Hi Everyone, hope you’ve all had a great week, it was nice to finally get some long overdue rain over the weekend on the Tweed and Gold Coast. It will take a lot more rain to give the system the flush out required to help with the fishing and crabbing but we are happy to take any rain for now. Let’s see what’s been happening this week.
Local Fisho Paul Wilshire took advantage of a great weather window on Monday and headed out to the 18 Fathom reef off the Seaway and scored a couple of big snapper (see photos in report) fishing soft plastics. Off shore has been a bit hit and miss depending on the water depth you fish and how strong the current has been running. Reef fishing is always a great option as long as the current allows you to drop bait or a lure into the strike zone.
As the water warms up the focus will shift to chasing pelagic species like spotted and spanish mackerel, dolphin fish, wahoo and the much anticipated run of lithe black marlin we have off the Gold and Tweed Coasts. It’s time to dust off the game fishing gear, re rig the lures and keep an eye on the sea surface temp charts for signs of quality water to fish in.
As the temp heats up chasing whiting at night time in the rivers is a good option, local angler Wayne Young had a great trip up the Nerang River last week landing a fantastic feed of good sized fish up to 40cm long. Wayne was using blood worms for bait, beach worms and yabbies will also make good whiting baits.
Moving around to find the fish is important, once you find a school and catch a few you may need to move on to the next spot until you find good numbers of fish feeding. How you rig your rod is important, use a long 6lb Fluro Carbon Leader , size 3 – 5 ball sinker depending on how strong the current is and a size 6 short shank bait holder hook. The Logan River, Pimpama River, Coomera and the Nerang River, Tweed River, Tallebudgera and Currumbin Creek will all produce a good feed.
Smithy from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports on that Tweed the water temperature in the River this week rose up 25 degrees on some days which slowed the flatties down a bit. The good news is that schools of both giant and big eye trevally were around terrorising the local baitfish and our lures. Trolling pontoon 21 lures along the middle of the deep channels in the river was the most consistent way for us to find these trevally. The warmer water also helped the Whiting to start hitting our lures and they will become even more vigorous as we go into our summer months.
Clint from the Gold Coast reports the Gold Coast Broadwater is still the most consistent fishing area for me. I run charters daily anywhere between Sundale Bridge and Sovereign Island. There is always fish and squid to be found somewhere in that area provided the wind is light enough to get out there. Again as the drought continues it’s best to fish on a run out tide and deeper areas 6-10 metres when the water is calm and clear.
I like to mix up lures to keep it interesting and my favourites are Ecogear ZX40, Pontoon 21 crackjack’s, Samaki Vibelicious, and Strike Pro cyber vibes. It’s often hard to go past the Ecogear ZX40’s in the Broadwater, they just catch so many fish and squid, and produce results even on slow fishing days. Flathead are still around and scattered with the average size on our light tackle varying from 30cm to 65cm lately. There has also been squire, tarwhine, bream, flounder, a few tuskfish, best areas to fish have been between sovereign and ephraim, halfway between North and South Currigee, and Labrador to Southport main and Western channel. I have some specialised mangrove jack trips coming up so hopefully we find and release some more red dogs to add to the early season tally.
Hope you all have a good weekend and get out for a fish, if you have any great catches or photos you would like to share, please email us and let us know how you went.
New fishing regulations now effective fisheries Queensland http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2019/9/1/new-fishing-regulations-now-effective
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
Fisho Tackle operates with Coomera Houseboat Holidays. We offer a great range of Fishing Tackle on the Gold Coast for our local area as well as bait & ice. We have the experience and local knowledge to get you out catching fish in no time. We offer off street parking and also a courtesy jetty for customers arriving by boat. Call 07 5502 6200
Coomera Houseboat Holidays Website www.coomerahouseboats.com.au
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