GregN70

Come for a dive with me smart mouth. Perhaps stop being a know-it-all keyboard warrior and come for a real see for yourself look. I’m guessing you’ve never actually been anywhere near this area, and you just like being a troll.

Done those beaches to death, using both locally caught live beach worms and yabbies from the nearby creeks. Never seen a Whiting there yet.

That's really awesome. Got to live whiting, such a delicious little fish. Pity they don't live around Yeppoon area or Central Qld.

All I can attest is areas that I fish and dive (Coastal and offshore waters off Yeppoon) are in my experience, based on current observations and catches compared with that which I experienced 30yrs ago when I first visited here are merely a shadow of what there once were. If you can’t see we’ve completely ruined it your either delusional or have a vested interest (eg pro-fisherman). Apologies for not producing a statistical analysis data plot research paper. 30yrs ago I didn’t think we’d end up this rooted.

Plus there's FA to catch anywhere aslo, like an absolute barren wasteland out there.

I've taken up diving recently and have been taking a look what's actually down there, and I can tell you i was shocked at just how barren many places really are, Including these "godly" green zones. And to be honest I woulnt believe a word Dr Ayling said about anything,

Observation

Not in my area, I would call stocks somewhere between scarce & extinct

Occasionally they swim into Yeppoon waters when the water quality is good, which is not very often. They do fight well and have good sharp little teeth.

I've always thought that fragile reef areas, need to be shut like this for about 10 months per year to preserve stocks, otherwise there will be nothing left soon, and its getting very close to it now.. Especially along the Southern Great Barrier Reef from about Mackay to Bundy which has been absolutely flogged to death for the last 40 yrs. Like open it only for a month in Dec and then again in Jun. And Same for those extremely rare Spanish Mackerel which are on the verge of extinction in Qld waters. For both commercial and Rec though.

That Pelegic Pursuit guy is a full on knob head

Absolutely. You get what you pay for, always. Many years ago, I looked at all my tackle and decided to halve the amount of rods and reels I own, but double the quality. And it's served me very well ever since. Not only are high quality reels a pleasure to use and perfectly reliable, they also have extremely good resale value. I predominantly use Daiwa gear as I prefer it over shminano, and when say a new Exist model comes out I pop my old ones on ebay and I usually get almost what I paid for it, then before you know it I have 3 or 4 shiny new ones to enjoy. And I keep this up also with the Saltigas/Certates I use offshore and also the couple of little Luvias I keep for freshwater and trips down south and across to NZ.

Pitty, I used to get great Mangrove Jacks there.

I saw this bloke fixes a Samaki easy

I'd avoid Motorguide at all costs, I now call them "Aspros" because they dissolve in water. I had my first one for 2 years, always washed it, never treated it rough, it corroded like crazy, despite being a SW model. They did their best to avoid any warranty. Sold it. The second one cam with a boat I bought, I was reluctant, but gave them another shot, once again, it started to corrode badly with in a few weeks of use. Got it repaired & repainted, sold it cheap, bought a new MinnKota, and 3 years on there is no corrosion and it has been faultless.

Well I wouldn't know I live and fish out of yeppoon, there are NO fish here offshore anyway, so makes no difference to me.

I’ve not caught any more fish that I would have with an anchor

Not even 1.

I have a Motorguide on my creek boat. The only gizmos that I use or think is valuable are: Spot Lock, works really well, unless you are under a bridge and it can't see the satellites, mine lost its connections, got confused & took off on me, crashed hard into a bridge pylon. Jog Feature to move in steps 1.5m, I love this when you just need to adjust to get the right spot I tried using the heading feature when trolling for barra, but it's useless. It's meant to keep you going on the same heading, but ended wiggling my way across the flats like a drunk was in control. THe others i cant find any use for

I have plastic tags cut from old ice cream containers and lids (etc) with a hole punched that I keep with a few zip ties and a nikko, and just sippy them on to the rope near the foat, so who ever i take crabbing just writes up 4 tags and away we go. Hows the crabbing around cannonvale? I hope its better than that around Rocky and Yeppoon. I managed just one keeper last summer from 13 trips

But at least it's usually exceptional fishing all around there and in Moreton Bay etc. Good crabs, heaps of prawns too.

Still could be worse = Rockhampton/Yeppoon

You don't often hear about donuts there, it being such a great & consistent fishery.

No, not unless you go out to the Swains which is a few hundred KM out to sea, to far for my 5.8m. I've not caught a Spanish Mack and have been trying for 3 decades now, tried here a lot but the water quality is usually too poor and to shallow for them, not much if any bait around either. might have to wait till I move back to SEQ to snare one. Much better fishing around Brisbane than Yeppoon.

Sad they, like all other fish are so rare around Central Qld