Fish Species Guide

The Queensland Government says its new safety exclusion zone around shark control equipment has proven a successful deterrent since its introduction last year. Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said heavy fines for people interfering with shark control gear were introduced, and he was pleased Queenslanders had listened to the important safety messages. “There are tens of …

Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol officers have hauled a raft of illegal crab pots from Far North Queensland waterways in their latest clean-up operation. Member for Cook Cynthia Lui said 70 unmarked pots were pulled from Dickson Inlet, Mowbray River and Mossman River over two days. “Crabbing is one of Queensland’s most popular forms of fishing and the problem of …

Now is the time to focus on a prime winter target that can reach in excess of 20KG. The mighty mulloway or jewfish are starting to show up in greater numbers and for some this fish is part of a lifelong obsession. Offshore, the mighty mulloway can be caught on a wide variety of methods from huge livebaits to plastics …

BUNDABERG OFFSHORE For those who didn’t manage to get out over the last weekend certainly missed out – with the weather being so good the smaller boats had a chance to head a bit further offshore.  There were reports of quality red emperor, coral trout, redthroat sweetlip and parrot being common catches.  The weather around the Bundaberg area for this …

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 …