The recent rain has lifted the capacity of Hinze Dam to 88% and bass are foraging close to the newly created edges searching for food. Casting surface lures close to the edges early in the morning and late in the afternoon has created some exciting fishing moments. There has been plenty of action for the bait fishermen as well, with plenty of bass and yellowbelly being caught on live shrimp.
Sports Tuition recently hosted the boys from Bob Jane T-Marts at Mt Ommaney who are regulars on the charters. It was the groups' sixth year in a row where they've booked a half day charter and they always opt for the same time of year. The boys certainly know how to enjoy their time on the water with their colleagues, which is also a great work team building exercise. The guys are also experienced enough fishermen to know that in summer, you need to start as early as possible. Their session commenced at 5:30am and they opted to use the Quintrex tinnies that Sports Tuition has in its fleet. For comfort, the guys preferred to have just two people fish from each boat, so everyone grabbed a fishing partner and started launching the boats from the Numinbah boat ramp. The group didn't have to venture very far for the first fish of the morning, when Brad caught a nice yellowbelly only a few hundred metres from the boat ramp. In fact, a couple in the group decided that the fishing in the far upper reaches was good enough, and they didn't follow the rest of the group farther into the dam. It's great to see some quality fish coming back into the far upper reaches of the dam. The highlight for Dillan was catching a great yellowbelly and some solid bass, not to mention a very fiery turtle, across from the launching area. Dillan's catch took place close to the edge, across from the Numinbah ramp, which has a steep drop off and is around 9-10m of water.
The objective of the session was to catch as many fish as possible, so using live shrimp as bait was the only method employed. The group all used Shimano rods and Shimano Stradic reels spooled with 6kg Tiagra tournament fishing line. The rig was a one ball sinker tied to the end of the line and about 50-60cm up the line, the loop knot or paternoster knot was tied, looping a size 4 Mustad bigmouth hook through. The live shrimp were pierced through the very last segment of the tail. Rigged this way allows the shrimp to sit just above the weed beds and flap about, sending a distress signal out which the fish pick up very quickly. One problem using live shrimp, and it's becoming a major problem, is with the amount of banded grunter in the dam. The banded grunter pounces on the shrimp very quickly and pecks away at the legs first, which kills the shrimp and then they come back and attack, pecking away piece by piece. Any banded grunter caught should not be returned to the water. They were introduced into the dam by mistake and they can breed in the dam. They do make great eagle food though. If you keep them dry so they crisp up in the sun, they'll float well on the water and give the eagles the time to swoop down and collect an easy feed. Some of the wing spans on these birds are just awesome and when they swoop just metres from your boat, it's quite a spectacle. The guys from Bob Jane T-Marts also got to witness this during their time on the water.
The kids on the recent school holiday survivor camp also got amongst the grunter on their three day survivor camp just before Christmas...so much in fact, that I'm considering using suicide hooks on the kids' April camp to see how many we can catch. It would be great to eradicate the banded grunter from the dam completely, but at this point in time, I just can't see how it's going to be done. When you consider the female banded grunter spawns up to 400000 eggs at a time, individuals taking out a few here and there, isn't going to have much of an impact. There must be millions of grunter in the dam at the moment. It would be great to work in with the DPI & F to do something. Maybe there could be some fish traps made that only allow access to the smaller fish? If anyone has any thoughts, I'd be interested to hear what you think. Email me at
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If you're not familiar with the banded grunter, it has a distinctive pattern. It has five vertical black stripes on a silver to bronze background, interspersed with small brown spots. They can grow up to 25cm in length but are more commonly around the 8-12cm mark.
Apart from a few banded grunter, the boys from Bob Jane T-Marts landed some nice yellowbelly and a great sized eel-tail cat fish and plenty of bass. The hottest spot was along the bank behind Ian's Island where the Brad and Andrew dropped onto a school of bass and picked up eight each in pretty quick time. Miles also collected his eel-tailed cat fish in this region.
The guys from Bob Jane T-Marts at Mt Ommaney certainly love their fishing. If your vehicle is in the need of new tyres they'll well worth a call on 3279 4799 for a quote...and I'm sure they'll be keen to tell a few fishing stories as well...Heath is always good for a few!
Brad got off to a good start, landing this nice yellowbelly in the far upper reaches of the western arm.
Brad and Andrew had several double hook ups. They got onto a good school of bass behind Ian's Island.
It's always a good idea to use a landing net, particularly with the bigger fish. Miles did a great job helping Jess land his first fish of the day. 
Jess caught this great sized eel-tailed catfish using light gear. 
Dillan picked up this excellent yellowbelly directly opposite the Numinbah boat ramp.
The author with a banded grunter caught on a lure. Even the small grunter are aggressive. This one is not that much bigger than the lure.
