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 definitely still fishing great at the moment and plenty of variety is on the cards if you are fishing these areas. Finding the bait has been key, most of our inshore marks are holding great amounts of bait and with that has been plenty of school mackerel and some schools of spanish and grey mackerel as well.
Trolling garfish or hardbody lures works well especially if you are trying to locate bait and fish. If you find an area in which the mackerel are schooled up in dropping down a Flasha spoon and winding it back in as fast as you can is one of the easiest ways to catch a mackerel, even the big spanish love this technique.
Some great sized grunter and grassy sweetlip are also around on the inshore marks, fresh squid has been the go to bait for these fish. Casting curl tail and jerk tail soft plastics is also a great way to target these fish. Make sure your lure is coming in contact with the bottom regularly during your retrieve, this is crucial for getting the bites.
With good weather windows we have had over the last few weeks there has been plenty of action happening out wide! As always with this time of year the sharks have been absolutely savage however most people are still getting a great feed.
Finding patches of ground isolated from any other surrounding reef structures has been very rewarding. Dropping big flesh baits like mullet fillet or whole squid in about 40m of water is producing cracking sized red emperor, coral trout, tusk fish and nannygai.
The shallower patches of reef in about 20 to 30m of water have been again holding great numbers of coral trout but also plenty of red throat, sweetlip, cod and hussar. Whole pilchards in these shallower locations has been dynamite on these fish.
The local wrecks have seen some monster cobia being caught on them with big flesh baits being very effective on the larger fish. Plenty of the smaller cobia have ate jigs and soft plastics when jigged erratically through the water column, the big cobia have also taken a liking to this technique at times as well.
Burnett River
After this system was flushed with another batch of fresh water last week it is going to be a while before we see this system clean up especially towards the upper sections of this river. Fortunately the mouth of the Burnett is fishing well in the deeper areas that provide fish with plenty of salinity towards the bottom of the water column. For the lure fishos soft vibes have been the go to lure to be using in the Burnett at the moment.
Targeting big flathead and grunter around the rock walls at the mouth of the river has worked well again this week, by-catch of cod, bream and trevally has been common. For the bait fishos using whole prawns, mullet fillet and whole sprat fished along the rock walls has also worked well on these species. Plenty of crabs are still coming out of this system so it is well worth putting the pots for a few hours whilst you fish or even for an overnight soak if you can!
Kolan River
The Kolan River is fishing well, the last few weeks has seen this river rebound nicely after the rain and continually producing quality fish for most anglers whether bait fishing, lure fishing or even on the crabbing front. Good sized flathead, bream and grunter are being caught on the sand flats towards the mouth of the river. There hasn’t been a specific tide getting more bites but it has been more about knowing where the fish will be depending on the tide.
If it’s the incoming tide the fish have been in the shallower water pushing up with the tide, and during the run out they have been in the deeper water and along the drop offs surrounding the flats. Whole prawns, whole sprat or fresh yabbies have all been getting good results. Some nice jack and small jewfish have been caught up the top of this system along the rock walls and rock bars.
Hopping soft vibes and slow rolling paddle tail soft plastics in these areas has worked well with some big cod and even big grunter being caught in these places. Those after a good feed of crab should be placing there pots up the creeks in deeper sections, reports have shown that this week the crabs have been deeper. Large fish frames or whole mullet have worked great, be sure to work your pots if you are spending the day on the water to find the better numbers.
Elliott River
The Elliott sure is producing some quality fish! The deeper holes up river have seen good numbers of fish schooled up with grunter, trevally and cod being caught. Small soft vibes hopped through these holes has got the bites. If you prefer bait fishing whole prawns and whole sprat have been two great baits in this river.
The flats fishing has also been red hot! A lot of flathead, bream and whiting have been found in the shallow water or along drop offs and have definitely been on the chew. Throwing some whole sprat or small strips of mullet fillets onto the sand flats or along the drop offs has picked up some of these fish.
If you are specifically chasing whiting you can’t beat fresh beach worms or yabbies, fish these on an incoming tide over the shallow sand flats and yabbie beds and it’s just a matter of time. Around the mouth of the river has seen some solid dart caught as well as queenfish and trevally providing plenty of fun for the families fishing this system!
Baffle Creek
Even though we did see some more fresh water flow downstream and into this system the mouth of the Baffle has still been fishing great. Plenty of variety has been on the cards at the mouth with some really nice sized whiting continuing to be found on the shallow flats during the incoming tide.
The bite from these guys has slowed with the small tides however some good sized fish are still being caught, next week should be a great time to target these whiting with the next lot of big tides. Nice schools of bream and some quality flathead have also been prevalent in the shallows for those using whole sprat, mullet fillet and whole prawns. If you are into lure fishing small paddle tail soft plastics and soft vibes have worked really well in this system for these fish.
Securing some live bait and fishing the numerous rock bars and banks in this river has been producing some nice mangrove jack and cod especially during the run out tide. On the crabbing front there has been some nice bucks caught but similar to the whiting we should see them caught more regularly with the next lot of big tides.
Lake Gregory
Some ripper fish have come out of the lake this week with numerous bass over 45cm and even some hitting the magic 50cm mark being landed. For those with sounders or live scope targeting suspended fish sitting in roughly 15 feet of water has got some nice fish to bite.
These bass have responded really well to slow rolled paddle tail soft plastics like a Daiwa Bait Junkie 3.2inch minnow or hard vibes like the Jackall TN60. Targeting the edges of the dam with lures is also a good way to cover ground and find feeding fish without the need for a sounder. If you are fishing the edges a small shallow diving hardbody lure has worked great.
Surface lures have also been popular at the moment and for good reason, they have sure been getting plenty of attention from these bass. The key is to throw surface around low light periods, that being sunrise, sunset or on overcast days. Working the lure over the shallow submerged weed beds and even over the top of exposed weed if you are using a weedless presentation has been a great way to target these bass.
Lake Monduran
Lake Monduran is definitely producing some really good fish again this week with the majority of barra being over the magic metre mark. A lot of barra have been sitting around the 15 foot mark meaning we have seen great success with slow rolled swimbaits or deeper diving hardbodies worked in this depth range.
Plenty of barra have been in Bird Bay and up the South Arm of B, ensuring to be stealthy when sounding for fish is a must. If you are using hardbodies ensure to implement plenty of long pauses into your retrieve as this keeps the lure in the strike zone and is when the barra will strike.
Fishing hard during the key bite times like the Kolan River tide changes and moon set and rises can be a great opportunity to make the most of a short bite window. Good numbers of barra are still being found in the main basin along the bank opposite the boat ramp and along the buoy line. Trolling is still a great option to target these fish, for the live scopers these basin barra have played the game with most success happening during the night.
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
