Bohle River - Pick a spot from Google Earth

[thephotoguru]

Thinking of taking a trip up the Bohle River (Townsville) tomorrow so I got on Google Earth to find a spot.


This is where I decided but not having much experience in the Bohle. (Been there once only near the mouth.

Should I fish a couple of hours either side of the high or low tide?

Was thinking of using live bait (assuming I can catch some) but will take some soft plastics and hard bodies.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers Eamon

[sandbankmagnet]

I don't know the area, but it looks like a slog to get there land based.

[thephotoguru]

Yeah it would be, but shouldn't take too long in the Tinnie....

[Scott nthQld]

Ok to start with, where you have indicated is very shallow, so head up with the tide and back out when it turns.

Where you are going however is a very quiet section of the creek to other boats don't really bother you.

I've never gone that far up (couldn't get there, too shallow for my boat) but try and find a nice steep bank with some overhanging mangroves (for some reason they seem to prefer the mangroves with the green leaves still on it) even with a bit of an overhang from the bank. You want about 2m of water, even deeper if you can get it. Get in as close as you dare, as quietly as you can and very quietly lower the anchor, if you have an electric to get in close, even better. Noise will spook barra in 0.5 sec flat, but for some reason it doesn't bother jacks as much.

Anyway, big live baits, try everything to start with, prawn, mullet, herring, whiting etc. The bigger the better, just a couple of weeks ago I got a 65cm barra on a whiting about 25-30cm long, so don;t be scared of using big baits, if its smaller than them, they'll eat it. Normally I like to let a barra run with the bait, to make sure they've got the hook down, but you obiously can;t do this in the sticks. If you find yourself up here around dawn/dusk, throw a livey up on the flats, here you can let them run a bit before clicking into gear and setting the hook, and do it hard, they have very boney mouths and don;t forget you have the big bait you have to get the hook through as well.

The rock bars out the front are well worht a shot too, big live baits, as early as you can stand to avoid the crowds or they will shut down.

[thephotoguru]

Cheers Scott,

Not sure I will be out there too early, maybe next week end I will try to find rock bar near the mouth.

Will let you know what I find up there maybe it wll be too shallow.

Eamon

[freefish]

Isn't the Bohle accessible from the ramp in the creek behind Bushland Beach?

[thephotoguru]

Certainly is Freefish....

Scott, it is actually quite deep up there.

There is a 'hole' at the mouth of the creek that was 5 meter deep at about 1pm this afternoon and i would say that even when the tide was very low I would think there will be about 4 meters.

My expert live bait gathering skills netted me 2 mullet 1 about 90mm and the other about 170mm. (top effort that)

The smaller mullet fell off the hook? and the larger one soaked for a few hours before I set it free.

There was no fish action at all but quite a few boats, some courteous and others well lets just say not courteous and then a few that were just plain ignorant with little regard for others.

It seems like a good spot but need to anchor in a different spot next time, maybe a week day when things are a bit quieter.

Thanks for your info I will be back but maybe not on Sundays....

Cheers Eamon