FISHING REPORT 02-02-2012

FISHING REPORT – 02-02-2012

What are the new stowage requirements for safety equipment?
This is a question we have been asked many times, since some new rules were introduced on the first of January, so below is a brief overview of the new stowage requirements for PFD’s (Personal Flotation Device).

The owner or master of the boat must give each person on board information about where the safety equipment is kept. Information may be given orally, in a demonstration or printed on a sign. Persons on board must know where the safety equipment is kept. Life jackets or PFDs must be clearly visible while a person is on board; or kept in a place readily accessible and indicated by a clearly visible sign with a white background marked with the word, 'life jackets' in red letters or a red background with white letters. The Government, at this stage, haven’t stipulated what size the signs have to be, because the size will differ depending on where the PFDs are stowed, and the area available to place the sign. Over the next week or so, we will have stickers available to place on your boat.
As always, if you require any further information, visit the Maritime Safety Queensland website at www.msq.qld.gov.au

While we’re on the safety topic, a few of the dams in the area have had inflows of water from the recent rain, so take extra care, back off the throttle a bit and keep an eye out for floating debris.

BASS
The weather hasn’t been kind to us over the past week, however, Cressbrook Dam has still produced a few fish, out from the boat ramp, near the buoy line and around Deer Island, soft plastics and blades have provided the most fish. With the rain about, there has been a bit of a flow into Boondooma. As the dirty water moves through the dam, it will tend to shut the fish down a bit, so I would try a more subtle approach and fish the cleaner water with soft plastics.
Somerset is still dirty at the moment, but there have been a few Bass caught in the deeper water, casting Soft Plastics and Blades.

YELLOWBELLY AND COD
There is water going over the spillway at Bjelke Peterson, but there have been good reports of Yellowbelly being taken, near the Wineries and around Bass point. The Macintyre River at Goondiwindi has fished a bit slow this week, due to the rain, but some nice Silver Perch and Yellowbelly have been caught, mainly on bait. Coolmunda has seen some good size Yellowbelly, caught around the timbered area of the dam, mainly on Jackalls and Spinnerbaits. Leslie Dam has produced a few Yellowbelly and Silver Perch for the anglers that braved the wet conditions, these were taken mainly on Worms and frozen Saltwater Yabbies. Glenlyon has again fished well over the past week, with some nice Cod around the mid 90cm mark, caught on Spinnerbaits, there was a big 1m Cod bought alongside a boat and released, it was fell for a trolled deep diving lure. There have also been good numbers of Silver Perch and Jewies about, but the Yellowbelly have been a bit slow.


COASTAL FISHING

Fishing right along the coast has been very ordinary, due to the weather over the past few weeks. Offshore has seen very little activity apart from a few Snapper and Coral Trout at Murphy’s Reef, off the Sunshine Coast. Inshore is just as bad, with most of the rivers and estuaries being very dirty from the heavy rain, which has shut the fish down. There has been the odd Mulloway and Bream caught along the break walls of the Southport Seaway.