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 are currently fishing great numbers of mackerel with all three types of our commonly caught mackerel showing themselves – spanish, school and grey mackerel. Flasha spoons or trolled garfish and hardbody lures have worked really well on these fish.
All of our inshore reefs and wrecks are good spots to target these mackerel, the 2 mile off Bargara has got to be one of the hot spots for these mackerel at the moment but more importantly find the bait and they will not be far away. The inshore ground has also seen good numbers of stripeys, cod and sweetlip caught on a range of soft plastics and soft vibes for the lure fishos.
For those who have headed to the offshore reefs North off Bundy we have been seeing some big spanish around with these fish taking a liking to a live bait rigged on a balloon rig or an unweighted pilchard floated out the back. Bottom bashing these reefs has been seeing some really good results. The shallows has seen plenty of nice trout and red throat on the chew with these fish loving either flesh baits or whole pilchards.
For those fishing around the 40m mark there has been some great sized tusk fish, sweetlip and red emperor caught, again big flesh baits have been the standout bait. Fishing around the tide change especially in this deeper water is key, be sure to be on one of your favourite marks when the tide slacks off as this one hour window either side can be a game changer!
Burnett River
Although dirty the Burnett has had a great influx of salinity into this system over the last week! We have seen the mouth of this system up towards Fairymead area on an incoming tide begin to clean up nicely. This week has seen the crabs in this area of the river on the move and this can be attributed to the big tides we have had all week.
Some better numbers of prawns have also been around at the mouth of this system at the Port with some locals finding them during the week especially around the mid morning high tide change. On the fishing front we are seeing this system improve, the mouth of the river along the rock walls is still producing some really nice grunter and flathead mainly for the lure fishos.
Hopping soft plastics and soft vibes along these rock walls has been working a treat. For the bait fishos a live bait has been the go to with some nice jack, flathead and plenty of cod caught in these areas. Just out the front from the Burnett at the first couple of leads past the lighthouse has seen plenty of bait and some nice school and grey mackerel have been caught on Flasha spoons and trolled hardbody lures.
With the big tides this week fishing up river around the town reach area could be well worth a shot, with barra open season beginning this Saturday the 1st of February we may see some of these fish eager to chew now that some salt is getting back to these areas.
Kolan River
The Kolan has had another good week of fishing and now that the holidays are over we will this system fished a lot less. Fishing the sand flats at the mouth of the river during the incoming tide has worked well for flathead, grunter, whiting and even some big bream.
Fresh yabbies have been dynamite however peeled prawns and sprat has also got plenty of bites. If you are into lure fishing small hardbody lures have been working great on these bread and butter species. Remember when casting lures along these sand flats it is important to cover plenty of ground.
Up river around Booyan Bridge and up Yandaran Creek has seen some nice jack caught particularly on live bait however prawn imitation lures have also worked well. Good numbers of crabs have also been on the move with most of these bucks being in really good condition. The majority seem to still be in the deep sections of river and up the creeks along the steeper banks however some anglers have also done well in the shallows.
Elliott River
This system sure has cleaned up nicely after the recent rain and the big tides this week has seen the Elliott crystal clear at the mouth during the incoming tide. The flats at the mouth are still seeing really good numbers of summer whiting caught on them during the incoming tide.
Fishing for these whiting with fresh yabbies has seen the best results, some nice schools of dart and bream have also been on the move with plenty of these fish caught as by-catch whilst targeting the humble whiting. Those fishing up river in the dirtier water have found good numbers of jack on the chew using whole prawns or live bait.
If lure fishing is your thing you can’t beat a prawn soft plastic at the moment for targeting these jack! The deeper holes up the top of this system have also had good numbers of prawns in them. Using your sounder to find the prawn sitting on the bottom has seen some anglers manage a nice feed.
Baffle Creek
The big tides this week have done wonders for this system with plenty of salt starting to make its way back up river and into the creeks. The big tides has got the whiting feeding and we seen some really nice whiting on the chew around the mouth of the river on the various sand bars and up towards Winfield on the shallow flats and yabbie banks.
Fresh yabbies as always are the preferred bait however beach worms have got good results as well. Some really nice sized flathead have been caught in these same areas particularly on small soft plastics and shallow diving hardbody lures. The creeks around the mouth of this river have produced some great sized mangrove jack on sprat, whole prawns and live bait.
Fishing the rock walls and rock bars around Winfield has also seen some nice jack caught with some big grunter caught in these areas as well. The crabbing is also in top shape at the moment with the big tides really getting them on the move again. Working your pots has seen the best results as apposed to letting them soak for a long period of time.
Lake Gregory
This week at the Lake has seen the edges fish best for the majority of anglers. Simply working the weed edges methodically with small paddle tail soft plastics, shallow diving hardbody lures or topwater lures has got the best results as apposed to targeting suspended fish. Getting on the water early has been the key to getting the bites from these bass.
Starting with topwater lures like weedless frog lures retrieved along the top of the weed early then moving to slow rolling soft plastics and hardbody lures along the weed edges as the sun gets higher is a good method at the moment. If you do want to target the fish sitting deeper small metal blades like the TT Switchprawn or a Jackall TN60 have been the two standouts lures for this style of fishing.
Lake Monduran
The lake has again seen some cracking fish caught this week! Hardbody lures are continuing to get the majority of fish to bite for those fishing points or live scoping suspended fish. Plenty of barra have been actively moving throughout the lake making for some really good live scope fishing especially at night time.
The standout lures at the moment are the Jackall Squirrel 115’s and the Samaki Redic DS100’s for targeting these deeper suspended fish sitting around the 10 to 15 foot mark. If you are fishing the lake during the day the hot, humid and sunny days have seen best results especially when the wind is somewhat consistent.
The main basin still has plenty of barra in it and trolling soft plastics has been rewarding anglers with some trophy fish. The lures doing the damage is the Fishcraft 150mm DR Shads, Molix 140 Shads and big plastics like the Cast Prodigy 6 and 8 inch options. If you are wanting to troll the main basin working your lure around about 3-3.5km/h has seen the best results.
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
