Gotta love Grunter-Townsville

[stunnedmullet]

Well after picking a decent tide leading up to the full moon I decided to take a mate out to try a put him onto a feed of his favourite fish....the ever reliable grunter. Fished the first flood of the tide and immediately scored a couple of nice grunter. Action was pretty good with only a couple of lulls. Ended up with 9 fish between 45cm-55cm. Great fun on 6kg.
Released 6 that were over the 35cm mark, but as I have mentioned before it really isn't worthwhile keeping anything under 45cm due to the amount you lose when filleting. No need to keep them anyway when you have a good feed for two families. Headed home before the top of the tide while it was still light, cleaned the boat and fired up the BBQ. Fresh grunter and for dinner.
Gotta love Nth Qld. ;)
the mullet
Didn't even bother taking the cast net as we caught everything on good quality squid.

[nonibbles]

Nice... Same spot as last report? You seem to have some pretty reliable spots may have to follow you one day ;) . Damn glad I don't care about my repuatation ;D

[Hookem_Herby]

Nice work Mullet-boy!!!! :o ;D
Good to see you putting your mate onto a fish or 3. That's what it's all about. :D
Well done,
Herby

[junglejunky]

Nice work... Some good Grunter there! ;)

[boyzie]

where abouts where you fishing, i got 5 good grunter last weekend at burdekin rock on pillies. dont really know anywhere else to fish for grunter

[stunnedmullet]

BOY-Z
Mouth of Bohle is a good bet along with the mouth of any of the smaller creeks and the Paluma shoals(just north of Saunders beach) Main thing is to pick your tide leading up to the full moon or just after the new moon. Could also try Alligator, crocodile or coco creek mouths.
Only use fresh squid now and that has tripled my grunter catches from using fresh mullet, sards etc.
The mullet

[boyzie]

thanks mate thats a big help, ive fished the mouth of the bohle a few times and caught nothing but eels and rays, do you fish along the mangroves there or actually out the mouth where it drops off ?

[stunnedmullet]

BOY-Z
If you have a sounder you will find a rockbar/dropoff at the mouth. Height difference off about 8-10 feet. Fish anywhere there is good. Sounding along the mangroves from the mouth back inland will help you find some good holes that may hold fingermark and jack. I would suggest that check it out at low tide and you will see an obvious channel with pretty extemsive weedbeds on your right(as you face the open ocean) If you have a GPS get these points.
Try these on an afternoon run in tide of a bout 2.8-3.2 m full around 6-8pm. Look for the final phases of the full moon and one that coincides with dusk. Get yourself some fresh squid(good boxed squid, the 2.27kg boxes are the best and bag them up as needed) I find this squid gives me great success. If you have a drawstring cast net then any of the banks along the creek will hold sards, mullet, whiting and prawns(at times)Use 6-8kg and the lightest sinker possible-then strap yourself in.
Good luck ;)
the mullet

[boyzie]

mate thank you so much you dont realise how much you have just helped me i am very grateful for your help!

[Daintreeboy]

Grunter are one of my favourites. It's a bit harder to get big numbers up this way with shorter rivers so it would be hard to get a haul like that, awesome catch mate.
Cheers, Mark.

[stunnedmullet]

No worries BOY-Z, hope it helps.
I have been following a plan of late and managed some really good catches of any between 6-40 grunter a session with another fisho this year(following a philosophy of only keeping those over 45cm) Fishing is a funny thing. Just when you think you have them sussed they contradict every logic and you come up empty handed.
Funny you mention the shorter rivers thing Mark as some of my best catches have been from the mouths of small tributaries. Some of the creeks north of Townsville have gravelly shoals just out from the mouths and I suspect that is were the majority of grunter feed and on certain occasions come into the creeks to feed and spawn. Don't know...just a theory but that is all fishing is really ;)
Damo

[Fixation]

Mate awesome catch well done! <><

[al_neibling]

Thats great!!! And excellent tips too, there is hope for me yet ;D my daughter and I have been fishing the bohle about twice a week for the last month or two and we have not come home with anything worth bragging about. I will be sure to take note and give it a try.

thanks
Al

[Daintreeboy]

No worries BOY-Z, hope it helps.
I have been following a plan of late and managed some really good catches of any between 6-40 grunter a session with another fisho #this year(following a philosophy of only keeping those over 45cm) Fishing is a funny thing. Just when you think you have them sussed they contradict every logic and you come up empty handed.
Funny you mention the shorter rivers thing Mark as some of my best catches have been from the mouths of small tributaries. Some of the creeks north of Townsville have gravelly shoals just out from the mouths and I suspect that is were the majority of grunter feed and on certain occasions come into the creeks to feed and spawn. Don't know...just a theory but that is all fishing is really ;)
Damo

I suspect it has more to do with the amount of habitat i.e. mangroves around the system. Even though you may be fishing a small tributary, the lack of mountains close to the ocean would mean a greater area for esuaries to linger with a salt section. Any small creeks would have a larger one close by. The Daintree has a lot of fresh flowing out of it so not too many Yabby banks and only around 10 km (guess) of mangroves.
Anhow that's my theory and it sure makes a good excuse for me being a piss poor fisherman lol ;D
Cheers, Mark.

[nonibbles]

You can't be a piss poor fisherman! I got dibs on that one ;D

[stunnedmullet]

Yeah mark, gotta have a theory. Gives me an excuse with the wife when I get nothing and makes me out to know what I am doing ;D
Love your fingermark avatar [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]
Hoping to work on catching a few more of those in the future. May PM you for some hints if that is cool as I think I have noticed you do pretty well on them.
Damo

[Bonesy]

That lookes like some good dinner, stunnedmullet.

Bonesy [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[88fishframe]

I've still been getting the big ones off the back of the Cape [Cape Cleveland that is]. Some up to 55cm on fresh dead squid and the big ones to 70cm on BIG live squid. The XOS catfish are with them and really stretch your arms on the 10kg outfits. 5 weeks ago all the big grunter I was getting were off Paluma Shoals but they seem to have dissapeared from there.