Hi Everyone, hope you have all had a good week, it has been wild, windy and wet on the Tweed and Gold Coast with the South Easterly winds hanging around making conditions very average for anglers keen to wet a line. The swell looks like it will be peaking on Sunday at this stage and hanging around well into next week, try sticking to sheltered rivers if you are keen to try your luck. Let’s see what has been happening this week.
Given the forecast chasing a feed of Mud Crabs up the rivers will be a great option if your keen to brave the rain, Mud Crabs should be getting stirred up with the recent downpours and be on the move looking for a feed. Try your luck setting the pots up your local river or estuary, sometimes the rain can flush a bunch of little ones out, but you will usually be rewarded with some good-sized bucks for your effort. Unfortunately, some people cannot help themselves and are tempted to take your hard-earned catch, try to stick around the area and keep an eye on your pots just in case. Use fresh bait for best results, whole Mullet, fish frames or pieces of raw chicken are all a great choice. Some good spots to have a go that are protected from the wind are the Tweed River, Tallebudgera Creek, Currumbin Creek, Nerang River, Coomera River, Pimpama River and the Logan River.
On the fishing front Bream will be a good target choice with rain on the forecast, Fishos have plenty of land-based options to try your luck and plenty of sheltered waters ways if you want to have a go in the boat. A simple running sinker rig combined of sized 4 bait holder hook, a long 8 lb trace and a 3 to 4 ball sized sinker on a light estuary outfit is all you need to have some fun. Bream are a great target species to get the kids out of the house and have a great time landing a fish. Some suggestions of where to have a look land based will be trying your local jetty that is protected from a SE wind direction, get a bit of burly on the go and it fingers crossed it will not be long until your hooked up. Some good bait options are Mullet Fillet, Prawns, Yabbies, Squid and White Pilchards.
Another good option will be chasing a Bull Sharks up the rivers and creeks, the rain will flush them out and they will always have a crack at a well-presented bait given the opportunity. A medium sized estuary combo will do the trick on most of the bullies you will encounter, 15 to 20 lb line is plenty, match this with about a meter of nylon coated trace between 60 to 100 lb, size 6 to 8 hook and a running ball sinker sized 4 to 5 is all you need to give it a go. My favourite bait is freshwater Eel followed by Pike Eel, you don’t need too much just a small piece of Eel will work great just make sure you good hook exposure to help with the hook up when you get a run. The Nerang River, Coomera River and Logan Rivers are all prime Bull Sharks grounds worth giving a go.
Brad from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports it was a bit of a tricky week with massive tides and strong blustery south easterly winds blowing. The big tides combined with the wind put the shallow areas over depth and stirred up the bottom making the water discoloured and unsuitable for topwater fishing. The good news is that the conditions are looking great for next week and I expect some great results fishing with our surface lures once again. The success we did have this week came from trolling some deep diving minnows on the tide changes for a couple of Mangrove Jacks. We also drifted some soft and metal vibes in the protected areas out of the wind and caught some Flatties, Bream and Whiting with the new Pro Lure V42 vibe working very well.
Clint from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports a tough week of fishing, I’m not a fan of big tides. There were some Flathead and Bream in the Nerang river that we caught trolling Pontoon 21 crackjacks and Slams. Fished some banks yesterday for some Whiting, Flathead, Tarwhine and Bream but they weren’t around in numbers and a lot of small fish. I’m looking forward to smaller tides this coming week to fish the Broadwater reef and banks. I will be mixing up the lures with Samaki Vibelicious, Ecogear Zx’s and Pro Lure V42 blades, plus live yabbies always work amazing if presented well. I use whatever catches as many fish as possible for my guests.
Gavin from Sea Probe Fishing Charters reports the current is still very strong out wide, but still Plenty of Mahi Mahi on all the fads and also Marlin from the 24s to the 50 fathoms on lures and live baits. In close Mackerel trolling lures and pilchards working the best. Once the SE wind eases and the swell drops it will be worth giving it a go.
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
