Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
G’day champions, it’s been a while since I shared information on what’s biting around the Gold Coast but it’s good to be back. With the constant battle of getting through this pandemic, fishing when we’re able to has been a great way to keep minds at ease. fishing offshore october
Offshore in October will hopefully produce the same exceptional fishing that we were experiencing in September, before the water temperature starts to climb. Snapper fishing has been absolutely awesome on both bait and lures, and while constantly learning and being surprised by what this species is capable of, most of my success has been on lures. fishing offshore october
I have tried a hand full of lures and it’s still hard to pick which one is the direct winner. Targeting snapper between the 18 and 24-fathom line in 30-45m of water, I’ve found that the tide played a bigger part than the time of day. fishing offshore october
Sure, early morning and late afternoon are more likely to produce because snapper prefer to feed when they start and end the day, but each side of a tide change when there’s a slightly slower push of current seems to work most effectively! fishing offshore october
Lure choices have included mostly lighter plastics and vibes as the lure’s sinking. Soft plastics and jerk shads between 5-9” with jig head weights ranging from 1/4-1/2oz have been doing well, and the majority of fish have been coming on the sink.
I choose to hold my rod as it’s sinking because it’s common to see a dramatic change of speed as the plastic sinks, and that’s due to snapper taking the plastic as it naturally drifts down the water column – most of my bigger snapper are caught this way.
Bigger snapper don’t tend to hug the bottom but actually sit 5-10m off it – being down too deep you’re likely to entangle common red rock cod, which you have to be mindful of when removing hooks as their spikes are not something you want to mess with!
