Bundaberg – weekly fishing report

Inshore Fishing

Although the weather has definitely not been ideal we did have a nice weather window on the weekend and those who managed to head out did get into some solid fish. Heaps of school mackerel are still around in places like the 2 Mile, Elliott Heads Artificial, 4 Mile and any other patches of ground that is holding bait.

Metal spoons dropped to the bottom and fast wound back in has been the most effective way to target these fish. If you are trying to find good numbers of mackerel trolling hardbody lures or metal spoons using a paravane are both great ways to find them.

Some really good grunter and grass sweetlip have also been reported to be on the chew on patchy and rubbly ground, whole squid or soft plastics have got these fish to bite. Inshore ground like the 2 mile off Bargara is always a great spot to find these fish, late afternoon and into the night has seen the bigger grunter caught.

Offshore

Last weekend provided a great little window of opportunity to head out wide in chase of some cracking table fish. Mothers Day was the pick of the days and although the morning blew around 15knots by lunchtime it glassed off and was a cracking day.

Plenty of fish were on the chew in the Gutters, Warregos, Herolds and in the flat country between Herolds and the tip of Fraser. With the small tides the flat country was holding great numbers of quality fish, drifting patches of ground was by far the best method. Using a set of gang hooks with either pilchard, squid or mullet fillet rigged naturally got the bites.

Burnett River

The Burnett has been producing some top quality fish with big bream, grunter and flathead being the standout’s! Whole prawns and sprat rigged with a light ball sinker fished along any of the rock walls has got the bite from the bream and grunter!

For the people chasing flathead the hot spots has been any of the sandy drop offs throughout the river as well as the rock walls towards the mouth. Again, whole sprat and prawns have been the two go to baits for the flatties. A few scattered schools of blue salmon have been found in the river, these fish have been feeding around the low tide.

Throwing Samaki soft vibes at these fish an hour either side of the low tide should give you a good chance at getting some to bite. The crabs and prawns have still been thick in this system, Skyringville has been a hot spot for the crabs if you can get through!

Kolan River

The Kolan has continued to produce some cracking grunter, flathead and bream this week with the go to technique definitely being fishing the sand flats and drop offs with a mix of mullet fillet and fresh yabbies. These fish have been on the chew all throughout the tide however the start of the incoming has seen more bites especially on the shallow flats and yabbie beds.

Small topwater lures worked along the shallows during the incoming tide has got some awesome whiting and bream action as well as the odd flathead having a go as well. If you are fishing the Kolan be sure to have a look upriver as there is some good barra and jacks getting around up the top. If you can get your hands on some live bait be sure to give that a go especially if you can fish into the night.

Elliott River

The shallow flats in the Elliott have been full of baitfish and the flathead, bream and grunter haven’t been far away. The incoming tide has for sure been the best tide to be fishing this river, the predatory fish have been pushing up with the tide in search of an easy feed.

The Daiwa 3.2inch bait Junkie is killing the flats at the moment! The deeper holes in this river has seen good numbers of grunter, cod and the odd jack. Whole sprat and prawns have been most anglers go to baits and they have certainly been getting the bite.

A simple running ball sinker rig using a 15-20lb leader is working well at the moment, those hooking into some jack have gone up to a 30lb leader and have still managed to get the bites. The upper stretchers of this river system has seen good sized crabs being caught, the quality of these crabs has also been top notch.

Baffle Creek

Baffle Creek is fishing great at the moment, the late afternoon run out tide has been a perfect time to chase grunter and flathead along the sand bars and drop offs with soft plastics. Daiwa’s 3.2inch and 4.2inch Bait Junkie paddle tail soft plastics in the Creaming Soda UV colour have been slaying these fish.

Those using bait have found whole sprat to be working really well either live or dead. Some really big bream are also on the move with whole sprat being a great option for these fish as well, fishing into the night around the rock bars has found good numbers of these big bream on the chew.

The crabbing in this system is definitely looking good for the future with a lot of the bucks being caught at the moment coming in just undersize. There is still some really good sized bucks being caught in certain spots so be persistent as to find these areas.

If you are staying at the Baffle for a few days a good trick is to use the first day or 2 to cover a lot of area with your pots by spreading them out. This will show you pretty quick where the better size and numbers of crabs are, once you have found a pattern you can put all of your eggs in one basket and get a great feed.

Lake Monduran

With the consistent sunny conditions this week we have seen the water temp in the lake stabilize and the fishing has heated back up. Targeting fish on the shallow points in 2-5m of water has been where most of the barra have been caught.

When fishing these areas suspending hardbody lures are one of the best options as you are able to sit your lure in the strike zone which gives these barra plenty of opportunity to eat. Samaki Redic DS80’s have been the lures getting these barra to chew and they come ready to roll straight out of the packet.

If you are fishing the dam ensure to fish hard around the Kolan River tide changes and any of the moon bite times as some of these times have been a great little bite window for these barra especially the 1m+ models. The South Arm of B, 2 Mile and Jacks have all had a lot of fish caught in them this week. Use your side scan to locate fish sitting on points and then persist, be sure to mix things up like your casts, retrieve and lures until you find out what is working.

 

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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