Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Inshore Fishing
Our Inshore fishing has been red hot and the good weather has meant even the smaller boats are getting out and stuck into plenty of quality fish. The standout fish being caught are the school mackerel, snapper, grunter and jewfish! The mackerel are all along our coastline and to find these fish you should be fishing areas that have plenty of bait.
If you can find a patch of rubbly and patchy ground that is littered with baitfish these schoolies will not be far away. Dropping down metal spoons and winding them back up as fast as you can is the most effective way to catch these fish once you have found them. Trolling hardbody lures or metal spoon lures using a paravane is a great way to find good numbers of these fish whilst sounding for ground.
The snapper, grunter and jewfish have been caught in similar areas with the 2 mile reef off Bargara and the Artificial reef off Elliott Heads being the two standout reefs holding good numbers of these fish. Sounding around the structure to find fish is a good way to put you ahead of most, as these fish aren’t always sitting on the structure but more so around bait. Soft vibes like a Nomad 110mm Squidtrex or a Samaki 125mm/30g Vibelicious are deadly lures for all of these fish, but a nicely presented curl tail soft plastic will also get the bites!
Offshore
How good has this weather been! It is so good to see plenty of people making the most of it, having a great time making memories with friends and family all whilst getting a good feed whilst doing so.
For those who have been heading wide to reefs like the Warrego’s, Herolds Patch or North to Lamont, Boult and Sykes plenty of coral trout, red throat and red emperor have hit the deck. The trout have been right in the shallows and those fishing these shallow flats and edges have done best using soft plastics hopped along the bottom. Fishing the deeper drop offs with soft vibes, jigs and again soft plastics has slayed the trout sitting in this deeper water also.
For those bait fishing plenty of red throat, tusk fish, hussar and cobia have been caught on large flesh baits and whole squid or cuttlefish. Fishing the pressure edged side of the reef as always has worked best as this is where the majority of the action takes place.
Those chasing big red emperor have done best fishing isolated structure situated away from main sections of reef, or better yet, in the middle of nowhere. These reefs in the middle of nowhere hold great numbers and variety of fish, and of course rarely get touched making for some insane fishing! Dropping down big flesh baits, live baits or squid are the go to options and all have their time and place.
Rigging your bait on a set of gang hooks or even a bait rig like a Berserker Meathead Bait Rig ensures the bait is presented naturally. Remember, when fishing these deep isolated patches of ground the tide change can be the best time to be fishing it, make sure to fish hard during the hour either side of a tide change!
Burnett River
The Burnett has had a great week of fishing especially for species like blue salmon, grunter and big bream! Great numbers of these blue salmon are still being caught in the Town Reach area of the river and are being caught on soft vibes hopped along the bottom. Sounding for these salmon is the most effective way to catch more fish as you can locate where these fish are sitting and can make an accurate cast into the school.
Big bream and grunter are being caught along the rock walls particularly towards the mouth of the river. Slow rolling deep diving hardbody lures or floating out chook gut or whole sprat are the most effective ways to target these fish at the moment. The grunter being caught along the rock walls have loved curl tail soft plastics or soft vibes. Whole sprat and mullet fillet are two great baits for these grunter if you are more into bait fishing, rigging them using a running ball sinker rig is the way to go.
Kolan River
The Kolan is continuing to produce some great variety of fish for those fishing this system. Some really nice bream and grunter have come from up river past Booyan Bridge and up Yandaran Creek along the numerous rock bars. Whole sprat and mullet fillet has worked great on both of these species, a running ball sinker rig using a long shank hook has got plenty of bites this week with a good hook up rate also.
Around the mouth of this system along the shallow sand flats and drop offs has seen plenty of good sized flathead around 40 to 55cm in length being caught. Soft plastics and hardbody lures twitched along the flats and out over the drop offs have got great numbers of these flatties to bite. If you prefer bait fishing whole sprat and even fresh yabbies in this cleaner water have been doing the damage!
There is still a few late season mangrove jack being caught around heavy structures, a well presented live bait or a slow wound paddle tail soft plastic is sure to entice one of these jacks to bite sooner or later. The run out tide has seen the majority of these jacks being caught with some good cod by-catch thrown in there as well.
Elliott River
The Elliott River sure is producing some great fish again this week with big flathead, grunter and blue salmon being the standout fish getting caught. Fishing the deep holes in this system with mullet fillet, whole prawns and whole sprat has resulted in some great sized grunter and blue salmon caught. Soft vibes have also been really effective on these fish, natural colours have been best so far this winter.
The shallow sand flats at the mouth of this river have been producing very good numbers of flathead around 50cm in length and these fish have been caught mainly on fresh yabbies and fresh sprat slowly floated across the flats. Good numbers of queenfish and trevally have also been found at the mouth of the river in areas of high current . Chasing these fish with erratically twitched soft plastics and hardbody lures around the pressure edges and also casting lures at any bait flickers and bust ups is really effective.
Baffle Creek
The Baffle has really been fishing well lately, this system has rebounded exceptionally well from the floods earlier in the year and the last few weeks has seen some incredible fish come from this system. In particular this river is seeing a great run of grunter, bream and some big flathead. Fishing the sand flats at the mouth of the river has worked really well and most anglers have strung together a nice mixed bag of species.
If you are chasing the grunter and bream that have been on the chew, whole sprat fished along drop offs and mangrove lined channels during a run out tide is sure to see some of these fish. The big flathead have come from the deep holes and drop offs with soft plastics and soft vibes coming into their own to get these big girls to bite.
Plenty of trevally have also been getting around this system in the dirty water up river, finding schools of bait and fishing the pressure edged side of rock bars and islands up river and up the creeks should see these fish not far away. Some good numbers of crabs are also on the move so be sure to put the pots in a for a chance at a feed of fresh mud crab!
Lake Gregory
The quality of the bass being caught from the lake this week has improved drastically with less of the smaller fish chewing which has meant the bigger bass have had more of a chance to get to your offerings. Slowing down your retrieve has paid dividends with the big bass being a little more tentative to bite compared to the smaller fish that were being caught. Finding schools of bass sitting in deep water using a sounder and casting metal blades and soft vibes through the fish has been really effective.
If these lures aren’t getting the bites a slow wound soft plastic like a Daiwa Bait Junkie 3.2inch minnow should get one to bite. The toga have also been caught consistently at the moment, however not using the conventional methods of targeting the edges and timber or areas where leaf litter is landing on the water but more so have come as by-catch whilst targeting bass. These toga have been caught on hard vibes, soft plastics and even jerk baits so it’s safe to say they are feeding, but are definitely sitting deeper than usual.
Lake Monduran
Lake Monduran is producing nothing but quality with the last few weeks seeing plenty of fish over the magic metre mark hitting the deck and even multiple barra going over 110cm. With the water temp substantially colder slowing down your retrieve has played a very important part in getting these fish to bite. Suspending hardbody lures are a great option to have in your arsenal and when targeting suspending fish that aren’t moving much a twitch and pause technique is deadly.
For those utilising Live Scope to find and target fish a big soft plastic or swimbait has been the lure of choice for most. This is because a lot of these fish being ‘scoped’ are on the move so a slow wound soft plastic is easier to get it right in front of the barra’s face. Areas well worth a look in the dam this week is White Rock, North Arm of B, Hearts Bay and Insane Bay. All of these areas are holding good numbers of fish, you just need to get one to 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
