Bundaberg – weekly fishing report

Inshore/Offshore fishing

Inshore has been fishing red hot!! With the weather starting to cool off in the mornings and evenings the bigger grunter are chewing! Most of these grunter are being caught on 20gram soft vibes and if you’re bait fishing fresh prawns are the go.

There has also been a few quality snapper showing up inshore around the Elliott artificial. Using lures such as the Zman Streakz curly tail and Zman jerk Shadz soft plastics have worked best. There has still been plenty of school and grey mackerel around, spinning Flasha metal spoons at high speeds around reefs and bait schools is doing the trick.

Our offshore reefs have been fishing well during the few patches of good weather that we have had lately. Those who managed to make the most of these short weather windows have been rewarded with some top catches!

With reports of some cracking sized nannygai’s being caught we would suggest the next patch of good weather you dust the gear off and get out fishing! The brand new Nomad Squidtrex vibes fished slow around the reefs have been the big nannygai and red emperors favourite! We have also seen plenty of trout, sweetlip and cod being caught so try a few strip baits like mullet fillet or whole pilchards for these fish.

Burnett River

The Burnett is clearing up nicely and the river is currently full of bait due to the amount of fresh that has gone into this river over the last 12 months. This influx of bait paired with the water clarity getting better has seen some blue salmon start to enter the river and they have started being caught.

These salmon have been close to the bait so finding the bait is half the battle won already, some big queenfish have also been hanging around the bait balls as well! The lures getting these fish to bite have been soft vibes worked with a hop and pause technique. Plenty of barra are also in the river with the rock bars producing most of these fish when using live baits.

The prawning has been red hot at the moment with some absolutely cracking river and tiger prawns being caught. The best numbers of these prawns have been found around Strathdees, using a 10 to 12 foot top pocket cast net is ideal.

Elliott River

The Elliott is having another week of good fishing! Plenty of anglers have managed to find a few solid flathead, whiting, jack, barra, grunter and cod in this river! Fishing around the mouth of the river with baits such as fresh yabbies, mullet fillet or whole sprat has seen grunter and flathead caught as well as some whiting when using yabbies.

Along the rock bars up river and the mangrove lined banks is where the barra, jack and cod have been found. These fish have been chewing on live baits or big strips of mullet, the key has been to make the most out of the tide changes as the fish have seemed to feed around these times.

Some great numbers of prawns are being caught up the creeks, using your sounder to locate these prawns schooled up in any deeper holes is the way to go. Whilst up river it is also worth throwing the pots in as there are some solid bucks being caught.

Baffle Creek

Lots of people have made the trip up to baffle recently and these last couple of weeks has seen the fishing red hot in this river! This week has been no exception with the summer species well and truly on the chew. Big jack have been caught throughout the river on the various rock bars and mangrove lined banks with live poddy mullet and prawns being the go to baits to get the bite.

Heaps of big cod have been hanging around with these jack and the barra have also not been far away. These barra have been biting on the tide changes so be sure to have your livie in the zone for the hour before and after the tide change! Around the mouth has seen some big flathead and grunter being caught in the shallows.

Some elbow slapper whiting have also been found when drifting sand bars with patchy weed scattered across them, fresh yabbies or worms have been the ideal baits for these finicky fish. Throwing the pots in will also be a great idea as this river is still crabbing very well.

 

Kolan River

Similar to the Burnett the Kolan River is clearing up nicely and we have seen this river riddled with large schools of bait. With the amount of bait in this river the fishing has been off tap! Plenty of queenfish and trevally have been following these schools of bait, floating out a whole sprat has been getting the bite. Good numbers of barra are also on the move, locating these fish using side scan has worked a treat and soft vibes have been the lures of choice for most anglers managing to get a few in the boat.

The rock bars and fallen trees have held some big jack this week with once again live baits working best however prawn imitation soft plastics have accounted for a fair share of the jack caught as well. The muddy banks have held heaps of river prawns so these areas are definitely worth a few throws of the net, otherwise you can find the better numbers schooled up in the deeper water.

Fishing Local Beaches

This week along our beaches has seen plenty of whiting still being caught for anglers using fresh yabbies and worms as bait! These fish have been in the gutters and have been caught throughout most of the tide. The hot spots for the whiting has been Woodgate Beach and Coonarr Beach.

Rules Beach and Norval Park Beach have also been fishing well with a lot of flathead and grunter being caught on flesh baits such as mullet fillet or even whole sprat. Using a running ball sinker rig is the way to go as it allows your baits to drift naturally in the water.

Lake Monduran

This week has again seen plenty of barra between 50 and 60cm being caught all throughout the dam. These smaller fish are a result of MASA’s incredible stocking efforts and shows that the survival rate for the last few releases has been high which is great for the future of the dam.

These barra have been caught on hardbodies and soft plastics but they key has been to be casting right in the shallows and around any shady areas like lily pads and overhanging bushes. The bigger barra are scattered at the moment, finding good numbers of them has been a bit trickier this week but there are definitely heaps around. A quality sounder is a game changer as it will help locate where these big fish are when they are a little shy.

Most anglers who have found the bigger fish have still struggled to get them to bite, at this stage making the most out of the bite times has made a huge difference when trying to get one of these barra to bite. Soft plastics and swimbaits like the Berkley Shimma Pro Rig, Molix 120 Shad and the 4.2inch paddle tail Daiwa Bait Junkie soft plastics have worked best. Bird Bay and SDA bay have fished well, along with a few of the points in the Main Basin.

Lake Gregory Fishing

Lake Gregory is fishing well, the go to techniques has been to be either using topwater lures in low light periods or small paddle tail soft plastics throughout the middle of the day. Maximizing your topwater fishing efforts around dawn and dusk has really paid off with multiple bass being caught in a short period of time.

Like mentioned above, paddle tail soft plastics have been working great during the middle of the day, casting these around heavy structure like the weed towers and drop offs is where the majority of fish have been caught. Twitching hardbody lures has also been resulting in some cracking bass being caught especially when the bass are feeding aggressively.

 

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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