Bundaberg – weekly fishing report

Inshore fishing

With the water warming up the inshore reefs are really starting to fire up! The school mackerel are here in great numbers, targeting these fish at first light in the mornings by fast retrieving 50g Flasha spoons vertically off the bottom and floating pilchards out the back of the boat has been doing the trick. Stay away from using wire trace while chasing schoolies, if you use 60lb fluorocarbon leader you’re going to get plenty more bites.

Also, there’s been some cracking sized grunter and late seasoned snapper getting caught. Again first light in the morning and last light in the afternoon being the standout bite times. For both these species targeting them with 20g soft vibes and 5” soft plastics has been the standout technique. If you are more into bait fishing using squid, prawns or pilchards has been doing the trick.

Some solid inshore trout have been falling victim to Samaki Golden Carrot prawn lures hopped along the pressure edges of reefs that are holding good amounts of bait as well. Good sized stripey’s, trevally and queenfish have been some very welcomed by catch for most when doing this type of fishing.

Offshore fishing

Although the weather windows have been few and far between we have seen the offshore fishing becoming red hot! The standout fish being caught most has definitely been coral trout and grass sweet lip which are both great on the dinner plate! Both these species have been smashing live bait, whole pilchards and prawn imitation soft plastics.

The red emperor and nannygai have also been chewing, targeting them in 40 meters with bigger baits such as flesh bait and whole squid or cuttlefish has been doing the trick. Always keep the tides changes in mind while out there, fishing your favourite spots on one hour either side of the tides surely can put some fish in your esky. Fingers crossed the weather plays game for us shortly whilst we have these small tides!

Burnett River

The Burnett has definitely been producing some great fishing for most this week. A lot of grunter, flathead and cod have been caught around the rock bars and in areas where there’s a few isolated rock’s with sand in between. The go to baits has been whole prawns and sprat floated out with as small of a sinker as you can get away with.

Soft plastic fishing has been doing really well and managing to get a lot of the better quality fish. Prawn imitation lures like the Shads Tuff Prawn and the old faithful Zman 3inch Minnowz have been working well. The jack have been well and truly on the chew this week, we have seen these fish really biting during a strong Northerly wind and during the run out tide.

If you aren’t lure fishing be sure to target these fish with live baits as a lot of the big jack have come from live prawns or poddy mullet. For the lure fishos again the prawn imitation lures have been absolutely dynamite, also hardbody lures like the Samaki Redic’s have worked very well along the rock bars especially in areas with a bit more current.

Elliott River

This time of year usually sees the Elliott fishing really well as the water temp rises which gives this system a lot of variety to choose from. At the moment we are seeing exactly that with a very good range of species on the chew and these fish have been caught on a lot of different techniques.

Up river in any of the deep holes has seen some jack, big grunter, cod and the odd barra passing through. Any bends in the river with some good structure like rocks or fallen trees are ideal places to target these summer species. Be mindful that it is now closed season for barramundi so if you do happen to catch one be sure to release it quickly and unharmed.

Live poddy mullet, whole prawns and mullet fillets are the go to baits for fishing these sections of river and will put you in with a good shot at these jack, cod and big grunter. Hopping soft plastics and soft vibes in the deeper holes is also a really effective way for the lure fisho’s to target these species.

Even whilst anchored up with a few baits out the back of the boat it is worth having a rod rigged up with a lure to have a few casts with. Those after some bread and butter species like bream, whiting and flathead have been fishing the shallow sand flats and drop off’s by either anchoring or drifting. Using baits like yabbies, beach worms or whole sprat has definitely got some quality fish with trevally, small queenfish and grunter thrown in the mix as well.

Baffle Creek

Baffle Creek is definitely starting to fire up with the water temp on the rise due to some more Northerly winds this week. The flats fishing for species like flathead, grunter and whiting has been red hot! Coming off the back of the moon we have seen less of those big whiting caught but still some great numbers of smaller fish around the 25cm mark are being caught during the incoming tide.

Fresh yabbies are where it’s at with beach worms also being extremely effective as well. The flathead and grunter have been up in the shallows during the run in tide and along the drop offs as the tide runs out. Fishing for these fish with soft plastics up in the shallows and soft vibes in the deeper water has been really effective.

Some really good sized jack are definitely on the chew after a relatively slow start to the season this year caused by the lack of rain and the amount of weed through this system. Fishing the rock bars has definitely been getting the best results and live baits are the go to bait at the moment. Fishing into the night with last of the run out tide and the tide change this week has been getting the bites.

Kolan River

The jack fishing has been red hot in the Kolan this week! We have seen some very good sized fish and great numbers of them caught during the run out tide at any of the rock bars, bridges and in the deep holes. Live baits and prawn imitation soft plastics have been the key to getting these fish to bite.

In the lead up to the full moon last weekend we saw a lot of the bigger jack caught during night time, keep this in mind for the next lot of big tides. The flats fishing at the mouth of this system has also seen good sized queenfish and trevally caught around the snags and schools of bait.

Flicking small soft plastics has by far been the most effective way to target these species. Some big flathead and grunter are still around as well, fishing the edges of the shallow flats during the run out tide has been the best way to target these fish. Either whole sprat and prawns or once again small soft plastics has done the trick.

Lake Gregory

Lake Gregory is having a great week of fishing, the strong northerly winds have got the water temp continuing to rise and the bass have been feeding in the shallows. Fishing the edges of the dam around dawn or dusk with topwater lures like surface frogs or walk the dog style hardbody lures has seen some monster bass exploding out of the water in chase of the lure.

Surface lures around these low light periods of the day are always a go to option and when the bass are fired up like they are it is certainly super effective and great fun. As the sun gets higher in the sky we have definitely seen hardbody lures and soft plastics become a lot more effective as these bass move slighter deeper along the edges.

Charlie Brewer’s Original Slider’s grub has got to be one of the best bass baits you can by because you can work these lures so slowly and the action isn’t affected at all. A simple slow roll along the weed edges has got the bite from these fish.

Lake Monduran

Lake Monduran has continued to produce some very big fish this week and great numbers as well! The beauty of the dam at the moment is that there is fish absolutely everywhere so you don’t have to travel far to be in with a great shot at these monster fish.

Barra around the metre mark have even been caught trolling in the main basin on lures like Barra Classics and the RMG Scorpions. As a general rule of thumb we have seen the hardbodies getting the bites in the mornings and throughout the day, and the soft plastics and swimbaits being more effective in the late afternoon and the night.

We do recommend switching between lures including sizes and colours to try and figure out a pattern but this is a good starting point. Focusing on the bite times has seen people nail quite a few fish in short periods of time so be sure to keep an eye on these times as well. Also ensuring to be very quiet when looking for fish and even whilst sitting on fish has been key to not spooking these barra. Remember to fish with confidence, this well and truly will have a massive affect on your results.

 

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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