trout and red throat emperor. If you keep heading east, the depth naturally drops and beyond the 40m mark you will start to find red emperor in the mix. One thing I will mention now is the sharks can be a bit of a problem, especially through the warmer months. This is one of the main reasons we reserve the fishing here to the cooler months of the year. The other thing I will mention is tackle, just go heavy tackle to get the fish on the deck as quickly as possible, the longer you fight that fish, the more likely you will be just feeding the sharks.
Typical 1770 red emperor caught by Dan Gallo.
Moving further north from Musgrave Island, the next area, again on the eastern side that has some amazing ground and variety of fish species is Hoskyn and Boult Reefs. I generally focus on Boult Reef in this area around the 50 – 100m. Using the sounder to locate drop offs, you will find some excellent fish in this area.
The 50 – 70m area holds some great red throat emperor, parrot, trout, cod species, and you will find red emperor here. If you move out wider in this area to the 100m line, you may run into some very big pearl perch around the 6kg mark.
Moving further north from here, we run into Fitzroy Reef, and you guessed it! Fish the eastern side. There are two reasons why we fish the eastern side, firstly, most of the green zones are on the western side of the group, but the second reason is that the depth contour is on the eastern side, this allows easy transition from shallower to deeper water in the search for different species. Fitzroy Reef is also the second overnight anchorage, but it is a little trickier to get into the lagoon here. The entrance is very narrow and shallow, and it is advisable to navigate in here during daylight hours, unless you are very familiar with this area. If you come in with plenty of light, you will be ok, the water is very clear and the bommies are visible. Once you are in, still be cautious though as the lagoon has some very large bommies and at low tide they are only a few centimetres below the surface. I have watched boats over the years driving at high speeds in the lagoon, it is a recipe for disaster.
As for the fishing east of Fitzroy Reef, I can only say it is my favourite area in the group.
There are some small, isolated reef pinnacles in the 60-100m area here, they are small and not easy to locate, but if you find them, you will be in with a chance of a trophy sized red emperor.
When these fish start schooling up, generally from May to October, it isn’t uncommon to find schools of fish ranging from 10-15kgs. Mixed in with these fish on these small, isolated pinnacles are some large trout and red throat emperor, with the occasional tackle destroying amberjack just to keep you on your toes.
Bait selection for these big fish is mullet, squid or fresh fish fillets. You can rig the trusted paternoster style rig or free running sinker, I try to run the smallest weight the conditions allow, but as I mentioned earlier, go heavy on the tackle. Heavy braid and heavy leader will increase your chances of landing that fish. Drift fishing the reefs is my preference, but if you find a good area and think you might want to anchor up, that is fine, just make sure you are using a reef pick as anything else is likely to remain on the bottom forever.
Zander Gallo with his first red Emperor.
Drift style fishing will get you more area covered, and species like trout remain in their little hide away, so drifting a bait past them is a better option. Using a para-anchor helps slow your drift and will give you more consistent drifts.
By now we have covered some decent kilometres on the water from 1770 to Musgrave Island, working our way north to Fitzroy and back into 1770. This trip should be a good two, to three days trip with two fantastic anchorage and overnight spots covered. By the time you get back into 1770 you would have covered a good 200klms or more, so as I mentioned earlier, go prepared and ensure you have the fuel range plus spare.
One more area I want to touch on just a little further north is Lamont Reef. This is relatively close to Fitzroy Reef. Now I am going to go against the grain here, this area fishes well on the northern and western sides. You will find yourself in shallower country, fishing from five metres to thirty metres. This area is a great area for some large parrot fish, red throat emperor and good numbers of trout. It can also hold some large schools of red emperor, a little smaller around the six to eight kilo mark common.
I have touched on the main species we target, but the fish species all through the Bunker Group are extremely diverse, so arm yourself with some fish identifying tools and if in doubt, release the fish. Make sure you are up to date with current bag limits.
If you haven’t fished this area before, do some research, makes the plans and give it a go. With the distances involved it also makes sense to go in groups of 2 or more boats, as they say, safety in numbers.
Apart from the fantastic fishing on offer, the scenery is just amazing and world class, trust me when I say you will be hooked!
Fitzroy Lagoon sunset and dinner prep.
