Townsville’s Inshore Options – By David Hodge

Working in a tackle shop really does put you in contact with anglers on a daily basis, where one on one conversations keep us in touch with anglers ranging from ‘expert’ to ‘chuck and chance it’ fishos. Fortunately for us who live in Townsville there are quite a few options for those of us who just ‘have to’ fish, no matter what. What I mean by that is , when the weather is great we take the small boat we have out the front and chase trout, fingermark, Queenfish etc, but when the weather is crap we can go walk a creek and chase sooties and jungle perch or launch the little 4.1 Poly Challenger and do the drains and smaller creeks for jacks, barra, grunter, fingers and so on. As they say, so many options, so little time to fish them all, but what a problem to have hey. I’m the first to admit that we are, the majority of the time, focussed and addicted to the mangrove jack fishing around our local rivers, and there are some exceptional waterways to thoroughly inspect around here. As spoilt as this may sound, we are constantly looking for another river or creek we haven’t fished before, simply because it’s pretty awesome not knowing what’s around the next corner. As far a species diversity goes, we often become bored with the same old same old, and go to look for something more challenging. It may be grassy Emperor, trout, fingermark, or whatever it is that we haven’t done for a while, but is out of the normal routine for us. These are the days where we think to ourselves who cares what we catch, as long as we learn something, and see something different.

Guard your marks. I hate ‘Pingers’, and those in the know can tell that they are real bottom feeders. A “pinger’ is a piece of garbage that couldn’t be bothered putting in the effort to find their own spots, but just look for boats, and then blatantly cruise up, ‘ping’ their marks and then come back later on to slaughter whatever they can. Generally speaking, ‘Pingers’ aren’t conservative anglers and are the type of people who will take whatever they can, with that “get ‘em while ya can’t attitude. Esky filling drongo’s who don’t have the slightest clue on what they’re doing and don’t want to put in the effort to learn HOW to find fish for themselves, but are happy to go down in local history as a spot grabbing piece of……garbage who have no shame. These sorts of people are what makes others so sceptical about sharing locations, techniques, etc with the general fishing community. Some are YouTubers, some Facebook warriors who plaster the marks all over media platforms, and some just do it cause they can. I’ve got some really good photos of these sorts of idiots, and they are in a special phone file, just for when the opportunity arises to repay the favour. We’ve all been bitten believe me, and it does leave a sour taste in your mouth.

When chasing trout, fingers etc, the good old Queenie is often encountered. While not a species we chase for tucker, we are never disappointed to see one of these high flying beasts eat a lure meant for something else.

Looking for lumps. Since the advent of Sidescan technology there isn’t really any ‘secret’ spots anymore, and the amount of time we spend just driving and looking is quite substantial. Some of our more productive marks are as small as a shopping trolley, while others are complex reefs that are acres in size. Depending on the depth, current, water clarity etc we will either have deep diving hard bodies, weedless soft plastics for the rough stuff, and if it’s broken reef, shoals or gravel patches it will be a J styled jighead that is sent out with either an Atomic Prong or a Halco Paddle Prawn with the size being determined by the fish species and size we expect to catch. If there are fish on the sounder or visibly present we will either upsize, or even more commonly downsize to get the desired response from the fish if they aren’t playing our game. If less than two meters deep, I’ll often throw a shallow to medium diver, and the best way I’ve found to work them is to cast them way past where I want to work it the most thorough. Then it’s a simple matter of cranking it down to its working depth and then slowing it as it comes through the hot spot. The exact same principal works in two to 5 meters of water, but the lure changes to a deeper diver. In this case we use what we classify these days as our ‘heavy’ tackle, which is still only 30lb braid and 40lb . If long distance is required to get the lure down to where I need it then I’ll use a spin outfit, but if only an average cast is required it’s almost always a bait caster combo, as the addition of some serious thumb can be handy in the initial stages of a fight in rough country.

Deep holes in rivers are commonly holding schools of fingermark. If structure is thick then a weedless rig may be needed with some extra weight added to reach them. The fluoro Orange Halco Paddle Prawn works very well in these scenarios.

