Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Inshore/Offshore fishing
If we had to pick the fish that have stood out the most over the last few months it has definitely got to be grunter, spanish mackerel and winter whiting. These fish have provided us with great variety of fishing techniques over the last few months and at times have sure been a challenge to catch! The grunter have been loving 20 gram soft vibes, 5” gulp soft plastic’s and decent sized whole prawns if you prefer bait fishing.
The spanish mackerel have been roaming around with the artificial off the Elliot being the hottest spot. Trolling gar over the wrecks which are holding most of the bait will get you into the mackerel action! The winter whiting hotspot has been just off the Burnett Heads lighthouse by a couple hundred meters. Using a size 6 longshank hook with squid, yabbies or Gulp worms will get you a tasty feed. Fingers crossed the forecast plays the game!
The offshore fishing out of Bundy and Agnes has been outstanding with some of the biggest coral trout we’ve seen in years 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 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, 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
The Burnett River is full of bream at the moment, lots and lots of bream! Our local Bundaberg Sports Fishing Club held their annual bream comp last weekend and there sure was some quality bream caught along with some quality flathead bycatch. Some of the better methods being used for bream is throwing around small chubby crankbaits and working them with a slow and smooth retrieve, no twitching just let it look like an unwary bait fish swimming by.
If you are fishing areas with a bit of depth such as pylons, bridges and deep rock walls the Zman 2.5inch grubs and Slim Swimz with a slightly heavier jig head got the bite. If lure fishing isn’t your thing try using dead whole sprat or cut them in half and rig them on a 1/0 Instinct Bloodworm Hook. This method has accounted for plenty of bream and flathead being caught as of late! This time of year we also get black jew/mulloway hanging around the rock walls that fall into deeper water like around Fairymead and Burnett Heads.
Good ways to target them is by throwing around larger paddle tail soft plastics or soaking a live bait. By-catch for this type of fishing usually entails large cod, trolling a deep diving lure along the rock walls is a sure way to find a few of these big cod if you are chasing them. Don’t for get to throw out the crab pots as there has been a few ripper sized mud crabs being caught.
Elliott River
With these colder mornings the flathead are definitely sitting in the shallows warming up and having a feed at the same time. Flicking some curl tail soft plastics or twitching shallow diving hardbody lures along the sand banks should get you into the flatty action. One of the stand out lures at the moment when fishing the drop offs and deeper flats is the Samaki Redic DS60 in Pink Lady UV colour.
Even on the troll this lure is super effective! This time of year always sees a heap of bream and grunter about along with some big whiting. All of these species absolutely love fresh yabbies so if you have a yabbie pump be sure to try and get some yabbies to use as bait. If not beach worms, prawns and sprat are also some of their favorite baits to chew on, floating these along the flats is sure to get the bite.
Baffle Creek
Following on from last week’s report we are still seeing cracking numbers of whiting, bream and grunter caught in the Baffle! The same technique as last week is still proving to be very effective, pumping yabbies at low tide and fishing the incoming tide over the shallow sand banks sure is hard to beat.
Using a super light leader has been ensuring anglers are getting plenty of bites, 6-8lb leader is ideal for the whiting and bream but if you are chasing grunter using a 10lb leader is a good idea. For the lure fisho’s the Berkley PowerBait Craw’s have been slaying on the flats! These lures are a prefect yabbie presentation and when fished with a light jig head they slay the bream, whiting, grunter and flathead!
Kolan River
The flats fishing in the Kolan is certainly some of the best we have seen it in a very long time. Big flathead have been up in the shallows warming up and chasing bait fish. Daiwa double clutch lures twitched in the shallows and over any drop offs has been getting these fish to eat. The incoming tide has been the best time to be chasing these fish as they push up into the shallows with the tide. Some good bream and whiting are being caught as bycatch too!
If you’re after these bream and whiting you can either anchor yourself in front of the sand flat and drift out some fresh yabbies and mullet/chook gut or flick some small plastics as you drift along the sand bars. In the deeper water around the structure at the mouth of the Kolan has seen good sized queenfish and trevally caught. Throwing shallow diving hardbody lures into structure and working them back to the boat will put you in with a good chance at finding a feeding school of these pelagic fish.
Local Beaches
The beach fishing has been red hot over the past few weeks, reports of solid summer whiting and bream being caught in good numbers are common. These fish have preferred fresh yabbies and chook/mullet gut rigged on a simple running ball sinker rig.
Light fluorocarbon leader like the Instinct Pro FC Shock leader in 6lb has been getting these finicky whiting and bream to bite. The incoming tide has been the go to time to fish off the beach, early mornings and late afternoons are also a great time to fish off the beaches and hook into some quality fish.
Lake Gregory
The bass have definitely been on the chew over the past week! Good sized schools of fish are being found in the deeper water situated just off any of the shallow banks and points. These fish have been feeding well and have ate a slow wound soft plastic more often than not! Although it is certainly not a must, having a sounder will help greatly when you are trying to find these fish.
If you don’t have a sounder we recommend fishing the edges and the deeper water around the points as these are always likely areas for bass to school up around. Slow rolling these soft plastics we mentioned is a great way to cover ground and find feeding fish especially when you don’t have a sounder. The Charlie Brewer’s Original Sliders grub is an absolute must in any bass fisho’s tackle box, a lure that is always sure to get the bite even when the fish aren’t feeding aggressively.
ATTENTION
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
