Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Inshore/Offshore fishing
The inshore reefs have been firing over the past week! Plenty of grunter, snapper and winter whiting have been getting caught. The snapper and grunter have been mostly caught on 20g soft vibes, 5” soft plastic’s and if you are more into bait fishing pilchards and squid have been doing the trick.
The winter whiting have been quite thick just in front of the lighthouse at Burnett Heads and also off Woodgate Beach. Using Berkley Gulp worms and squid as bait has been doing the trick. Make sure you are using a light leader, 8-10lb is what most people are currently using and this is definitely getting them plenty more bites!
The offshore reefs have been producing plenty of trophy fish over the past week! The three standout fish have definitely been coral trout, red emperor and some big cobia. Plenty of these fish have been caught on live yakka’s so be sure to drop some bait jigs out there!
Don’t forget to always make the most out of the tide changes, that one hour either side of the tide surely can put some serious fish in your esky. Also don’t forget to throw a gar out the back while reef fishing, there’s been some big spanish mackerel roaming around out there.
Burnett River
The Burnett has been producing some top quality fish with big bream being a standout with some captures up around the 2kg mark! This time of year the bream are feeding up to get ready for breeding season so they are an easy target. Some good places to target bream are around rock walls, the Burnett has plenty of rocky structures so finding them usually isn’t too hard.
The standout baits doing the damage are fresh sprat, mullet fillets and prawns! If you’re looking at targeting bream on lures you can’t beat a 2-3 inch curly tail grub or a chubby hardbody lure. The river has also been producing good numbers of flathead, grunter, whiting, cod and all the other usual suspects. At the mouth of the Burnett there has been a few catches of school mackerel, mac tuna and tailor. A lot of those species have been caught of pilchards and smaller metal lures around the 15-20g mark.
Elliott River
The Elliott has had good numbers of tailor being caught around the mouth and up river towards sharks nest. Flathead are another standout being caught on soft plastics in the clear water at the top of the tide and vibes and hard body lures in the dirty water.
Hardbody lures and vibes work better in dirty water as they send out stronger vibrations that the fish pick up on. Summer whiting have been on the chew taking live yabbies or gulp worms as well! A few good spots to try for them is over the yabbie beds and along the gutters and drop offs which are found all throughout the Elliott.
Baffle Creek
The Baffle sure is fishing great! From bread and butter species like flathead and whiting to some winter jack this river system has been producing! The majority of anglers have been fishing the flats and drop offs towards the river mouth and have found good numbers of whiting, flathead and bream up in the shallows.
Drifting out some fresh yabbies or prawns has been getting the bites. The few jack which have managed to be caught have been in areas with a lot of structure. Using either big strips of mullet fillet or live baits have been the only thing getting them to chew. The crabbing in this river has also been red hot! Once again, big flesh baits in your pots will give you the best chance at getting a good feed of crab. Try going that extra mile and place your pots in areas that are hard to get to.
Kolan River
The flats fishing in the Kolan is absolutely on fire at the moment! Heaps of flathead are on the chew up in the shallows especially during the run in tide. Flicking soft plastics and small hardbodies in the shallows has payed off for most anglers doing so.
For the bait fisho’s fresh yabbies and whole sprat has been dynamite! Some good sized bream and whiting are also being picked up on the flats proving to be a delicious feed. The creeks in this river have been producing some big mud crabs recently and plenty of legal bucks are definitely still around and on the move this week. With full moon on Monday we should see some cracking results from all of our local rivers for those crabbing.
Lake Gregory
We are getting plenty of reports of people finding good numbers of bass schooled up throughout the lake. These fish are definitely on the chew, slow rolling small soft plastics directly through the school of fish is the technique getting most of the bites.
The Original Slider Grub’s are the go to soft plastic in the dam at the moment! Small soft vibes have also worked really well on the bass when they are schooled up in big numbers. Fishing early morning and late afternoon’s has seen a few fish caught right up in the timber or along the edges. Cranking some hardbody lures down and twitching them around the structure has got the bass to bite whilst the sun isn’t hitting directly on the water.
Lake Monduran
Better numbers of fish are starting to be caught throughout Monduran as the water temp has stabilized. The majority of these fish have been between 50 and 80cm with the smaller models being caught right in close to the bank and the larger fish being found on the points in windblown bays. Throughout the middle of the day is the go to time to target the smaller fish hanging in the shadows and in between the lily’s with hardbody lures twitched and paused.
During the low light periods and the bite times it is definitely worth sitting on a school of bigger fish and trying to convert one to bite! Throwing a variety of lures will give you a better chance at getting one to chew, try big plastics, hardbodies and vibes but also don’t be afraid to mix up your retrieve as this can change the action of the lure completely! Getting one of these bigger fish to bite sure is a great feeling, but if not fish the edges and find a few smaller fish which are great fun and put on some spectacular aerial displays.
CATCH OF THE WEEK
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From the team at Tackle World Bundaberg
Live the Tackle World L.I.F.E – Local Independent Fishing Experts
