SUMMER is well and truly here and so are the spotted mackerel on the Gold Coast. With a very slowly climbing water temperature, everyone was anticipating the Gold Coast mackerel turning up in November like they have in recent years. But this was mostly to do with the early arrival of warm water. In reality, while you may get the …

HOW crazy has the fishing been? The Gold Coast has had a golden month, with what seems like fish jumping on anything that hits the water, and it shows no sign of slowing as the weather remains stable. With the current bringing that warm nutrient-filled water down from the north, the fish have followed in their masses. On the local …

WITH the fishing and weather patchy on the Gold Coast, we recently headed up to Fraser Island for a boys’ trip away. With 21 bodies involved, organising is no easy task and with so many people you need to do things on a large scale. By that, I mean a fridge/freezer trailer is a requirement, along with big generators and …

AFTER a few trips off the Gold Coast with only a few snapper caught, the weather gods looked down on us with very good days. We were watching for a decent weather window to head north out of Wide Bay Bar and hit the red emperor grounds off Fraser Island. As the weekend approached, we saw a run of light …

Over the next month or so, as the transition period continues, you really have to hedge your bets as to what to target and maybe even change plans once you are out on the water because you can connect to anything from a snapper to a marlin, all on the same spot. The highlight over the past month was feeding …

4. Fish along the wall on the slack of the tide for luderick, bream, jacks and jew. It is deep water so don’t be scared to use big baits. 5. Right along the wall near the hospital you’ll find bream, flathead, jew and jacks. The wall is fairly easily traversed, so if fishing with kids it is pretty safe. Fish the slack of …

I HOPE everyone is enjoying the Christmas break and getting plenty of time on the water. The Tweed River Bar is getting really shallow out the front and starting to collect any sort of swell, so pay attention when coming in or out. Currumbin Creek Bar is still very shallow out the front. The dredge left recently, so that’s it for this …

On our last drift before anchoring we boated a good red and pearlie, with yours truly hooking up to a noah. We decided to anchor on this little patch and on the first drop another red came aboard, then another. But then the tax man moved in and we lost a big red before our baits began getting walloped every drop. The …

Mud crabs were running after the rain, with the kids getting the adults a good feed of four to eight crabs each trip. We had a visit from NSW Fisheries officers, which was unexpected, as someone who can’t count or doesn’t know the new rules for NSW must have made a complaint. I suppose having 17 traps stacked up may have …