Bundaberg – weekly fishing report

Inshore/Offshore fishing

The inshore reefs have been firing! Plenty of schoolie mackerel, tuna and grunter have been getting caught. The schoolie mackerel have been smashing Flasha spoons and whole pilchards.

The tuna have been eating on very small slugs and soft plastic’s fast retrieved through bait schools. The grunter have been biting on 20g soft vibes and 5” soft plastic’s but if you’re more into bait fishing prawns and squid has been doing the trick for the grunter. With the new moon this weekend the fish should be hungry!

 

The coral trout and red emperor fishing has been ON lately! Plenty of the trout action has been on prawn imitation lures and whole pilchards. The reds have been chewing on large flesh baits and squid.

Remember to always make the most out of tide changes especially on the big new moon tides like this weekend. Staff member Mitch says he will be fishing the shallows in the mornings for trout this weekend and the deeper water for reds in the afternoon when the tides are smaller.

Burnett River

The Burnett has fished well this week with plenty of variety being on the cards. Grunter, queenfish, jack, flathead and barra are the most common species being caught at the moment. Mullet fillet and whole prawns are the baits working best and these baits will give you a good chance at catching any of our other summer species as well.

We have seen some good quality barra being caught out of this river and this weekend should be a great time to target these fish. Small soft plastics like the Zman 3 inch Minnowz have been imitating the bait fish perfectly and have managed to get the bite when these barra aren’t feeding as aggressively.

Areas around the rock walls from town towards the mouth of the Burnett have held some good numbers of barra. A quality sounder with side scan imaging is a game changer to locate where these fish are as they move from day to day.

The jacks have been hanging tight in the structure so using a weed less style hook so you aren’t getting snagged up as much is a great way to land a few more of these fish. The crabbing and prawning is also doing really well this week, this weekend should be a great time to target the crabs and whilst your pots are set why not go and try to find a school or two of the prawns which have been around.

Elliott River

The Elliott River has continued to fish well especially for the anglers after a good feed of whiting, flathead and bream. The flats at the mouth of the river have been fishing well during the run in tide, fresh yabbies or whole sprat have worked the best. These queenfish have been caught mostly around the last half of the run in tide and the first half of the run out tide.

 

Floated out some whole sprat around the drop offs or deeper bends of the river has worked a treat on these fish. Up river has seen some jacks being caught but live baits and flesh baits have been working best. Some good crabs are also being caught out of this river so throwing a few pots out this weekend with the big tides should see a few solid bucks caught!

Baffle Creek

Baffle Creek’s fishing has been great this week with jack, whiting, flathead, cod, grunter, queenfish and trevally being caught in most sections of the river. Small strips of mullet fillet has been working well on most of these fish aside from the whiting which have preferred beach worms, yabbies or pippies.

Fishing with a lighter ball sinker and leader has got the bite, typically we see most success on a running ball sinker rig as this allows the bait to drift naturally in the water column. Mangrove jack and big estuary cod have been some of the more sought after species for anglers as of late.

 

These fish have been caught consistently along the rocks bars and deep banks with fallen trees and mangroves providing plenty of structure for these fish. Using live baits has been the ideal bait for these fish however like mentioned above a strip of mullet fillet has worked very well.

The mouth of the river has been the go to place for the queenfish, trevally, flathead and grunter. Most of these fish have been caught along the drop offs and fallen trees on top of the sand bars with whole sprat and mullet fillet working a treat. On the crabbing front the upper reaches of the creeks have been the best place lately, using plenty of strong smelling bait in each of your pots has helped get a feed especially when there are a few other crab pots in the same area as yours.

Kolan River

This river is loaded with small river prawns at the moment along with the odd big tiger caught as well. Using a sounder to locate the schools is the way to go along with a top pocket cast net. The crabs have also been on the move with the increasing tides doing anglers plenty of favours.

Similar to last week, using large flesh baits or fish frames as bait and throwing them up in creeks has worked best. If you are able to, leaving the pots in overnight has got best results.

 

Some big jacks are being caught a lot more consistently, live baits have still been the best bait however black and gold hardbody lures slow wound over rock bars or twitched out of fallen trees has picked up a few solid jack as well! The big dusky flathead have been chewing around the mouth of the river too. Fresh yabbies or smalls trips of mullet fillet have got the bite when fished along the drop offs and sand flats around Miara.

Fishing Local Beaches

This week has yet again seen our local beaches producing some great quality fish. Woodgate beach has still been fishing great with some big flathead, bream and whiting being caught. Fresh yabbies, beach worms or pippies have been the go to bait for these fish.

Norval Park Beach and Rules beach have been fishing well with the key to be finding deep gutters close to the shoreline and anglers using fresh bait have got the better quality fish. Flathead, dart, bream and grunter have been common catches this week at these two beaches.

Regardless of which beach you are fishing the go has been to be fishing the start of the run out tide and using natural baits like yabbies, beach worms or pippies. Having a few small metal lures ready to cast into a school of trevally or queenfish is also a great idea as some big schools of these fish have been on the move.

Lake Monduran

This weeks low barometric pressure, and inconsistent winds has certainly made the barra fishing tough on the dam. Anglers have managed to find plenty of barra however they have been very hard to tempt a bite.

Plenty of small fish averaging around the 60cm mark have been caught however bites from the bigger fish have been scattered. A few anglers have managed to crack the 1m mark this week with a few of these big fish taking a liking to slow wound paddle tail soft plastics.

 

The Berkley Shimma Pro Rig’s and Molix Shad’s are the two lures working best when retrieved using a simple slow wind. These big fish aren’t very aggressive at the moment so these chances are definitely not common so it is crucial to be prepared.

Ensuring your leader, hooks and knots are all in good condition is well worth it in case that metre plus barra decides to eat your lure! With the barometric pressure looking to continue to increase moving into the weekend, we should see the barra move into shallower water and feed more aggressively. If this is the case lures like the Samaki Redic DS80 are going to be very effective at getting a bite from these fish.

Lake Gregory Fishing

This week Lake Gregory has been fishing well with a lot of bass being caught along shallow points. These fish have been deep in structure meaning that getting your lure into the weed can sometimes get you a bite.

 

Rigging soft plastics with a weed-less hook will help get your lure deep into the structure without getting caught up.

Small paddle tail soft plastics have been the go throughout the heat of the day along with 70-80mm shad style hardbody lures. Once the sun is on it’s way down and shadows start to get cast on the dam is when topwater lures have done really well. The Zman Finesse FrogZ are well known to be dynamite on big bass and have been slaying their fair share over these last few weeks.

 

CATCH OF THE WEEK

 

If you would like your catch photos published to be in the running for a $50 gift card every week, email your details and photos of local catches only to accounts@tackleworldbundy.com.au

From the team at Tackle World Bundaberg
Live the Tackle World L.I.F.E – Local Independent Fishing Experts

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