Hi Everyone, hope you have all had a good week, the weather over the weekend for Father’s day was a bit average and that theme continued on into the week with strong winds and big swells persisting for the majority of the time, at least the rain disappeared. At this stage Saturday morning may provide a short weather window before the wind and swell picks up again. Let’s check out what’s been happening on our local waterways this week. flathead seaway
The Flathead bite over the last week has been a bit tuff at times with the wind affecting the bite and looking at next week with hot northerly’s forecast that trend may continue unless you manage to find an area where they are schooled up as the Flathead move closer to the Gold Coast Seaway and Jumpinpin Bar Mouth for breeding season late September early October. When things are slow just keep moving around to your favourite spots that have produced in the past and put in a few casts, troll or just look for signs of bait on the sounder that may help to hold fish in that area. If you haven’t had a bite or landed a fish in 30min its time to move on to the next area and try it all again until you get lucky. This time of year, targeting the deeper channels that lead out to the Pin Bar or Gold Coast Seaway is a good idea, if you locate bait on the sounder, you will often find Flathead sitting under the bait. Heavier soft plastics, soft vibes and metal blades are the go-to for deep water, once you manage to find a lure that is a match for the bait fish they are feeding on you should start to score a few fish. Large numbers of fish can be caught in a small area this time of year, if you are lucky to catch and release a big female Flatty you can be pretty confident that there will be plenty of smaller male fish in that area to target for a feed or just catch and release depending on yourself. Some good spots to try are the Currigee Channel heading towards the Seaway, North and South side Seaway rock walls, SeaWorld Channel, Sovereign Islands towards Runaway Bay Marina, Kalinga Bank, Bedrooms and the Pin Bar Mouth should be holding some quality Flathead at times. flathead seaway
As the weather warms up quality Whiting have been showing up in good numbers throughout the Broadwater, Jumpinpin, Nerang River, Tallebudgera Creek, Currumbin Creek, Coomera River, Pimpama River and the Logan River. Whiting will tend to feed in certain areas for a while, then just shut down and move on to the next bank and then return back to where they started later in the tide. The main factor to catching Whiting is tidal flow, they are definitely a species where the saying no run no fun applies. Making the most of a good bite is important, try to fish a couple rods per angler to increase your chances of landing more fish. If the bite slows up don’t be afraid of moving to the next spot for a look as you can always come back later, and you should be in with a chance if the Whiting return. Target a few depths of water by fanning your casts around the boat or off the shore until you can find a depth that the fish are schooling in, dropping a good fish can also be a reason for the school to go quiet. A light outfit will be perfect, 6 to 8lb main line, a long 6lb fluro carbon leader, a suitable sized sinker from 3 to 5 ball to keep your bait on the bottom in the bite zone. Best baits are live bloodworms, beach worms and yabbies.
Clint and Brad from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports the Flathead really fired up this week, as well as some Tuskfish, Flounder, Squid, Sand Whiting and Winter Whiting. The small daytime tides allow for a bigger bite window for the Flathead which have been hunting between the Seaway and Sovereign island. Run out tides currently produce the best results in term of size and number, we usually release fish over 60cm, and keep a few in the 40-50cm range for customers. The best lures have been Samaki vibes in whitebait and pearl shrimp colours, as the fish are feeding on small baitfish. Our custom colour new hardbody which we have named “Candyman” is also catching lots of fish. The Sand Whiting are definitely moving downstream, we have been catching some good ones on yabbies. New moon is on Tuesday so we will see a spike in feeding activity between now and a few days after the moon.
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/
Good luck with the Fishing.
Brett
