Fishing Townsville - Part 1

by Jarrod Day on 26 Jan 2012 Queensland may be known for its exceptional fishing but with so many locations to explore, just where do you begin. Townsville, located in Queensland’s tropical north is one such city with a huge variety of fishing options, from the local creeks and rivers offering a range of diverse species to the offshore saltwater scene where just one days fishing clearly isn’t enough. Anglers from all walks of life, whether they are experienced or inexperienced can enjoy the fishing both from the land or boat.

Once you descend on Townsville and begin to explore the many options, you quickly realise that even in one lifetime, you still won’t scratch the surface but that’s the best thing about Townsville, you don’t need to. With the variety of fish willing to take a bait or lure as long as you have a line in the water you’re in with a chance.

City Offerings:
Townsville itself has a whole lot to offer both the local and visiting angler. Surrounding the city there is an abundance of land based fishing access. One of the main and most popular locations is the wharf located along The Strand. With a large variety of species on offer, anglers can expect to catch such species as trevally, mackerel the odd barra along with a host of other line stealing species.

It is a rather large drop from the fishing platform to the water’s surface so if you intend on targeting something sizable it may pay to take along a cliff gaff or gaff with a long handle to reach your catch. Techniques will differ between species and while the standard paternoster rig will suffice, fishing on the bottom will yield a good catch. Large cod will also take a bait offering and while they can be extremely large, can prove a challenge to land at times.

Suspending small live baits under a balloon or float is an effective method for mackerel and the like. Live baits can be caught locally by throwing a cast net into nearby waters where tarpon, mullet and small whiting are all worthy baits. There is no special technique to live baiting as such, rather just pinning the bait in the shoulder with a 5/0 suicide hook and casting it out is as technical as it needs to be.

Lure anglers can also enjoy fishing from the wharf, although you will be limited to what can be thrown. Lures such as soft plastics, metal vibes and slugs are all worth tossing about for golden trevally, mackerel and long tail tuna in season.

A few hundred meters north of the Wharf, the rock pool, a well known and popular swimming destination is also popular with recreational anglers. On the outskirts of the pool, few fishing platforms are available for those wanting to dangle a line. The water is relatively shallow and rocky but some good fish are a possible catch. These include barramundi, trevally, salmon, mackerel and queen fish of which all can be targeted with bait or lures.

At the southern end of The Strand is the Casino which is also situated near the marina. The rock wall juts out providing many species with structure to hide. The main rock wall is quite long reaching out into deeper water. Anglers can target a myriad of species including queen fish, barramundi, tuna, mackerel and fingermark amongst a plethora of others. Bait fishing is an effective method for all species but lure fishing tends to catch the most. Small surface poppers, stick baits and deep diving hard body lures work exceptionally well when cast and retrieved along the edge of the wall itself. At its end, casting large metal slugs is a popular technique for tuna and mackerel.

Townsville also has many rivers surrounding the area all of which are fish rich. Barramundi, mangrove jack, flathead, tarpon, whiting and bream of the few are all popular targets with a variety of methods working exceptionally.

The Ross River which runs from the Ross River Dam right into the heart of Townsville is one of the most popular rivers to be fished. Access is great with three main weirs situated along its length. Black, Gleesons and Aplins weirs are all popular with land based anglers and each section is well stocked with barramundi by local organisations. Many fishing methods will work for all species but those using lures do catch a quarry of barra in the weirs. Bait fishing methods include soaking a bait on the bottom and live baiting being the most popular.

For those wanting to soak a bait can do so using a running sinker rig or paternoster. Rigs should be tied from heavy leader ranging 40 – 60lb to provide abrasion resistance when taken into the snag by a sizable fish. Both barra and jacks respond well to live baits cast next to a snag. Live baits can be threaded onto 2/0-4/0 hooks on a running sinker rig. Anglers need to be at the ready, as the livie will be taken fast and furious. If you’re not, you may be run into the snags and busted off.

Exploring The Wilderness:
Further out of town, many of the rivers flow from the local ranges and these upper reaches are also full of a variety of species worth targeting. The upper Burdekin is known for harbouring some reel quality fish including the prized sooty grunter. Sooties are a challenging fish and are abundant in these gin clear rivers. Though many parts of the rivers banks are limited in access, from one of the many road bridges may be your best bet. Sooties respond well to a range of lures with small 50-70mm diving hard body lures, surface poppers and stick baits are an excellent choice of weaponry.

Light tackle outfits are recommended and while most of the water is tight and limited in access, those that do know or find a spot to fish from are well rewarded for their efforts. While sooties are the main target a by catch of sleepy cod and jungle perch are common.

Furthermore, this style of fishing doesn’t just revolve around the Burdekin, rather the upper reaches of all the surrounding rivers and streams can provide some very memorable fishing if you’re willing to explore.

Inshore Options:
Cleveland Bay is the body of water situated between Magnetic Island and the mainland averaging five meters in depth.

An abundance of fish species is available throughout the year with mackerel and long tail being seasonal but provide anglers with sensational light tackle battles. Queen fish are also a popular target and caught in a variety of locations with the channel markers attracting them in good numbers on occasion. Casting metal blades, stick baits and surface poppers at the pylons is effective and often attracts a few fish to the imitation fleeing baitfish.

Furthermore, golden trevally can be found feeding on the shallow flats with a few specific locations around Magnetic Island being extremely productive. All species respond well to a variety of lures but more specific styles such as soft plastics, vibes and marabou jigs work exceptionally well.

Mackerel are also a popular target and mostly caught by bait fishing anglers. Mackerel respond well to live baits but equally effective is sending a pilchard on a set of gang hooks into a berley trail while under anchor. Small sized Giant trevally are a viable option and fall to anglers tossing lures around the shallows. While providing some great sports fishing, these species are all worth targeting on any given day that the weather allows to do so.

Next week in Part Two we will look further to the fishing around Townsville with what can be caught in the Great Barrier Reef and at Hinchinbrook Island.

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