North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

So my problem is simple, I cant seem to find the fish.

I have a boat thats decent enough to get out and about. it is a fiberglass 5+ and rides well.

I have been fishing nights, days, morning, nights, high, lows and everything inbetween. I have had no luck catching much. I am from down south and find that the tides really seem to mess with my usual style of fishing.

I have been using lures and bait and have had only a little luck on bait.

You may be asking what type of fish I am looking for, well goldies would be great, mangrove jack would be awesome and for fun I would enjoy queenies and barra, but I would really like some fish that I could take home for a feed.

I have been up and down woods inlet, out to charles point reefs, sounded over heaps of the wrecks (from the book).

My normal style would be to anchor up on a wreck or reef and burley the hell out of it but the current is so strong here that even that isnt working for me. I also like jigging for kingies down south but the drift is quite fast here and well no kingies.

Does anyone have some tips to get me in the ballpark?

What electronics are you running?

Furano sounder and separate furano chartplotter

Head over to Dundee mate. The tides dont affect the areas wide of there as much as closer to Darwin.. plenty of ground for jigging up reef fish.

Thanks, I have been intending on trying out that way sooner or later.

Gday.
The harbour can be very hard to fish on big tides as you only get a small window at the turn to keep the baits in the strike zone. If your targeting Goldies in the harbour try the Six mile area off Mendora on near neap tide no more than 3mt movement . It's deep water out there 100 to120ft use 12oz lead on a paternosta rigged with 70lb/100lb mono. You've got the FFF marks so try Maggies , Razorback and the Twins on a drift at the turn of the low . I would not suggest anchoring in this area as it is a shipping channel and you will need to move .
If your fishing the wrecks try to anchor way up current so your baits are in the front of pressure wave , you can always let a bit of rope out if you pull up too short.
I'm not into burly its a waste of time with these tides and usually just brings in the Sharks.
Charles point is a good area on the right day but can turn very nasty so take care out there . Don't hang on the one spot to long if it's not fishing well sometimes just a short move will get you onto better fish.
Around past Charles as you just start coming into Bynoe are some great grounds for Gold , Cod and Blue bone, Look for the drop off as you come up on the channel it goes from about 30 ft down to 90ft.
Use your sea map to track along the 30 ft contour line down towards Middle reef .

It takes a bit of time to suss out the best tides to fish certain areas , but on big tides head west into fog bay as it's not as effected like the harbour . You'll hear many opinions on tides but for me I like the mid
range with 3 to 4 mtr movement .

Hope this helps a little and I have caught a goldie or two , but it didn't come easy so search the old posts
on hear to pic up some good info ,

Cheers
Jeff

what Jeff said.
Like all fishos, ive had dry times as well. Learning tides and how they affect fish is a must up here compared to sthn states.

Trying to get lures down on big tides is almost impossible while anchored so try a few drifts but keep in contact with your lures at all times - ie don't just leave them dragging or you will lose them to snags

There is a theory that feeding fish will stay on the front of a reef while those not feeding will be behind the reef. Ive caught fish at both the front and back of a reef

try places like fentons and don't forget the lee pt wrecks as well.
Dundee has produced everytime except for one for me as well.

Thanks guys thats heaps of info!

I will give it a shot when I go out next.

hey mate, is your boat the orange whip parked in muirhead?! seems like a cool setup with two old school 40's on the back??

it's super common to come from down south and really struggle to catch fish up here, despite seeing people posting up epic fish they have caught week after week. don't worry, once you get the knack you'll start catching great fish regularly. like others have said, do the miles and launch your boat at dundee. try not to be preoccupied with FFF marks because every chump has raided those spots for years. head out to a cluster of FFF marks, then do a drift from there keeping your eye on the sounder and discover your own bits of reef. if you're chasing barra or creek fishing, consider paying a guide to take you on his boat to spots around the harbour to see what he does or what he's looking out for. it will cost a few $$ but is so much less frustrating than regular trips with poor results.

Good Luck, Here"s a screen shot of goldies .

Or just follow Jeff around

sanigav wrote:hey mate, is your boat the orange whip parked in muirhead?! seems like a cool setup with two old school 40's on the back??

it's super common to come from down south and really struggle to catch fish up here, despite seeing people posting up epic fish they have caught week after week. don't worry, once you get the knack you'll start catching great fish regularly. like others have said, do the miles and launch your boat at dundee. try not to be preoccupied with FFF marks because every chump has raided those spots for years. head out to a cluster of FFF marks, then do a drift from there keeping your eye on the sounder and discover your own bits of reef. if you're chasing barra or creek fishing, consider paying a guide to take you on his boat to spots around the harbour to see what he does or what he's looking out for. it will cost a few $$ but is so much less frustrating than regular trips with poor results.

Nah mate thats not mine, but id be interested to see it,

I think ill tie my boat to jeffish boat and hope he doesn't see me.