The Chewcrew fish St helens..

[ActiveAngler]

Hi All,
this is a round up of our days fishing in the second week of our mackay holiday. After leaving the ramp around 7am,we were met by glassy seas so decided to go around the outside of rabbit island,up to some rocky outcrops looking for Queenfish then into St helens and a couple close by creeks looking for barra and jacks. That was at least the rough plan anyway. Well as with most fishing the Queenies decided not to play..not too much anyway so we decided to head into St helens.About half way to the beach,Dave and Andy spotted a bait school rippling on the surface. We pulled up,dropped in the minn kotas and approached the school.Initially Dave spotted a BIG gt swimming on the outside of the bait,then a queeny of around a metre caused the bait some grief...pushing it towards the surface. A couple minutes later,the bust ups in the bait became more frequent...the mackeral had arrived,a mixture of schoolies and spotties. Dave and andy tied on gilllies slugs,while i tried a 5"snapback in white,on a 1/4 oz 5/0 tt jighead. For Jode i found a packet of 3 inch williansen bucktail jigs and tied one of these on.
For the next hour or so,the mackeral bit on and off,with dave and Andy srtuggling to land a legal fish I wasnt having much success either,and resorted to throwing a long a bomber on my baitcaster gear,resulting in a little spotty. Jode on the other hand was braining them(and weren't we hearing about it ) Her method was to throw the jig out,wait for it to hit bottom,them crank back as fast as,with a few pauses in between.The bucktail was getting a little ratty so we just slid a small soft plastic on the hook for added attraction. I ended up getting a couple nice ones by jigging the snapback under the boat,and a small shark also fell to this method.
sh1.jpg sh10.jpgandydavemac.jpg
pspotmac.jpgpshark.jpg

After all this effort,the tide was dropping fast,so we kicked the motor into gear and headed into the creeks before it got too low. We anchored up at a likely looking bank,had a bite to eat,and threw a few lures around. I had one nice hit on a manns stretch 10 in green,then Jode picked up a nice little grunter on a green terminator,cast upstream towards the bank and worked back down with the current.
jgrunter.jpg

With the tide dropping and us being stuck in the creek,we pushed further up the creek. Dave and Andy tried jigging prawnstars in the deeper holes,resulting in a few nice barra and a little fingermark. Jode and i stuck with the hard bodies,tilsan barras in orange/gold resulting in two little barra to the boat and two jumped off,one bieing a nice fish of around 70.The water was a little cool still,around 24.8c so we used a twitch,twitch,pause retrieve.
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A couple points of interest...still no crocs sighted,after ten days on the water. Also jode was getting a lot more hits using 30lb leader for the mackeral,while i ended up going as low as 12 lb trying to get a better bite...
All in all a great day on the water,Jode experienced the fishign she loves best and got to rub it into Andy for a change ...thanks again to Dave for putting up with Andy in the boat. Stay tuned for my days fishing With Isaac,not a lot of big fish..but a great day anyway.
Hope you enjoyed the read...
Chewy..

[c carney]

great report chewy thanks mate looked like a great trip.

[goob]

thnx chewy, some good fish and a lot of fun i'm sure

[paul ''come in spinner'']

great stuff Chew Crew and friends hehehehe looks like a very successful trip you are on

[Two Utes]

It's very clear to see where young Andy gets all his enthusiasm for fishing. Well done to both you and Jodie for that.

It's funny how Jodie managed more fish on a heavier leader Paul...she must have that 'twitch' 'twitch' method all worked out.

Looking forward to part 2 of your big trip.

[TonyM]

What a fantastic report Chewy - Thanks for sharing your trip, looks like you are all having fun!

I agree about Andys enthusiasm, I recall meeting Chewy and Andy at Monduran a while back and Andy was chomping at the bit to get on the water! The shot of Andy in action you posted above really catches the moment.

Good news re seeing no Crocs (I think - or is it the ones you don't see that you have to worry about?)

Cheers
Tony

[ActiveAngler]

Hi guys,thanks for all the comments.Tony..yea..i used to really enjoy seeing the crocs up the creeks,like you say...its the ones you cant see,nd we really only saw the one big slide,and the little croc heading home the day we took Pete. Im not really sure why we didnt see more,as we spent enough time up there creeks at all times of the day. I dont know if they just arent there anymore,or just getting more wary. We have seen up to half a dozen some days up murray,now they just dont seem to be there.For me its part of what makes up the northern fishing experience. Its not all about catching massive fish,but the different ways we catch them up there,the difference species..and of course ..the crocs..i just love it..
chewy...

[adidaspeteman]

Go Jodie, the mackie queen.
Beaut day out on the water there chew crew, them barra look great.
I'll be back to get myself my first wild barra soon hopefuly, so keep intouch and let me know if I can fly in on one of your next trips north Paul.

[Two Utes]

Go Jodie, the mackie queen.
so keep in touch and let me know if I can fly in on one of your next trips north Paul.

Ha Ha...Sounds like some ones caught the North Queensland BUG!!!