Fish Species Guide

Hi Everyone, hope you have all had a good week, pretty average conditions for wetting a line with a persistent cool Southerly wind, overcast conditions and rain on the way to end the week on the Tweed and Gold Coast. Monday looks we will see a return to good weather to start the week. Let’s see what’s being caught this …

I’M FINALLY back in the kayak, back on the dams, back into fishing and with five tips for targeting deep-schooled bass. Sounder Most of the southeast Queensland impoundments I fish are massive. With copious arms and bays to explore, my number one piece of equipment is a good quality fishfinder. This will assist with reading the bottom of the impoundments, …

THE latest stock assessment of common coral trout (plectromous leopardus) has estimated the spawning biomass of the population to be 59 percent. Biomass estimates are used to determine the status of the stock of coral trout and also the level of fishing required to enable stocks to reach the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy target of 60 percent unfished spawning biomass. The …

IN a boost for both recreational fishing and the environment, new UNSW research shows that artificial reef domes can increase fish abundance in estuaries with little natural reef. Researchers installed six manmade reefs per estuary studied and found overall fish abundance increased up to 20 times in each reef across a two-year period. The study, published in the Journal of …

Now is the time to start thinking about trying to target other bigger species. The most obvious target are cobia and jewfish and there are certainly some big fish around. They love big live baits on bigger hooks which should see snapper and pearlies bypass such offerings. They are also a sucker for big slow pitch jigs and soft plastics. …

BUNDABERG OFFSHORE Lately, we’ve seen ripper fishing off Bundaberg and 1770!  Plenty of trophy-sized coral trout and red emperor has been caught.  Using pilchards and live baits will get you into some tasty trout, and big flesh baits will get you some red emperor action.  Remember to fish the tide change, as that one hour on the tide change can …

Hi Everyone, hope you have all had a good week, the strong Westerly winds have brought a cold snap to the Tweed and Gold Coast. A big swell for offshore waterways is on the way making fishing inshore the best option as we head towards the weekend. Let’s have a look at some options to try in the westerly winds. …

FOLLOWING on from earlier in the year, I had spent about three weeks camped in northern Australia at Pennefather River on Cape York. My mates started packing up but I was planning on staying another week in beautiful northern Australia. Then I heard my mate Darren say to the other boys they were going to slowly free camp their way …

LAST month we stepped through the manufacture of a drop-in kayak rack for my box trailer to allow my kayaks to be transported upright, and launched and loaded without lifting. In the final state as pictured last month, the rig worked perfectly allowing even my heaviest tandem Hobie to be slipped onto the skids without heavy manual handling, as planned. …

Where is your nearest frame drop-off location? NSW DPI Fisheries currently has 31 Research Angler Program locations from the Tweed Fisheries office in the north to the Eden Fisheries office in the south, making it easy for you to contribute to this important citizen science program. Many local tackle outlets – such as the Nambucca Heads Boatshed and Cafe (pictured) …