Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Inshore/Offshore fishing
Inshore has been fishing red hot!! Plenty of good reports of big grunter being caught on most of the inshore reefs along the coast. Fishing 20g soft vibes in brighter colors such as pink and 5inch jerk shads hoped slowly over reef and rubble bottom has worked a treat. This time of year you should also see yourself getting into some quality inshore snapper, if bait is your preferred method prawns and strips of mullet will see you in with a good chance.
There has still been plenty of mackerel along the coast with most of them caught trolling gar or deep diving hard body’s or even casting Flasha lures into schools of bait where birds are working. Good numbers of squid have been along our coast as well. Fishing with squid jigs around the coastline have seen a lot of squid caught with some cracking size ones around too!
With the last few days consisting of pristine weather we have definitely seen most of the bigger boats heading out wide and being rewarded with nothing but quality! There has been some cracking red emperor caught on fresh strip baits and whole yakka, plenty of good coral trout fishing some of the reef ledges with live yakka and whole pilchards as well! Bottom bashing with baits such as squid has seen plenty of other quality fish such as parrot fish, venus tusk fish, spangled emperor and grassy emperor caught.
Fishing the wrecks with jigs and bigger soft plastics has been producing some big cobia as well. Having relief shading on your chartploter has been a massive tool to help find new ground offshore, speak to our team about getting relief shading on your chart plotter next time you are instore!
Burnett River
The Burnett has had another good week of fishing with no signs of things slowing down heading into the weekend! There is good amounts of bait throughout the river and the blue salmon have been feeding on them especially during the incoming tide. Hopping soft vibes along the bottom has got these salmon to bite, with a bit more cooler weather we should see these salmon really come on the chew.
Good numbers of trevally and queenfish have also been found in areas with plenty of current and structure like rock walls or fallen trees. There has been a lot of big flathead caught lately, these fish have been found in shallow water or on the edge of sand flats along the drop offs. The go to bait has been either whole prawns or whole sprat, floating these down with little to no weight has worked best.
Elliott River
The Elliott is producing some quality fish! The deeper holes up the river have seen good numbers of fish schooled up with grunter, trevally and some blue salmon being caught. Small soft vibes hopped through these holes has got the bites. 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. Around the mouth of the river has seen some solid dart caught as well as queenfish and trevally. The occasional school mackerel has been passing through with a lot of anglers getting snipped off from these toothy critters. They are great fun when you manage to get a good hook set on them though!
Baffle Creek
Baffle Creek is fishing great, the last few weeks has seen this river producing some very good fishing for most anglers. The ‘bread and butter’ species have been the target for most, shallow water flats fishing with fresh yabbies is the go to technique at the moment for this river system. Big grunter, flathead, bream and some solid whiting are all being caught in shallow water especially around the top of the tide on the yabbie beds.
Whilst soaking some baits try flicking either small soft plastics or hardbody lures along the flats or drop offs as this can often times pick up some cracking fish as well. The flats around the mouth of the river have definitely produced the better numbers of fish. Up the creeks has seen the crabs on the move, placing the pots in overnight is working best and the deeper sections of the creek have seemed to hold more crab in this system.
Kolan River
Kolan River is fishing well, the last few weeks has seen this river 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 waiting for the bait to be forced into the deeper water as the tide drops. Whole prawns, whole sprat or fresh yabbies have all been getting good results, small soft vibe lures like the MMD Soft Prawn Vibe have worked really well for the lure fishos. Those after a good feed of crab should be placing there pots up the creeks in shallower sections, reports have shown that this week the crabs have moved shallower so be sure to give this a go. Large fish frames or mullet fillets have worked great at bringing in plenty of crab.
Lake Gregory
Lake Gregory is having a good week of fishing! The bass are super healthy and feeding well at the moment which is proving to be great fun for most people fishing the dam. Like mentioned in last weeks report the drop in water temp has got these bass in small schools situated throughout the dam. Finding the good numbers of fish using a quality sounder with side imaging and down imaging will save a lot of casting.
Using small paddle tail soft plastics slowly wound through the schools of fish has got the bites. If they aren’t biting on the plastics a small deep diving hardbody twitched through the school with long pauses should do the trick. Early mornings and late afternoons are producing the most fish with the bass feeding more aggressively during these times.
Lake Monduran
The dam is producing good numbers of rat barra this week, 50 to 65cm fish have been up in the shallows and feeding! Targeting these smaller fish by casting your lure right to the bank and using short, sharp twitches with long pauses in between has done the damage. Areas with overhanging trees or plenty of lily pads have held good numbers of smaller fish so these areas definitely warrant a few casts. Early mornings, late afternoons and half an hour before or after the Kolan River tide changes have seen the barra feed more aggressively.
Sitting on a school of bigger fish is worth a shot during these times, especially the Kolan River tide change as the bigger barra have bit during this small window. The lures getting most of the bites have been the trusty Jackall Squirrel 79sp and the Samaki Redic ds80. Going down to some lighter leader has made a huge difference in the amount of bites people have been getting, obviously with this comes more risk of being busted from structure, gill rakes or their raspy mouths if they inhale your lure. This is a risk which has paid of big time for those still nailing good numbers of rat barra however learning how to fight the barra differently depending on your gear is crucial when fishing light.
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
