Bundaberg – weekly fishing report

Inshore fishing

Last weekend was sure a ripper opportunity to head out and catch a few great quality fish! We saw some epic captures from Inshore to out wide. The standout fish along the inshore reefs has definitely been the coral trout.

Team member Mitch drifted reefs that were holding a good amount of bait whilst working vibes off the bottom and found some great quality fish for our Inshore reefs. Plenty of good sized cod and stripeys are around as well, prawn imitation lures and soft vibes have by far been the lures getting the bites!

Great numbers of pelagic fish have been on the move as well, queenfish, trevally, mac tuna, long tail tuna, school mackerel and some big spanish have all been getting around with the schools of bait. Trolling hardbody lures first up in the mornings or late in the afternoon has been perfect for the mackerel. For the tuna small metal lures or soft plastics fast retrieved through the school has got the bites!

Offshore fishing

Last weekend saw some cracking fish caught on a range of techniques on the offshore reefs. Big trout, sweetlip, tusk fish, cobia and red throat emperor were on the chew. Whole squid and flesh baits were great options for those targeting these bottom fish.

With the big tides a lot of the fish came from the hour either side of the tide in the morning and again in the afternoon. Focusing your efforts and even fishing your favorite spots around the tide changes is always a great idea. The Gutters, Warregos and the Herolds all fished well, finding areas of the reef that had a lot of bait definitely worked best as the majority of fish were in these areas and they were feeding!

Burnett River

The bigger tides due to the full moon earlier this week definitely saw the Burnett produce some quality fish. Plenty of small grunter have been around the rocky structures and bridges in the Town Reach. These fish have ate whole prawns and small soft plastics or soft vibes.

The rock bars and bridges have also produced some great quality flathead, cod and jack this week. Live baits have been the go to when fishing for these species around the rocks, paddle tail soft plastics and deep diving hardbody lures have also worked very well around these areas. The mouth of the Burnett along the rock walls is where a lot of the bigger grunter and flathead have been caught.

Finding schools of bait hanging around the rocks is a really good place to start as these fish will usually be close by. Some great pelagic fish like trevally and queenfish have also been chewing with the big tides. The rock walls and bridges are ideal places to target these fish, however finding the baitfish is key.

When you have found the bait try hopping soft plastics through and around the bait quite erratically to trigger a bite. Some great numbers of crab have been found in the main sections of the river with the big tides forcing these crabs out of the shallows. Whole mullet or fish frames have been the ideal baits to be using. Better numbers of prawns are also being found around the Port, a quality sounder has helped to find the school and the run out tide has been when they have been easier to find.

Elliott River

The Elliott River is still fishing great, the big tides have pushed a lot of bait up the river and the jacks are chewing hard! Some big queenfish and trevally have been on the flats during the incoming tide, these fish have taken whole sprat floated out or surface lures. Good sized flathead have been in the shallows during the run in tide and along the drop offs as the tide runs out.

The deep holes have held plenty of grunter, cod and jack with live baits being the go to. Up the creeks has seen the jack fishing turn it on! Hardbody lures cast at structure has got to be the most effective way to target them in this river at the moment.

Venturing up the river with the incoming tide and fishing the 2 hours either side of the high tide has been working great. The crabbing in this river has also been red hot! Heading up the creek during the high tide to place your pots is your best bet as you can get right into the honey holes!

Baffle Creek

The standout two fish for the Baffle over the past week has definitely been mangrove jack and flathead. The mangrove jack have been smashing paddle tail soft plastic’s and prawn imitation lures worked over shallow rock bars and out of mangrove roots. If you are more into bait fishing using live or dead poddy mullet and sprat surely is a killer bait to get into the jack action.

The best bite times for them is definitely first light in the mornings, last light in the afternoons and into the night. There has been plenty of flathead caught all throughout the system but the mouth seems to be the hottest spot. Slow rolling paddle tail soft plastic’s over the shallow sand bars preferably spots that have yabbies beds or small timber structures on them.

The first of the runout tide is the preferred tide to chase them but you will definitely get a bite from a flathead at any time of the day. There’s also been some cracking whiting being caught so be sure to have the whiting rods packed to fish the incoming tide. With the rain we’ve been experiencing the crabs have started to get on the move so definitely drop the pots in for a feed of muddy’s!

Kolan River

The Kolan River is definitely fishing great, the standout fish has been the jacks around the mouth of the river. These fish have been up the creeks at the mouth of the river and around the fallen trees. Fishing for these jack with live baits or strips of mullet fillet has worked well, soft plastics skipped into the mangroves and underneath overhanging trees has also got a good number of fish to chew.

Some big flathead and grunter have been on the move with the big tides getting these fish up onto the shallows during the run in tide and along the drop offs and in the deep holes around the low tide. Soft vibes like the new TT Quake vibes have been slaying the fish in the deeper water with jack and cod also taking these lures when worked along the rock bars.

The crabbing in this river has been red hot with the recent rain we have had, the majority of the crabs have been found in the main sections of the river. Using a strong smelling bait like fish frames and mullet fillets has helped to attract more crabs to your pots especially if there are a lot of other pots close by.

Lake Gregory

Lake Gregory has definitely been fishing well with some great sized fish being caught again this week. Topwater lures around the edges of the dam has been the most effective way to catch these fish. The Chasebaits Flexi Frog’s have been the standout lure getting the bites.

These lures are super snag resistant allowing you to hop them over the lily pads to target those fish right up in the shallows. A few solid saratoga have also been caught whilst targeting these bass on topwater lures in the shallows. If you are wanting to target these fish be sure to be in areas where a lot of leaf litter from the trees is landing on the water. These saratoga love to sit underneath this leaf litter waiting for bugs and insects to land on the water.

The overcast days has meant that the bass have been staying up in the shallows for longer, if the sun does start to come out during the middle of the day targeting the drop offs has found the fish has they move into the deeper water. Slow rolling paddle tail soft plastics like the Daiwa Baitjunkie 3.2inch minnows along the weedy drop offs has got good numbers of fish to bite.

Lake Monduran

Lake Monduran surely has been turning it on over the past week. Plenty of barramundi have been caught over the magic metre! With the rain we’ve been experiencing and getting to this time of year plenty of the barra are in the Main Basin and Bird Bay so you don’t have to travel far from the ramp at all.

The fish are all throughout these areas but in the deeper spots seem to be the main go too. Plenty of anglers have leaned towards trolling large paddle tail soft plastic’s and deep diving hardbody lures. The standout lures to troll has been Barra Classics and Molix 140 Shads.

If you want to stick to casting follow the wind to the wind blown points and bays. The Jackall Squirrels and Samaki Redics are still getting plenty of the bites in the shallower water! Remember to always fish with confidence up there, you never know when that trophy fish will jump onto your line.

 

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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