Since last month the Stanage Bay Road has deteriorated to a new level. Corrugation and pot holes extend from one end of the unsealed roadway to the next, including our Plumtree car park, which I believe should have been sealed by the Queensland Government with parking lines. For the amount of registrations and boating fees paid to the state government and not the local government, we should have a decent boat ramp and a descriptive car park all can understand.

The estuary has been releasing some beautiful full and monster Stanage muddies. Pots, ropes, floats and bait to catch these crabs are all available from Stanage Bay Marine & Accommodation at the back of the boatyard. The Thirsty Sound creeks from Porters to Big have barra once again milling at the mouths on the mainland and cruising the Jigsaw Passage to cut through to Ticktobies Creek. Boaties are happy with swapping their hardbody lures, trolling and flicking plastics, and some older fishers are cast netting live mullet. The barra caught have been of legal size and some are too good for the capture and pictures.

Rain and storms are on the way and the water temperature is spot on. On the reef and islands, good scatterings of cobia, mackerel, stripy, coral trout and grassy sweetlip are available along with an uncommon species to this area – spotted sweetlip. Remember, if the weather is too rough to get fishing on the reef or islands, you always have Thirsty Sound. It lends itself to big boats and I have good charts available for this area, along with good local info. Decent golden snapper, grunter, tuskfish, mulloway and barra are just some of the species to be proven winners up there.

Keep with the the Australian Defence Force land acquisitions on the Stanage Bay Road. It will be interesting what the new map will hold for us all. This will be on the ADF website now. If we can’t stop this happening, we at least have slow down the process, until such a time as the federal government comes to a realisation that there is a tourist fishing township at the end of the Stanage Bay and Shoalwater Bay road. Your thoughts and help will be welcome. Fishers and visitors are always welcome at Stanage Bay, Shoalwater Bay and the surrounding islands.