When I look back through the log book the month of July proved to be a frustrating month mainly in regards to the prevailing south easterly winds which put pay to quite a few well laid plans. There was a lot of re-shuffling and at times the bad weather was too much for quite a few trips. It is disappointing for all involved when this happens but that is the nature of the beast which can be July and it just happens to coincide when there’s quite a few people in town.
Despite the challenges we probably got through 60% of bookings, mostly half day style trips with a handful of full day trips. The half day trips were mainly families with kids and parents wanting to introduce them to the pleasures of fishing. Our half day trips predominantly see us fishing the coastal reefs which are a rich nursery for a lot of species including cod, large mouth nannygai, sweetlip and coral trout.
There’s no problem with catching good numbers of fish but they tend to be on the cusp of being legal size. The main point of the exercise is having fun and catching fish. Still the weather did upset a few stomachs along the way despite fishing in the most affordable conditions available. The offshore fishing is where the better action is and under some challenging conditions the more seasoned anglers forged ahead. As opposed to a month or so ago where the fish were in suicidal mode, this time around it required a bit more elbow grease to get the desired results.
Quality large mouth nannygai and spangled emperor fishing deeper were active on the change of the tides and further up in the shallows there were some nice plump coral trout for the taking.
The more experienced anglers faired extremely well. However that can’t be the case all the time in this line of work.
Looking ahead the month of August looks indifferent with forward bookings but that can change in a heart beat if we get a good run of weather.
Let’s bring on some more settled conditions and the fishing will take care of itself in spades. It is categorically prime time to be fishing on the Great Barrier Reef.