Brad 'Smithy' Smith

Smithy has been working as a full-time professional fishing guide for over 20 years, which makes him southeast Queensland’s and northern NSW’s longest-serving guide. Above all the commitments Smithy has in the charter industry, his overriding passion has always been to pass on his specialist experience to anglers and teach people of all ages and angling abilities the correct techniques required to catch all the Gold Coast’s estuary species on a variety of different lures. Smithy’s unique charter operations guarantees you will catch fish on lures or you don’t pay.

Targeting tailor in the rivers

G’DAY everyone, over the past two months we have seen huge schools of tailor enter our local rivers and bays. While this is not uncommon for winter, this season has been a cracker and is probably due to the massive amount of rain we have received. The abundant numbers of tailor should still be around this month too, so let’s …

Read More »

Deep water jigging secrets

In this month’s article I would like to give you a few tips on one of my favourite techniques, which involves using small lures in deep water. The lures needed for this technique are standard soft plastics and my favourites are small metal and plastic vibes. When discussing what areas this form of fishing would work the best, I find …

Read More »

Baitfish bonanza brings big bites

WHAT a wild start to the year we’ve had with the La Niña weather event slamming the east coast and record rainfalls. The peak of the activity was a major rain belt extending for almost 2000km along our coastline, causing major flood occurrences all over, and my condolences go to all the people who have lost their properties and belongings. …

Read More »

Start your jewfish journey

I HOPE you all had a safe prosperous Christmas and new year and were able to catch a few fish. In this month’s article I hope to give you a few tips on how to target one of the most sought-after and often elusive species found in our rivers, the mighty mulloway, which are often known as jewfish. Let’s start …

Read More »

Topwater tips and techniques

G’DAY everyone, I hope you all had a great Christmas, with Santa putting a bit of fishing gear under the tree for you. This month, I’d like to give you a few tips on one of my favourite techniques – fishing with surface lures. For those anglers who have never tried surface fishing but have witnessed the thrill and rush …

Read More »

Holiday fishing tips

G’DAY everyone, in this month’s article I’d like to give you and your family a few holiday fishing tips. To start, you need only basic fishing equipment – which might be gift-wrapped under the Christmas tree – and include a simple 2-4kg spin outfit with light 6-8lb braid on it. When it comes to lures, a few small plastics, matching …

Read More »

Doing it different at Glenlyon Dam

After years of reading the reports of fellow Bush N’ Beach Fishing writer Brian Dare, we decided on a trip to Glenlyon Dam. This was a big gamble for me as I’m a tidal saltwater guide and have only tried fishing for the iconic inland species of yellowbelly and mighty Murray cod a few times – in rivers, not a …

Read More »

Jewfish biting in Broadwater

IN this month’s article I hope to give you a few tips on what species to target and the best techniques to target them with. I call October a transitional month, because several winter species start to slow down and local species that relish warmer conditions start to fire. Whiting thrive from spring through to summer, particularly during the weeks …

Read More »

Talking about targeting trevally

targeting trevally

G’DAY everyone, in this month’s article I will discuss some ideas for targeting one of our hardest-fighting estuary species: trevally. The Gold Coast and Tweed Heads area harbours numerous trevally types including bluefin, diamond, brassy, golden, bigeye and giant, with the last two the most prolific. The common theme with all these trevally is they become more active on the …

Read More »

March always a good month to fish the Gold Coast

march always good fish

G’DAY everyone, I am very excited about the fishing prospects in this early part of the year. I would like to explain why March is always a good month for fishing. To begin, there isn’t an angler I know that did not complain or find the last six months of 2019 and beginning of 2020 quite challenging when it came to …

Read More »