Hi Everyone, hope you have all had a good week, from stinking hot weather last weekend to a cooler change with strong Southerly winds during the week the Tweed and Gold Coast has seen some challenging conditions for local fishos keen to get out for a fish. Good news as we head into the weekend with the winds easing and the swell dropping off giving everyone plenty of options if you are looking at hitting the water to chase a feed. let’s check out what’s been on the chew.
It looks like we will finally get a break from the windy weather and swell over the weekend, just make sure you have the latest forecast before heading offshore. Bottom fishing for a Snapper, Moses, Parrot, Trag or Jew will be an option depending on the current on the local 18, 24 or 36 fathom reefs. Hopefully, the Southerly wind during the week has pushed in some clean water onto the shallow reefs also bring the Spotty and Spanish Mackerel with it. For those anglers keen to chase sports fish trolling or live baiting for a Marlin, Wahoo or a Dolphin fish is a great option after the blow. Some lucky boats that braved the swell last weekend were rewarded with some great Marlin fishing action with some boats catching and releasing over 10 Marlin per boat, that is a fantastic effort and memorable days fishing for the lucky crews involved.
The windy weather has not deterred fishos from chasing Mangrove Jack in the rivers protected by the wind, live baits, mullet fillet and butterflied whole mullet have been working a treat in the Coomera River. Other sports to try are the Rock walls near the Sanctuary Cove in the main river and then work your way down the south arm are producing some good Jacks, Estuary Cod and Trevally this week. From Jabiru Island East towards Paradise Point is a good spot to try along with Sovereign, Ephraim Island the Nerang River. The Gold Coast Seaway has seen some Mangrove Jack action with the larger fish starting to school up and feeding before heading out to the reefs before the weather starts to cool down. Anglers targeting Jacks this week have managed to catch and release the holy grail fish of a lifetime Gold Coast Barramundi with one fish going 1.2m in length from the Coomera River on a live Mullet. When fishing you just never know what you will land, put in the time and effort and you can also be rewarded.
Coomera Houseboat Holiday customers have managed to hide out of the wind and score a few nice Flathead, Whiting, Bream, Sand Crabs and Mud Crabs this week. Good spots out of the SE winds have been Tiger Mullet Channel both eastern and western end, Tipplers Passage, Coomera River North Arm, Pimpama River, Crusoe Island North Side, Perrys Hole, Slipping Sands and Coby Passage. These areas will be much better to fish over the weekend as the wind eases and turns more N/NE. Prawns and Yabbies have been a good all-round bait for most species. White Pilchards are great for Flathead and for Whiting worms and Yabbies have tempted some quality fish.
Brad from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports this week has fished well on the Tweed but very early morning starts were required for the best results. The reason for starting early was to time the tide changes and at the moment the water temperature has been climbing to 28.2 degrees by the middle of the day. When the water gets that hot the best results come from fishing the deep holes where the water is slightly cooler on the bottom. This week produced some Mangrove Jacks that took a liking to some deep diving minnow lures trolled in tight to structure. These hard-hitting fish are one species that do like the warm water and will stay on the bite for another couple of months. Fishing the deep holes produced some nice Flatties as well as some Whiting and Bream. The best lures this week have been strada dredge and atomic shiners as well as Samaki redics and the ever-reliable Samaki vibelicous.
Clint from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports the mighty Mangrove Jacks have been frothing and aggressive this week with the hot weather and water temp sitting around 29 degrees. It takes a lot of effort and attention to detail to successfully target these amazing fish, but when it all pays off it is so rewarding. This is peak time for the jacks so if you want to have a go at night the only dates still available this season are 19th and 24 February, then 4th and 25th March. This week I’ll be chasing big Sand Whiting again in the Gold Coast Broadwater in the mornings, as well as a variety of fish in the deeper cooler channels on Samaki vibes, Ecogear ZX’s, and Pro Lure V42. New moon is this coming Friday, we have big morning tides followed by smaller night tides.
If you have any great catches or photos you would like to share, please email us and let us know how you went. brett@coomerahouseboats.com.au or brett@fishotackle.com.au
Stay up to date with all fishing regulations in Queensland https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries
Fisho Tackle and Coomera Houseboat Holidays now have Hire Tinnies follow the link to view http://www.coomerahouseboats.com.au/our-fleet-type/hire-tinnies/
Seabreeze is a great website to access a local forecast http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/
If you have any great catches to report or fishing photos please email them to brett@fishotackle.com.au
Good luck with the Fishing.
Brett
