Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Hello all, well I guess there’s nothing more exciting than starting the summer off with a flood… a little sarcasm there.
This most recent event provided us with a downpour of slightly over 6m in Lismore.
While not to the catastrophic levels of 2022, it was still enough to make plenty of people around the area more than a little nervous.
Surprising was how swiftly the river began to clear itself after this flood.
As per usual, if we don’t receive any massive follow-up rainfall over the next few weeks, the discoloured water should clear quite quickly, particularly as we have a couple of reasonable tides around the corner.
I’m fairly confident it will also help to fire the fishing up for the warmer period ahead – fingers crossed.
Shortly before the flood arrived, summer species were beginning to fire up.
Now the deluge, along with a few windy and cooler days, seem – at the time of writing – to have stalled things for a while.
Reasonable numbers of whiting emerged from North Creek and while a couple have been caught since the drencher, their numbers have certainly thinned out.
Smaller fish were grabbing the usual bait such as worms and yabbies, with the better-quality fish belting surface poppers and stickbaits.
We probably need to allow a couple of weeks to give the water a chance to improve further, then I would expect to see whiting return in the quantities they were before the floodwater hit.
Flathead and mud crabs were in a similar situation, with decent amounts starting to arrive before the torrent.
They will improve reasonably quickly as the water clears and the weather continues to heat up over the next few weeks.
Flathead were in the process of moving towards the mouth of the river in preparation for their breeding season, so the flood has hastened their summer migration.
From Pimlico Island to the mouth will be the best section of river for flathead over the next few months, though you may find them congregating in some of the deeper spots of the river as the water temperature increases.
While the discoloured water doesn’t bother bream anywhere near as much as other species, they will enjoy the improvement in quality over the next few weeks, as they begin to make their way upriver for summer.
Rock walls and sand flats will become a haven for bream over the coming months, and small hard-body lures, surface lures and bait such as prawns, mullet and worms will all be good options for those wishing to chase a few over the warmer months.
Mangrove jack will also be haunting rocks walls during this time, and terrorising live bait and lures placed in front of their noses.
Great options if suspending hard-body lures are Lucky Craft Pointer, Samaki Redic and Jackall Squirrel, top lures as far as hard-bodies go.
If you prefer a soft plastic option, the Daiwa Bait Junkie Minnow 4.2”, Crush City Heavy Hitter from Rapala or DieZel MinnowZ from Z-Man are the way to go, with a 1/4 or 3/8oz jig head.
Offshore, the water temperature has climbed early this year but as yet, the current has not kicked in to any significant degree.
The increase in water temp has meant the majority of snapper have moved from the close reefs already and taken up residency on the 32-fathom line or beyond.
Producing plenty of the fish in recent weeks have been 7-9” soft plastics rigged on 1-2oz jig heads, as well as octo-style jigs such as the Daiwa Kohga.
Those targeting snapper, pearl perch, kingfish or amberjack out wider had the most success on either live bait or speed jigs.
Up and down the coast, fish aggregating devices have been put back in place, ready for the summer pelagic season.
The FAD is located on the 32-fathom line, and mahi mahi, marlin and small kingfish have set up camp in this area already.
Lightly weighted pilchard, live bait, soft plastics, vibes and metal spinners are all great options for these species.
The other great way to find fish at this time of the year is to troll skirted or hard-body lures about.
It would definitely be worth starting in the area near the FAD, and moving wider in search of a current line or temperature change if you want to target extra-large mahi mahi or marlin.
That’s all from me this month.
Until next time, tight lines and happy times.
