fishing whitsundays

[Rtilly]

heading to the whitsundays from W.A for a five day bareboat charter we are taking our own fishing gear obviosly we are trying to take the minimum ammount of gear as possible we are taking a couple of light flick rods running about 4kg line and a 6-10kg shimano tekota rod coupled with a shimano 2000LD charter special and a12-20kg outfit with a shimano TLD 25 reel what we were wondering was because we are limited with what we can take as far as tackle goes we are after suggestions as to what lures to take and what rigs to use we would probably use paternoster rigs for bottom bouncing but suggestions on lures and preffered bait for the area.In W.A we predominantly use fresh octupus for bottom bouncing but find a strip of fresh sargeant baker is irresistable for our no 1 targetted species the Western Australian Dhufish.Our Main problem on the charter boat is limited freezer space so carrying bait is really not an option so we will have to either just use lures or catch or fossick for fresh bait any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
We will be in the whitsundays in the last week of April we will probably be in the Hook, Whitsunday,Hamilton Islands areas for the duration of our five day charter so any tips for the area would be appreciated .
Cheers Rtilly

[SWANY22]

just got back from there went out on a charter thursday got 4 spaniard up to 10kg in 45 min of hook island left them biting and went bottom bouncing but gar fish with pink squids did the trick would not touch any other colour.bottom bashing the sholes of hook island resulted in mainly travelly and small mouth nanni .

[Scott nthQld]

gar is one of the best spaniard baits going round if trolling, but take a couple of halco 190's in various depths, and my favourite is the rapala X-rap 30, fire tiger, or blue mackeral are cracker colours.

We just use pretty bog standard bait here, squid or pillies, and fresh flesh baits of anything you might pull up, just be aware that those 'bait' fish need to be legal size. Bring some metal slugs, the tuns should be around, and they are fantastic bait, as well as trevally, haven't found a red that could say no to a nice big bit of trevally or tuna.

Standard gear for up this way is a 24kg outfit OH reel and 5'6"-6ft rod, it will land most things for you for bottom bouncing, and yes, most people go for a charter special or TLD 15-20 and run 50lb braid, 100lb leader. Hooks, you want them starting from 6/0 upto even 10/0, but 8/0 is a good compromise, make sure you buy good strong ones. For spinning, especially around the reef, most use a 30lb outfit, as you never know what you will get, a big trout, GT, tuna or mackeral, the latter will be OK on lighter gear, but get a big trout or big GT on that gear and its usually all over pretty quickly. This outfit can also double as your float setup if you want to put a pilly or livey under a balloon for a spaniard. I would also bring along another 30-50lb outfit for trolling if you don't want to be changing rigs all the time, 50lb is mostly not needed, 30lb will usually suffice, but again, you never know what you will get, I personally run a TLD 25 with 50lb fins on a 15kg shimano Backbone elite rod, the softer rod provides a bit of give for the soft mouthed macks, and the 50lb allows me to put some hurt on when something else (usually GT's) grabs my lure.

Don't be too finicky about bait, everything eats everything else up here

[warti]

Take squid jigs aswell as they schooled up behind the bareboat i was on attacking the baitfish that came into the light. We actually rigged up a dodgy light to hang off the back to get them in better. Fresh bait and fresh brekky.

[3rd degree]

I've done a number of trips bare boating through the Whitsundays.

The tips above are spot on, especially the squid... plenty of fresh bait.

If your looking to keep bait, place it in a small esky and keep it in the tender, obviously with plenty of ice.

Some of the best fun I have had fishing round the islands is by flicking poppers around the shallow reefs. Take a few as you can loose them, but priceless fun in the early morning and late arvo.

Cheers

Jim