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 having a nice week. Heading towards the Gold Coast Show Day long weekend at the time of writing, it looks like we will see some moderate wind, unfortunately though there’s a fairly good chance of rain hanging around. Given the conditions, if you can put up with a bit of rain, it will be well worth getting out for a fish on both the Tweed and Gold Coast waterways. Let’s check out what’s been biting and some good options for your long weekend.
The fishing offshore has been good over the past week, with fishos finding a few weather windows to head out and chase a feed. Good numbers of snapper have been on the chew for those lucky enough to find a school to target. At the time of writing my report, it looks like a southerly wind might be up over the weekend and then start to ease on Monday – make sure you have the latest forecast before heading out on the water. Once again, the close reefs off the Seaway have produced some good quality snapper on the dawn or dusk bite and also on the tide changes, which are the best times to target fish on the 18 and 24-fathom grounds.
Finding good ground to fish is the key to success in close. I always try to fish not too close to other boats, opting to have a good sound around to find a show to target away from the crowds – this will increase your chances of catching fish. It’s worth having a good look on the sounder when choosing a spot. Finding a show of bait or fish arched up is a good indication it’s a spot worth having a drop on. If you are not catching fish in the first 15 minutes or so, I recommend moving on and trying another area of the reef – even a small move of 50m can make a big difference. Catches from the 18 to 24-fathom grounds this week have included snapper, jewfish, cobia, teraglin, maori cod, moses perch, spangled emperor and tuskfish. Out wider on the 36 and 50-fathom reefs, current depending, fishos have scored some great feeds of snapper, pearl perch, cobia, tuskfish, yellowtail kingfish, amberjack and samson fish, to name a few species.
The King of the Pin competition was held last weekend, with plenty of keen anglers giving it a go. By the sound of it, the comp was a great success, with lots of happy winners taking out awesome prizes in their chosen categories. The comp saw a good mixed bag of species such as jewfish, tailor, flathead, bream and whiting landed to name a few.
The Broadwater and Jumpinpin Channel is holding lots of bait schools at the moment, this in turn has seen plenty of good-sized tailor being caught this week. The best time to target tailor are the last couple of hours of a run-in tide, when the water quality is at its best, and the first hour of a run-out tide. The deeper main channels seem to be the best spots to target tailor – the bait schools tend to hold up against the current lines in the deeper water and will move towards the surface when being attacked by hungry predators. When looking for fish to target, always keep an eye on the sounder for signs of life to indicate either bait schools or schools of larger fish such as tailor in the area. Birds searching a current line or diving and hitting the water is a great sign because it usually tells us that fish are actively feeding at that time.
When searching, try trolling a mix of diving lures to cover ground until you get consistent hook ups. Once you have found fish, look at switching to throwing metal slugs, as they can cast a long distance and be either worked quickly or let sink to attract fish feeding deeper. If there’s plenty of surface action, try a surface popper or a stickbait for an exciting surface strike. Some good spots to look are the Gold Coast Seaway, main Currigee Channel, mouth of the south arm of the Coomera River, Aldershots, Jumpinpin Bar, Kalinga Bank, Crusoe Island, mouth of Tiger Mullet Channel, Short Island and Canaipa Passage.
Flathead catches have also been very consistent this week, with some great fish being landed in the Broadwater, Jumpinpin and the local rivers of the Gold and Tweed coasts. A mixture of soft plastics, soft vibes, glide baits, trolling hard-body lures and drifting bait have all done the trick on the flathead.
Brad from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports… The weather was awesome this week, as was the fishing earlier in the week, but unfortunately the back end went a bit quiet. The reason the past couple of days were a bit slow was because of the lack of run in the tides and a major barometer drop. It is amazing how you can have the best sounders, equipment and techniques and Mother Nature has the last say. It was not as though we didn’t catch anything over the past couple of days, however we got less fish and had to work harder to get them. The fish caught this week were flatties, bream, whiting, school jew and mangrove jack.
Clint from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports… This week again there were heaps of squid in the Broadwater. It is now peak season for them and they should be on for the next month. I will be doing quite a bit of squid fishing and chasing nice fish as well, so book your private charter in soon. Limited dates are available. Squid are now bigger and more numerous in their usual areas – both sides of Crab Island, Biggera and in all the holes from Seaworld to Sundale Bridge. Look for areas 4-6m deep and use 2.5 and 3.0 size squid jigs. My favourites are Ecogear Dartmax in green, gold, white, orange, pink and purple, and red in cloudy conditions. Cast them out far enough that they’ll reach the bottom then either drift or slowly lift and drop and retrieve. Other than squid, there are some nice flathead on the flats and in the channels, plus flounder, bream, winter whiting and tailor. I have been noticing the bite – including for squid – has been dropping off each day the barometer drops. This week, we’ve had nice-sized tides for channel fishing in the Broadwater and casting lures over the edges of the sandbanks.
Gavin from Sea Probe Fishing Charters reports… Snapper season opened on August 16 and weren’t they on the chew! Bagging everyday, along with pearlies, tuskies and also dolphinfish are still hanging around on the 50-fathom lines, taken on pilchard and squid.
If you have any great catches or photos you would like to share, please 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 https://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
