Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Inshore Fishing
The inshore reefs have been producing plenty of action over the past week with spanish mackerel and grunter being the standout captures. The spanish have been hanging out on most of the inshore reefs with the Artificial off the Elliot being one of the hot spots. Trolling gar and hardbody lures around areas looking for the big shows of bait fish and focusing on that little area should get you into the spanish mackerel action! Remember, early mornings and late afternoons is the best time to target them.
The Artificial off Elliott Heads, Ryans Patch and the 2 Mile off Bargara have all been a great place to get you into some grunter action! Using soft vibes or 5” soft plastic’s has been a deadly technique if you are into the lure game. If not, using squid and prawns will surely get you hooked into some quality fish.
Definitely don’t forget to take some squid jigs, there’s been some cracking sized squid starting to get around. Fingers crossed we get another good squid season this year!
Offshore
Fingers crossed we get a chance to head out wide sooner rather than later, I know many of us are itching to chase some tasty reefies again!
Over the last few months we have been seeing some absolute stud trout being caught with plenty of these fish being over 7kg! The three best techniques has been using live baits such as yakka’s, prawn imitation lures and whole pilchards.
As anyone should know who has fished out wide lately we have been seeing great numbers of cobia around the wrecks and on the reefs around drop offs and big ledges. These cobia can’t resist a soft plastics hopped past them or a big flesh bait. Be sure to have a go for these on your next trip as they fight great and taste amazing!
There’s also been some ripper grass sweetlip and some nice sized red emperor being caught with them as well. Those who are chasing the big reds have done very well using large flesh baits like mullet fillet or fresh hussar fillet. Finding isolated pinnacles of reef in the middle of nowhere or even small lumps situated away from the main sections of reef will usually hold good numbers of red emperor. Remember to make the most out of the tide changes, the one hour either side of the tide surely can put some fish on your deck!
Burnett River
The Burnett has been producing some top quality fish with big bream and flathead being the standout’s! Some of the bream have been nudging the 40cm mark and a lot of flathead over 70cm are being caught as well. This time of year the bream are feeding up to get ready for breeding season so now is the time to target these guys whilst they are active. Whole prawns and sprat rigged with a light ball sinker fished along any of the rock walls in the Burnett has got the bite.
Fore those lure fishing small prawn imitation lures or grub soft plastics have been getting the bream to bite with bycatch of cod, grunter and flathead as well. The big flathead have been caught on 80-100mm vibes and soft plastics hopped along the bottom, areas with sandy drop offs or where rocky structures meet sand are great areas to target these bigger flathead.
Remember that any dusky flathead 75cm or over needs to be released so please handle these big breeders with respect and limit the time they are out of the water for. Some great numbers of blue salmon have entered the river as well with some good numbers of fish being caught in the Town reach area. For now soft vibes have worked really well on the salmon.
Kolan River
The fishing in the Kolan River has been really good recently, the big tides from the full moon last week got a ton of bait on the move and plenty of fish chewing. Fishing the mouths of creeks or any drains throughout the system especially during a run out tide has been working really well. Be sure to try and get some fresh bait but if not whole dead sprat and mullet fillet has worked great for flathead, grunter and some of the huge bream that have been getting caught.
Some solid whiting have also been on the chew, dusting off the yabbie pump and pumping for yabbies at the low tide is a great way to secure some fresh bait. If you can’t make the tide to do this come in and grab some beach worms as they have been dynamite on the whiting as well!
Some good sized jack are still being found up the top of this system, fishing prawn imitation lures along the rock bars or live baits are definitely two methods that are working great. Also, don’t forget to throw a pot or two out as there has been good numbers of crabs being caught.
Elliott River
Well the Elliott River sure has had a spectacular run of summer whiting over the last week! Those pumping yabbies at low tide then fishing the incoming tide over the shallow sand bars and weed beds have absolutely slayed the whiting. Using a running ball sinker rig with 6lb leader and pink/red beads and tubing has been the go to way to get these finicky fish to bite.
Great numbers of flathead have also been caught in the same areas as these whiting so having some whole sprat drifting out over the sand bars is definitely a good idea to pick up some of the flatties which are cruising over the flats with the incoming tide. The deeper holes throughout the Elliott River are producing good numbers of grunter, soft vibes like the Samaki Vibelicious hopped along the bottom have been picking these fish up consistently. The crabs have been on the move in this river so be sure to throw the pots in this weekend for a tasty feed of mud crab!
Baffle Creek
The Baffle always fishes really well during this time of year and the last few weeks has certainly been no exception. The flats fishing in this river has been some of the best we have had in a long time and with good sized bream, whiting and grunter being caught it’s no wonder people keep coming back for more. Beach worms and fresh yabbies are definitely the bait of choice for most as they always seem to get great results for the bream, grunter and whiting that have been in the shallows. If you are into lure fishing small curl tail soft plastics have got the bream and grunter to bite.
If you want to chase whiting on topwater lures the Daiwa Slippery Dogs and the MMD Splash Prawns are two topwater lures you must have in your arsenal. One key for specifically targeting whiting on surface which we see a lot of people doing wrong is that they love speed! Whiting do not like a topwater lure that sits still and you will find that when people have whiting chasing their lure they will pause it, this often deters the fish. Instead, speeding up the lure will usually trigger a bite. Keep this in mind next time you are chasing whiting on topwater.
The crabbing has also been producing some good sized bucks so be sure to put the pots in when you can next, especially if you can time it with the next lot of big tides!
Lake Gregory
Lake Gregory has been fishing great again this week with the bass schooled up in deeper water. These fish have been chewing on a range of lures but slow rolling paddle tail soft plastics directly through the school has got plenty of good quality fish to bite. If the bass are sitting higher off the bottom and are only between 2m and 5m below the surface a hardbody lure twitched and paused has been super effective.
Those fishing the edges of the dam and timber have definitely still been catching good numbers of fish, the prime time for this style of fishing has certainly been low light periods such as dawn and dusk. Once again slow rolling soft plastics will get the bite, however a suspending hardbody lure has been far more effective especially when paired with an erotic retrieve mixing in plenty of twitches and pauses.
Lake Monduran
This week has sure proved that despite the water temp cooling off these barra can still be caught consistently and big barra at that! Targeting fish in 2m-5m of water has got the best results as these fish have been active and feeding. Hardbody lures like Samaki Redic DS80’s and Jackall Squirrel 79SP’s have got plenty of big barra to bite. Retrieving these lures with short, sharp twitches and long pauses in between has proved to be the most effective retrieve.
These big barra are being caught along points in wind blown bays where there is slightly warmer water and bait. Plenty of smaller fish are still around which are great fun in between bites from the bigger barra.
Being extremely stealthy whilst fishing the dam has made a huge difference, especially when sounding for barra as a few loud noises can spook these fish and have them shut down and not willing to feed. Ensuring that your electric motor is only on a low speed whilst cruising around is a good way to keep the noise to a minimum.
Important Notice
The revised Great Sandy Marine Park Zoning plan is now in effect, click the below link for more information.
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
