Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Hi everyone, hope you are all safe and well after the drenching from the intense weather system that past over the Gold and Tweed coasts last weekend – finally stopping on Monday, leaving a trail of flooding and destruction behind it. Given the quantity of debris moving through the system, the amount of freshwater and bad water quality… not much fishing was done during the week. With a few storms and showers on the way for the weekend, we can only hope they bypass us and give us a chance to dry out. Gold Coast Coomera fishing
With the wind set to ease over the weekend, if you’re thinking about heading out, make sure you have the most up-to-date forecast on hand – and you are aware that there will be submerged debris to deal with in the waterways. Chasing a feed mud crabs will possibly be your best option, with the main Broadwater and Jumpinpin areas the best spots to target a feed. The rivers and estuaries have had a massive flush that will have pushed the majority of crabs to find better water quality to feed in. Try setting your test pots around the river mouths and then working your way out into deeper channels with the rest – until you can determine the best areas to target mud crabs as they move through the area. After such a big flush, it may take a couple of weeks to start getting back to normal. The best bait are whole mullet, fresh fish frames or fresh chicken pieces. I always use a bait bag to stop the small fish, crabs and eels from destroying the bait until it has had time to attract the target mud crabs to the pot. You could also try the mouth north and south of the Coomera and Pimpama rivers, Brown Island, Aldershots, Tiger Mullet Channel, Jacobs Well, Canaipa Passage and Russell Island – they may be worth a go. Though make sure you have the most up-to-date information on rules and regulations before giving it a go. daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries/recreational/recreational-fishing-rules/crabs-lobsters Gold Coast Coomera fishing
Bream are about the best target species when the water quality is bad and full of freshwater – it seems to get them very active and feeding on all the bait and bits and pieces washed out during the flood. You can target bream either land based or out in a boat – bream will just about eat anything you present them. I find the best bait are prawns, mullet fillet, herring, silver biddies, mullet gut, bonito fillet and yabbies. Laying a berley trail will increase your chances of finding fish, keeping them in the area and feeding. Basic berley pellets and even a loaf of bread is all you need to try. A light estuary combo will do the trick, rigged with 9lb mainline, 8-10lb fluorocarbon trace and a size 2-4 ball sinker – depending on current, a size 2-4 baitholder hook will normally do the job. Try to pick a spot where there’s either natural or man-made structure in the water, this offers baitfish a spot to hide and the predatory bream a great spot to find a feed. Sunken trees, mangrove edges, rock bars, bridges, rock walls, pontoons and jetties are all good spots to try your luck. For land-based anglers, try the Seaway wall and the Spit, Broadwater Parklands, Labrador, Paradise Point and Runaway Bay. In the boat, try Wave Break and Crab islands, Paradise Point, Kalinga Bank, Crusoe Island and Tiger Mullet Channel.
Brad from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports very limited fishing this week with the wind and rain. The Tweed is now muddy again but before that we were catching a few nice flathead on vibes and whiting on MMD Splash Prawn surface lures. Once this weather settles, during the upcoming week we will have to focus on lure fishing the downstream reaches. We will have fantastic fishing to look forward to in autumn and winter once La Niña weakens.
Clint from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports very limited fishing opportunities this week though he did go a few times before the weather turned. The Nerang and Coomera rivers are now a chocolate colour with more rain to come. The Broadwater produced a variety of fish on yabbies and Ecogear Marukyu Isome worms, while some squid turned up in bigger numbers and sizes than normal for this time of year. I ran an early morning charter in the Nerang River and we caught flathead on soft plastics, then a mangrove jack charter one night, which produced one jack and a few bream before the heavy rain set in and shut the fish down. This week, I will look to fish the Seaway for jewfish and more, and the Broadwater sand flats and deeper channels for the usual flathead, tuskfish, whiting, squid and others using yabbies, plastics, vibes and blade lures.
Gavin from Sea Probe Fishing Charters reports that once the run-off eases and the debris clears, it will be worth chasing dolphinfish because they’ve been hanging around the fish aggregating devices off the Gold Coast. It can be hard to get them to bite sometimes, but try all different methods, bait and lures and hopefully you’ll get the bite. A few marlin are still getting around spot X still and along that line, mackerel have shown up in good numbers on the Diamond Reef and Q1, trolling hard-bodies and live and dead bait.
If you have any great catches or photos you would like to share, email us and let us know how you went – brett@coomerahouseboats.com.au or brett@fishotackle.com.au
Stay up to date with all fishing regulations in Queensland https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries
Fisho Tackle and Coomera Houseboat Holidays now have Hire Tinnies follow the link to view http://www.coomerahouseboats.com.au/our-fleet-type/hire-tinnies/
Seabreeze is a great website to access a local forecast http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/
Good luck with the fishing.
Brett
