Bundaberg – weekly fishing report

Inshore fishing

The inshore reefs have been full of life the past couple of weeks! Plenty of pelagic’s have been getting caught with mackerel and tuna being the main two species. The standout two areas have definitely been the artificial reef off the Elliot and the 2mile off Bargara.

Fishing these area’s with 50g Flasha spoons vertically fast retrieved off the bottom surely will get you into the mackerel action. Be sure to set a live bait or float a pilchard out the back as well.

There’s been plenty of birds working on the surface with the amount of bait around at the moment and there has been mackerel and tuna spread all through them. Motoring up within casting distance and cutting your outboard and throwing in slugs and soft plastic’s should definitely get you into some arm stretching fish as well!

Offshore fishing

The offshore fishing earlier this week was red hot! Plenty of trophy sized coral trout and red emperor were caught. A lot of the trout were caught in around 18 meters of water either on pilchard or prawn imitation lures.

Fishing the shallows early in the mornings when the sun is still low is definitely a great time to put some trouty’s on the deck, you will also get plenty of red throat emperor as a welcomed by catch as well while using those techniques. The red emperor have been chewing in around 40 meters of water.

The go to baits has been big flesh baits, live bait and squid. With red fishing making the most out of the bite times in the tide is very important. Usually one hour either side of the top or bottom of the tide is the time to fish your favourite red spots. Fingers crossed the weather gives us a chance to head back out to the reef again soon!

Burnett River

The Burnett has had a great week of fishing, crabbing and there has even been some good numbers of prawns getting around. The rain earlier this week and over the weekend definitely did wonders for the crabbing and prawning.

This rain always gets the crabs out of their holes and makes them move around a lot more, due to this placing your pots at the entrance of small creeks and in deeper holes or along steep mud banks will be a great idea. Mullet frames and heads as well as chicken frames have been the best baits for the mud crabs so far.

The prawns have been found around the Port, a quality sounder to find the good numbers of prawn schooled up is really helpful and means you don’t need to do as many throws of the net. A top pocket cast net especially in the deeper water will ensure these prawns won’t escape, a 10 foot net is a great all round net and isn’t too heavy to throw if you are learning.

The fishing has also been red hot with the creeks firing up as they are full of bait with all of the rain we have had. Great sized mangrove jack have been caught on the rock bars during the run out tide on live bait and whole prawns. Big flathead and grunter have also been around the rock walls with soft vibes being the go to way to catch these fish.

Elliott River

The Elliott has been crabbing really well with the recent rain that we have had, pushing right up this system during the run in tide to place your pots in the deep holes up river has been working a treat. Good numbers of prawns have also been in a few of the deep holes so make sure to have a good look at your sounder as you pass through any holes.

Some ripper mangrove jack have been coming from this system, live bait has for sure been the go to method to catch these big fish. Finding bait hanging around structure is what to look for, drifting a live bait or a whole prawn into the structure with the current and a lightly weighted sinker has been doing the damage. Some big cod have been caught as by-catch however for most they are a welcomed catch especially when they are of legal size.

Towards the mouth of this river system we have seen good sized queenfish around the 70cm mark feeding on bait during the incoming tide, these fish will follow the bait so once again finding the bait is key. Good areas to look are areas that are getting hit hard with the current. Flicking soft plastics or surface lures around these areas has been getting the bites.

As always there has been plenty of 40 to 50cm flathead being caught along the drop offs and up in the shallows. Try fishing the shallows during the run in tide and the drop offs as the tide runs out, natural coloured soft plastics have definitely been the go to on these flatties.

Baffle Creek

Baffle Creek has definitely fired up with the rain, the stand out fish on the chew has been the mangrove jack. Most of these fish have been caught on the rock bars and up the creeks on fallen trees. The run out tide has been the go to time to be chasing these fish and live baits like poddy mullet have been getting the bite!

For the lure fisho’s we have seen topwater frog lures skipped deep into structure being incredibly effective so far this season on the jack. This method works really well when you are trying to cover ground and get a reaction bite from the fish. Towards the mouth of the river we have seen various flats fishing really well for flathead, grunter and some big whiting have been around during the big tides.

Flicking small soft plastics over the weed has got the bite. With the rain we have also seen the crabs start to get on the move, placing your pots around the mouth of creeks has worked great especially if there is a drop off or deep hole.

Lake Gregory

With the overcast weather over the weekend and earlier this week we saw a lot of bass being caught on topwater lures whilst they were right up in the shallows. This style of fishing is super fun as you watch the bass come up onto your lure right before they smack it and try to bury you in the weed.

Frog imitation lures were the most effective as they can pretty much be retrieved over anything without snagging up. Covering ground when doing this style of fishing is key, once you get a hit you can try a few more casts in that area as it is likely there is some more feeding fish close by. During the sunnier days we have found that slow rolling paddle tail soft plastics along the drop offs has worked best, as well as twitching suspending jerk baits.

Lake Monduran

Mondy has been on fire as of late with up to 10 metre plus fish being caught in a session for some anglers! Even if you’re not an experienced barra fisher all you need to do is get yourself a 6” Berkley Shimma Pro Rig or a Molix 140 Shad and troll the Main Basin and you are in with a real chance of landing a meter plus barra!

This time of year these fish in the main basin seem to sit at the thermocline level around the 5-7m mark so when you are trolling or casting you need to make sure your lure is getting down to them and that’s why Berkley Shimma Pros and the Molix 140’s work so well. Weighing 50-60g each it really helps to get them down and in the barra’s face.

If you don’t like to troll casting the points and bays with fish on it has been producing but this method will see smaller fish around 60-80cm being a lot more common. Remember to fish the wind blown points and bays as this is where the warmer water is and the feeding fish should be.

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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