Travelling anglers looking for an all round fishing destination will be hard pressed to find somewhere better than Mackay in North Queensland. Whether you fish freshwater or saltwater, the fishing close at hand is amazing.
My introduction to the region came via a canoe in the Pioneer River. Fishing from a canoe is one of the best ways to get close and personal with the environment. During my early teens, I spent many days paddling a kayak on the Murrumbidgee River near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. Since then, I have fished a variety of estuaries, lakes and rivers by canoe; even when the fish are small, catching them from a canoe is both challenging and rewarding.
It was with that in mind that I jumped at the opportunity to fish the Pioneer River with Mackay fishing guide, Arthur Lovern. Arthur knew I was keen to catch “chimney sweeps” aka sooty grunter, and he said the Pioneer River was the ideal destination.
We launched the two-man canoe just out of Mirani, about a 40-minute drive west of Mackay in North Queensland. Access to the river is easy. Drive over the bridge at Mirani, turn left at the first turn off, and follow the track down to the river. Our launching place was just below the rail bridge, a popular area with swimmers if the 30 or so metres of rope hanging down to the water is any indication.
The river has a good covering of lily pads in shallow areas, and while the canoe had an electric motor on the stern, we paddled downstream for the first half a kilometre until we were out of the lilies, and the water was deeper. Arthur said sooties would school under the cover of cluster fig trees. These trees have an orange fruit that grows off the trunk rather than hang in the branches. When the fruit falls into the river, the sooties devour them. When working the cluster figs, we cast our poppers close to the timber, presenting the lure with a slow, jerky retrieve.
Another area these fish hang under are snags, where the sooties feed on bird droppings. We went downstream for about five kilometres, casting our lures at white-stained snags, and to overhanging cover provided by the branches of fig trees. The water was so clear the pebbles could be counted on the riverbed, and tortoises could be seen swimming beneath the canoe. In the clear areas between lily pads where the lotus birds, comb-crested jacanas, were feeding, distinctive double bumps of platypus ruffled the surface. I counted at least 12 platypuses in the first hour.
Nevertheless, there wasn’t too much to see in the way of fish. It was quiet. We ventured up a small tributary called Macgregor Creek, a water that Arthur, ever the optimist, said had never failed to produce sooties. Well, there’s always a first time.
“There’s no fish downstream so let’s go upriver and see if we can catch a few sooties in the pools above the bridge,” Arthur suggested.
The high water hid large boulders that made ideal casting platforms. A couple of times Arthur got out of the canoe to push it through narrow ways over shallow water. He wore shoes to do this, explaining there was a fish in the river called a bullrout, and this fish can inflict a serious wound if you stand on it. Being barefoot, I stayed on-board.
Fish life started to improve almost as soon as we passed the bridge. Schools of bony bream and banded grunter became apparent, and soon we were seeing large schools of sooties. Ah yes, this was much better.
We trolled our minnow lures along the longer, deep stretches and when at last our first sooty came to the boat we both heaved a sigh of relief. Like any drought, once broken the rest is easy and more sooties joined the party. Trolling was the easiest way to fish, and we trolled small-bibbed minnows that dived to a couple of metres. The lures were set about 20m behind the canoe and towed along at a little less than walking pace.
We paddled or motored our way several kilometres up river until a wall of rocks barred our progress. At this point, we got out of the canoe and proceeded to fish around the rock pools for more sooties. This amid a backdrop of running water, eucalypt-lined riverbanks and green mountain ranges, with small blue kingfishers, swallows and sea eagles adding to the experience. In the rock pools and riffles upstream, we cast small poppers across the runs, letting them drift downstream before retrieving. The surface strikes in the clear, shallow running water were spectacular. The biggest fish landed probably didn’t weigh more than a kilogram, but the fishing was stimulating.
There are excellent freshwater impoundment options close to Mackay. The most popular venues are the region’s dams in the Pioneer Valley: Teemburra, Eungella and Kinchant. Of these, the best known is Teemburra Dam in Eungella National Park; about 40 minutes drive west of Mackay through fields of sugar cane. The dam was constructed in 1997 and when full it has a surface area of 1,040 hectares and can hold 147,500 ml of water. In case you didn’t know, a mega litre of water is how much it takes to fill an Olympic size swimming pool.
Teemburra is a maze of inlets and bays with creeks running in, and everywhere you look, there are platypuses. The bird life is also prolific. Apart from sea eagles nesting in tall trees in most of the bays, thousands of swallows sometimes feed close to the water, stirring the surface up so much that you think baitfish are jumping everywhere.
Barramundi is the most prized northern sportfish and many experienced anglers rate this waterway on a par with Lakes Proserpine (Peter Faust) and Awoonga, and better than Lake Tinaroo. The main reason for the praise is that Teemburra is one of the most heavily stocked impoundments in Queensland. More than a million fish, barramundi and sooty grunter, have been introduced since it opened. The barramundi average about 85cm, but fish to 1.10m are caught. As for the sooties, they are up to 60cm, and when you hook a big one you are just as likely to think it is a barra staying deep.
I fished Teemburra with part time fishing guide, Mick Rethus. He runs a 3.85m punt with bow and stern mounted electric motors and a 25hp outboard. The main engine sounds small but boats are restricted to a maximum 25hp outboard on the lake.
Mick, who was born in Nhill in Western Victoria, met me at the boat ramp at dawn. Queensland had been suffering from lack of rainfall, and the ramp finished well short of the water. Mick said the dam was 45m deep when full, but during my visit, it was about 20 per cent capacity. He told me this as we were snaking our way around hills and stands of dead trees that he normally drove over.
