queensland Townsville luring

[adri4n]

hey guys, i've moved up to townsville for work. And I'm really looking to get stuck in to the fishing up north. So far I haven't been able to fish much cos of work and the rains/floods. but I've moved to a new place near the strand (which is on the beach in townsville).

apparently some of the locals say the fishing on the pier that is on the strand isn't that great, but they regularly get mackerel(winter) and the odd big fish/shark.

I did manage a nice 38cm grunter 2 weeks ago. That was the last time i fished. I went down again today... weather finally broke after about a week plus worth of rain. Here are some pics of the pier.its less than 1km from my place.... Please note i didn't take this pictures. The pier is quite well kept with 2 filleting/cleaning stations with taps... all around the edge of the pier there are holes drilled into the wood so you can stick your rod in there as a makeshift rod holder. I think its a nice touch but unfortunately it will scratch the bottom of your reels

The fishing pier

Looking back from the pier

I didn't have any bait with me but i brought my net down. unfortunately first cast with it showed me my rope wasn't long enough to cast the net off the pier. lol. Luckily i brought two rods, one for live baiting and one for luring. I decided to turn the session into a pure luring session (tough for me since I prefer bait). I put on 10lb fluro leader and tied on a g vibe and proceeded to cover almost every inch of water i could from the pier. there were a couple of other ppl fishing there but no one had a bite.

After about an hour and a gazillion casts later..I decided to continue fishing and then tried to aim the g-vibe at the pillons in the second pic under the pier. took me a while before I got it close enough to the pillon as i wanted.. As soon as the lure hit the water... i felt a hit. I struck and a short fight/struggle later I had a 45cm flattie. Luckily the leader held long enough for me to bring him up. i gave him away to one of the other fishos there and he was really stoked (i think he was a tourist).

I suppose i'm writing as i am quite happy that I have some confidence in using lures now and its thanks to this site and ppl who've helped me along the way. its only a 45cm flattie but it was the only fish anyone caught in the 2 hours i was there. So to all the new members out there just keep persevering!! I still think luring is really tiring and sometimes you put in so much for so little but when you do get the fish you get such a great sense of acheivement...sorry for the lousy pics, just had my phone with me....

[Clawhammer]

I'm assuming you're land based so here goes..

Haven't had much success from the pier. But have done better further down at the rockpool (you might even see a few "land-based, scandinavian white pointers":woohoo: )

Off the rocks @ The Breakwater opposite the Harbour (near the Casino/Entertainment centre) gets some decent Pelagics.

And don't dismiss the Ross River Mouth down in South Townsville.(@ the end of Boundary Street)

Don't forget to try the rivers and creeks further out of town, only keep your eyes open, the crocs (NQ Mud Gekkos)are comming back and are starting to become a "nuisance".

Good Luck..let us know how you go!

[adri4n]

cheers thanks for the heads up. I'll certainly give those places a go... i suppose off the rocks @ the breakwater bait would be the go? my next target is to get a barra... probably try the weirs too..

[Mack_attack]

if you give the pier another go try a bait jig against the pylons should get a few herring

[noname]

that pier looks very nice, but it has nothin on the pier at colmslie, pfft. i get what your sayin with the lures.what :ohmy:. croc's, best of luck with that:unsure: . all the best with the new job and surroundings.

rob

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[adri4n]

yeah i've met some ppl down at the pier and most of the time someone brings a cast net and are more than happy to share the livies... might try my bait jig sometime if i can get it untangled...

[chandler130]

if the local say the pier not that good it still be better than most spots down here. i used to have a girlfriend who live at palaranda beach bit further north.is a rock wall you can walk 2 where her nieghbour caught a few barra right time of year.plus you will drive over few little creeks gettin palaranda you will get jacks in there. or you could take ferry to maggie island only bout 18 bucks return and fish off rocks for reef fish.seen some nice big jacks when i done my scuba coarse there from the beach.other than that get a tinny and there are bulk barra grunter jacks fingermark to be caught.Haughton a good rivr at the mouth.

[toothless]

mate your going to be spoiled now! im born and breed form townsville. also prior to moving to ipswich i worked at fishing warehouse for a number of years. mate big jacks,big barra,big macks, big gts all land base are possible forget that pier. fish the casino walls with live bait youll see. even the rock pool holds some big fish, but dont stuff around big live baits mate will do the trick, if you need any info give us a bell! and if you have no luck ill spill the beans on some lbg barra holes. and i promise these spots fire i will though have to let you in on a few rigs that work best tried and tested. regards toothless:fishing:

[Shorty]

I've seen barra caught off that jetty. I've also seen bream, flatties and sharks caught there too. Make no mistake, it can be a really good spot.

I was up there for 9 weeks 2 years ago and each morning on my walk I'd stop at that jetty and see what everyone had caught - it was awesome!!

If you follow the strand all the way to the opposite end from where that jetty is, you'll come to a marina at the end of the beach, almost behind where the public swimming pool is I think. Just before the marina you'll see the rock wall - hit that rock wall for some nice big jacks and I saw 3 barra come from there one morning!! All were over the legal size too - I couldn't believe it!!

On the other side of the marina(where the casino is etc..) is another rock wall that the boats take to head out, fish this rock wall as well - walk out as far as you can and bounce livies all the way... and hang on!!

Be careful though, they get marine stingers up there and they are deadly!! If you throw in your cast net, be really careful where you put your hands!!

Shorty

[werewolf]

I have personally fished off that jetty once for a donut! We did see a massive stingray caught though! It nearly spooled this old guy before he realised he had hooked up and he had to get down to the beach to fight it! The guys with castnets were pulling up some decent whiting and even little queenies and trevs in their nets. The locals were catching big live prawns and casting them towards the rocks; apparently it is gun for barra.

Mmm Anzac Park (I think) next to the marina holds stacks of little cod. I don't know if we ever caught a legal one but on highish tide we cast the lures parallel to the rock wall, and about 3 feet out, dead slow retrieve with a HB bouncing over the rocks and the little cod come screaming out to eat your lures!

We have fished Maggie Island a bit in the past, back in the day when the ferries went straight to the picnic bay jetty. We never caught anything to impressive from here, but a nice assortment of trevs, macks, a few smallish reefies but have seen some big trevs and queenies caught on livies. Hopefully you can still fish there! The new marina the ferry takes you too now would have to be some prime rock wall to fish too! Hopefully they haven't green zoned the whole thing since I was there last!

Mmm yeah keep an eye out for the crocs. They have even been sighted at the strand and one at maggie island (mind you one that was relocated and trying to get home) in recent times.

[adri4n]

thanks for the input guys. i still have alot of exploring to do in regards to the fishing around townsville.. so much fishing but so little time...

yeah i realise the pier is probably not the best spot in townsville. I just fish it cos its dead close to where i am and takes me less than 5 mins flat to get there...

hey toothless.. how do you get live bait at the rock wall? seems rather hard to throw a net there.. do you net the livies from somewhere else and bring them there?