Yeppoon…a tranquil, relaxed seaside town, where on land everyone takes it easy…but offshore there’s only one gear, and that’s fast!
Keppel Bay is stacked with a multitude of species to keep any keen angler amused for hours. From tuna and mackerel to cod, nannygai and of course trevally.
You can target the variety of fish in a couple of different ways, just ask Coby form Hooked Fishing Charters.
Coby lives and breathes fishing, so much so that even on his days off, he’s still out and about in the bay, often with his dad.
Hook up with Coby, and he’ll take you to a few spots that are ideal for a bit of micro-jigging. There are a couple of wrecks in the bay that big trevally and tuna like to school up around. The key with micro-jigging is to get your lure to the bottom, then jig it slowly through the schools of fish. Also, a tip – try and match your jig weight to the depth you’re fishing. Savage make a good micro-jig they call the Squish Jig, with weights ranging from 80 grams to 160 grams. The deeper the water you’re fishing, the heavier you should fish.
Because of the relatively shallow waters of Keppel Bay, you will often see bait being forced to the surface by pelagics. You’re almost guaranteed to spot a couple of mackerel and tuna amongst these bait balls, and on the odd occasion, yellow-finned tuna join the party.
When it comes to kitting yourself out, rod technology nowadays means that you can fish fairly light, to land quality mackerel or tuna. A quality 4000-size reel teamed up with a medium-weighted spinning rod will do the trick. A 15 to 20-pound line will do, and consider a slightly heavier leader, if you’re going to be targeting fish around the wrecks.
Hooked Fishing Charters run offshore trips from Rosslyn Bay Harbour, or will also do Fitzroy River trips targeting the mighty barra. Give them a call to set up your own Capricorn Coast adventure.
For all the kit you could ever need to fish Keppel Bay, or indeed land a Fitzroy River Barra, head to your local BCF.