As far as Mick was concerned, the timing of my visit couldn’t have been worse. It was the day after the full moon. Timing in freshwater can be more important than in saltwater. Generally, the nights leading up to and on the full moon are best if you are fishing between sundown and dawn. For daylight fishing, the days leading up to and on the new moon are better.
Barramundi can be caught during the colder months, however, these fish are easier to hook when the weather is warmer, which is why you are more likely to latch on to a sooty grunter when it is colder. Timing goes further than this. Many experienced barramundi anglers fishing in Queensland’s lakes choose their fishing times based on the tides. It might sound silly, and I cannot explain why, but the impoundment barra bite better on the change of tide.
“The problem is that on a full moon the barra normally feed at night, so I reckon they will have fed up last night and will be lying low during the day,” Mick explained. “I think we’ll have a better chance at a sooty.” That was how the day panned out. We couldn’t buy a barramundi, but a few sooties made life interesting.
Our fishing techniques varied from casting large bibbed minnows and soft plastic lures to headlands and around trees, to trolling large bibbed minnow lures over sunken timber and rockbars. The fishing was slow and the barra were slow, but at least the sooty grunter came to the party and we caught these up to 2.5kg. What impressed me about sooties is how hard they pull. They are the same shape as a yellowbelly but their body is heavier and they definitely have more pulling power.
SEAFORTH
If saltwater is your scene, and you are running a car topper and want to fish sheltered waters, head north to Seaforth. The drive takes about an hour. I was fishing with Arthur again, and here we launched in Victor Creek, and steamed for about 30 minutes offshore to a drop off on the northwest corner of Low Island.
Arthur gave me a small popper to cast, and used the auxiliary electric motor to hold his 4.2m boat steady in the slight wind and chop. On the first cast, queenfish rose to the lure, busting the surface all around it but missing the treble hooks. This went on for half a dozen casts until one of the silver missiles latched onto the lure in a spectacular strike that saw the fish doing somersaults about a metre out of the water. Queenfish are a great sportfish, performing with long, fast runs and plenty of jumps. Once one fish is hooked, the rest of the school hang around giving any other anglers on board an opportunity to cast and hook up. We were using 5kg threadline and baitcaster outfits and hooking fish up to a metre in length. It was light tackle sportfishing at its best.
After half an hour or so, the queenfish action slowed. Deciding to try something different, Arthur tied on a bibbed minnow and started working the lure over the drop off. His technique was to cast, wind quickly to take the lure down and then slowly work it back with a gentle twitch and wind action. The technique proved too much for a school of golden trevally. These tough fighters were more cautious than the queenfish, but there was sustained action for about an hour before they went off the bite. Arthur said he had similar drop offs offering solid fishing action on all these islands. He promotes catch and release fishing, explaining this is why his drop offs were still fishing well more than 20 years after he moved to Seaforth from Sydney.
Low Island is one of a pair of islands – the other being High Island – north of the Newry Islands. We had launched Arthur’s boat at Pt Newry, in Victor Creek and followed the channel out between Acacia and Mausoleum Islands to the Newry Islands. Newry Island was home to Annette Kellerman, the original Hollywood mermaid of the silent movies in the 1920s. Camping is permitted on the island, although you need a National Parks permit. About a kilometre east of this island is Outer Newry.
The island is a Yellow Zone, which means anglers can fish but are restricted to one line and one hook per person. To the south is another island, but this is off limits to anglers being declared a Marine Park. Between the Newry Islands, and High and Low Islands, is Rabbit Island, along with plenty of reef systems – all within a 40-minute run from the boat ramp.
Arthur said the waters are sheltered, but anglers who come here should bring an Admiralty chart along, and take care when travelling around the islands at low tide. Species you can expect to hook on the reefs include giant trevally, mackerel, coral trout, fingermark, and red bass. There are many mangrove spreads around these islands, and most hold barramundi, estuary cod, threadfin and blue salmon.
Even Victor Creek, which is navigable for about 3km and only at high tide, is worth a look. Dense stands of mangroves line the creek, and it is deep in the lower reaches. Arthur has caught metre-long barramundi, mangrove jacks, javelin fish and tarpon there.
TACKLE
In Pioneer River, 5kg baitcaster outfits spooled with braid line and rigged with a 5kg breaking strain leader were ideal. The lures were 20-30mm surface poppers and deeper running bibbed minnows. In the dams, the equipment used was baitcaster outfits spooled with 15kg breaking strain braid and a metre or so of 15-24kg leader. Most anglers prefer to work lures up to 15cm long, mainly floating/diving minnow types and soft plastics. Successful techniques include both casting and trolling. Soft plastic prawn and baitfish imitations, 50-75mm long and hard bodied lures of similar size proved effective. Soft plastics are often taken as they sink. If this is not successful, the lure should be worked slowly along the bottom in a slow, lift and drop action.
Offshore light tackle lure enthusiasts will find 5-8kg outfits adequate for most of the species off Seaforth. When rigging up, employ a leader of about 15kg breaking strain and attach a cross lock snap to enable quick lure changes. If mackerel are about then a piano wire leader may be necessary but shouldn’t be employed for most species, particularly if casting rather than trolling lures.
For offshore bottom bouncing, consider a 15kg outfit. Many Queenslanders prefer to work the Alvey centrepin, but large overheads and big threadline reels do well and allow the option of working lures. You will need leader material. On the reefs, 24kg leader is the minimum. The popular rig is a fixed sinker and leader paternoster style. Hook size about 6/0, straight shank. Some Queensland anglers using whole fish or fillets tend not to thread their hooks through the bait but instead place the hook at one end of the bait. Top baits include squid and pilchards, although the latter do not last long, and hussars.