Going deeper. There are several options that we often use for searching the deeper stuff, and they are soft vibes, blades or metal’s and heavier jig heads. Sometimes the need for a small profile with heaps of action or vibration is needed to get the bite, and it’ll surprise you how big of a fish will eat a small offering. Generally taken deeper into the throat than bigger lures, a good quality leader is needed to withstand the toothy abrasion and thrashing head shakes. Most common line class and leader that we use for this is 15 to 20lb braid with 25 to 30lb leader, depending on how gnarly the structure is, and how bad the sharks are. The longer you have to fight a fish the more likely it is to get eaten. If bigger fish are showing on the sounder and lures can be upsized a bit then it’s up to 30lb braid and 40lb. The 110mm Atomic Semi Hardz are a great deeper water presentation, and can be worked by even the newest lure casters with ease. The speed of the retrieve is easier to gauge when you can feel what’s going on with the pointy end of the rig, and hopping a soft vibe a meter or so off the bottom and then allowing it to waddle its way back down again is easily done by anyone and accounts for some nice fish. If you think it may be grunter or grassy Emperor which prefer a smaller profile that are showing, then a smaller blade or Semi Hard in say 50 to 70mm will often be required to get the bite. Obviously, the smaller the lure has to be, the lighter the outfit has to be to work it affectively. The Atomic Metalz blades in about that 55mm size have been good to us over the years, and aren’t too expensive. If you’re sure there are decent fish on a mark, don’t leave them if you don’t get some action straight away. Sometimes it’s just a change in presentation that’s required to get the bite, and subtle is the key here. In that 8 to 12 meters of water with a smaller to medium tidal flow, the most commonly used soft plastics set up we use is the 1/2 ounce, 4/0 hook Atomic Seeker and mounted up on that is usually a Halco Paddle Prawn or Atomic Prong 4”. Jig heads are always treated with a powder coating of either pink, orange, lumo or yellow, with trout and fingermark seeming to prefer yellow on many outings. The technique is extremely simple, and two or three small to medium lifts and flicks of the rod tip is all that’s needed to put the lure in the right window of opportunity for a predatory species, especially when the waters’ a bit clearer.

Downsizing is a proven method of getting bites from shy fish. In this case I had to go down to a 1/4 ounce head and a 3 1/4” Plazo Paddle tail to get a fish to respond.

Tackle and gear. I find a little bit longer rods affective for the deeper presentations, well longer than what we use for snag casting anyway. About 7’ long is about as long as we go, with the longer rods making it easier to work the lures in the deeper scenarios, allowing us to keep the belly out of the line and keep in contact with the lure more easily. It also helps with setting the hooks properly when the all important bite is registered. Having enough guts in that butt section is a must, and if your rod bottoms out early in the rods loading, then you’re out of lifting power, and stopping power as you try to stop the initial run or lunges. In the lower to mid priced rods we use, the Atomic Arrowz in 10 to 16 lb or 12 to 25lb in lengths of between 6’ long and 7’ long are perfect when matched to a approximately 4000 sized reel. I’m using the Shimano Stradic, Vanfords and old Rarenium at this point in time, and while they may be in the upper end of the mid priced reel range, they are light, strong, smooth and are of the required quality to fish our chosen line classes to their maximum. If more feeling finesse is required we pick up the Samurai Reactions with the same reels mounted on them. With the bait casters I use the same length and brand of rods, and it’s almost always a ABU REVO STX low profile sitting on them. They have enough line capacity, cast very well, have incredible drags and sit nicely in my fat hand. The same outfits that we use for this type of soft plasticing and vibing are used for our bigger barra pursuits, so you may find you won’t need to change what you already have on hand.

Grassy Emperor are a hard fighting, great tasting sport fish that are a welcome addition to the menu. Getting the head weight just right is essential to get the results.

Bay or rivers. Watching that sounder as you travel is key to finding the lumps, bumps, holes and ledges that we often target with the deeper presentations. Inside the river mouths, holes of over 10m are far from rare, and these are regularly where you’ll find your bigger specimens of barra, jew, fingermark, salmon and grunter. On the smaller tides when the flow isn’t as aggressive, the water clarity is much conducive to soft plastics, but as the tide picks up, so too does the turbidity, and as a result, water clarity is reduced. This is when we look more towards the vibrating type lures mentioned earlier in this piece. There honestly is so many options in the Townsville area, that anglers don’t need to be sitting too close to other boats, or pinging others just wanting some solitude and peace and quiet. If you don’t have a sidescan sounder, then I’d advise getting one, as it is a game changer for those looking for lesser known spots that haven’t had the pressure of the more well known ones. Good luck and stay safe. Hodgie.