Bundaberg – weekly fishing report

Inshore Fishing

With a few cracking days of weather early this week and last weekend we have seen plenty of people heading to our inshore reefs. Most people have had great success and the spanish mackerel have been around in good numbers! Trolling whole gar and hardbody’s is getting the bites with most of the common grounds in close producing some quality fish.

Early mornings and late afternoon’s is always a good time to target them! Good sized grunter and grass sweetlip have also been caught on the common marks with whole prawns and squid doing really well. If you are into lure fishing a 5inch jerk tail soft plastic is hard to beat.

Offshore

The offshore fishing out of Bundy and Agnes has been outstanding! Great numbers of trout, sweetlip, tusk fish, red emperor and cobia are being caught. If there’s one method to almost guarantee a big trout it has to be using live baits! If you can’t get any live bait whilst out, having some pilchards or squid on board ready to float line down to the trout is another way to get into the action.

The Shinto gangs that we sell here are perfect for rigging the pilchards and they have a great hook up rate! Plenty of tusk fish are being caught at most places too, these fish are incredible eating and can put up a good fight on the light gear.

Sounding around and finding isolated structures has produced some monster red emperor for those willing to put in the time and effort. As we always say be sure to make the most out of the tide change, that one hour either side of the tide surely can put some fish in your esky and change your day!

 

Burnett River

Last weeks rain has certainly put a dampener on the fishing in the Burnett with plenty of fresh coming down the river. Although not ideal in the short term this is always great for the fishing over the next couple of months. We have got reports of some good sized barra being found schooled up around Talon Bridge, slow rolling big paddle tail soft plastics would be our go to method to convert one of these fish.

Fishing around the mouth of the river along the rock walls will definitely be worth a look for species like grunter, flathead, cod and big bream. With the amount of fresh running through this system the crabs have been on the move, so be sure to place the pots in over the next few days.

Kolan River

Similar to the Burnett the upper reaches of the Kolan River are quite fresh which has meant most anglers have had better success fishing towards the mouth of the river. Plenty of flathead have been caught on most baits and lures with the smaller fish hanging around shallow flats and the larger fish along deep banks and drop offs.

Strips of mullet or whole sprat and prawns have been a great bait for these flathead. On the lure front the Samaki Vibelicious soft vibes have been slaying the flathead when hopped along the bottom. Whilst fishing for these flatties a lot of people have reported some quality grunter being caught, if you want to chase these fish the best bait has been fresh yabbies or whole sprat.

Throwing these baits onto a yabbie bed during the incoming tide has worked well as these grunter will venture into the shallows with the incoming tide feeding on the yabbies. Be sure to place the pots in if you are fishing this river as with the influx of fresh into this system we have seen the crabs firing!

Elliott River

The Elliott has had a great week of fishing especially for the bread and butter species like flathead, bream and whiting all being caught in good numbers. The mouth of the river during the incoming tide seems to be the time and place to be at the moment. The whiting have been caught along shallow sand flats and drop offs, especially ones with yabbie beds scattered along.

Using fresh yabbies as bait and rigging them using a very small ball sinker has been the way to go. Drifting with the incoming tide over these sand flats is a very effective technique to cover a lot of ground. Whilst fishing for these whiting we have seen a lot of flathead around 50cm being caught and some bream averaging about 30cm as well.

If you are after some good numbers of flathead, the slightly deeper water with a bit more current and even a decent drop off has been holding more fish. Using prawns or strips of mullet as bait has worked well and for the lure anglers the Daiwa Bait Junkie 4inch curl tail soft plastics have been irresistible.

Baffle Creek

The Baffle has sure been hit with plenty of fresh over the last week so fishing towards the mouth of the river during the incoming tide will be a good idea. Fishing the deep banks and holes should also be holding some good numbers of fish as they will be schooled up in areas of high salinity. For the crabbers now is the time to throw the pots in as there has been some great numbers of crab around. Using whole mullet or chicken in your pots has been working well.

Lake Gregory

With the recent rain the water is definitely a lot dirtier in the lake which has meant anglers have gone to a larger profiled lure to get the bite. The Rapala Shad Rap Elite hardbodies as well as the Samaki Redic MS60’s have been deadly when fished along the edges of the lake.

We are definitely in a transitional period in the lake at the moment so more and more fish are being caught on the edges. Slow rolling paddle tail soft plastics is also a good option, letting them sink into the weed and ripping it out can trigger a pretty cool reaction bite.

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

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