Hi Everyone, hope you have all had a good week, it was great to see some fantastic weather conditions for the majority of the week on the Gold Coast seeing plenty of happy anglers hitting the water to try their luck. Good news is at the time of writing my report the good weather is set to hang around giving everyone another great weekend to go fishing. Let’s check out what’s been on the bite this week. Snapper and Pearl Perch
Anglers were greeted with great conditions last weekend, combined with the opening of the Snapper and Pearl Perch season saw big numbers of boats heading offshore in search of a feed. Local Fisho Ben White (see photo in report) and his mate Paul headed out to the 36-fathom line and were rewarded with an awesome 85cm trophy Snapper. There were plenty of reports of big Snapper over 80cm also coming from the closer reefs around the 18 to 24 fathom lines off the Seaway which is great news for those keen to put in the time. An early start is a must when targeting Snapper, the dawn bite is usually the most productive, in saying that you can be lucky enough to catch big fish all day long but timing your trip with a sunrise, sunset or tide change with certainly increase your changes. Big fish have been around for along time and they can be very smart, bait presentation combined with a light enough set up to be able to land a big fish can make all the difference to hooking that big Snapper. Float lining is the preferred method as it gives you perfect control to send the bait down at a slow speed to get that big hit on the drop which anglers live for. Sinker size should be as light as possible to get the bait down, Snapper will rise in the water column and follow the burley trail back to the boat. I will quit often use no sinker if the current is down, you will be amazed at how many bit fish will hit a non-weighted bait. Live baits, WA Pilchards, Big Squid, Bonito Fillet and Mullet Fillet are my go-to choices of bait. This time of year there is a great mixed bag of species on offer like Snapper, Jew Fish, Trag Jew, Moses, Tusk Fish, Maori Cod, Cobia, Spangled Emperor, Pearl Perch, Yellow Tail Kingfish, Samson and Amberjack. I did hear the current was raging out winder on the 50-fathom line making getting a bait down and extremely difficult task, there were even a few Black and Stripped Marlin landed. Snapper and Pearl Perch
Flathead have been quite active leading up to the full moon, some great sized fish in the 80cm range have been caught and released along with plenty of good eating size fish between 45 to 55cm range. Big female Flathead are starting to show up more consistently as we head closer to the prime breeding time in September/October. The big females will attract quite a number of smaller males which are a good size fish if you want to keep a couple for a feed, just remember the rules in Queensland minimum size is 40cm and maximum size limit is 75cm. Drifting with bait is a good way to cover ground and find Flathead if you not used to using lures. Yabbies, White Pilchards, Blue Bait and strips of Mullet Fillet make great baits. For the lure fisho’s trolling hard body lures along the Mangrove lined banks of Islands and edges of Sandbanks is a great method as Flathead will sit head into the current waiting for bait fish to swim past. Trolling against the tide is not recommended as the fish will have to turn to attack your lure and will 9 times out of 10 result in no hook up. Some good areas to try your luck are Bedrooms, Tipplers Passage, Paradise Point, Aldershots, Never Fails Islands, Wavebtreak Island, Crab Island, Kalinga Bank, Tiger Mullet Channel, Cabbage Tree Point, Currumbin Creek and the Logan River Mouth.
Clint and Brad report we’ve both been fishing the Gold Coast Broadwater this week with Squid once again dominating the catch leading up to full moon on Sunday. We have also caught some Bartail Flathead, Dusky Flathead, Flounder, Winter Whiting, Tarwhine, Bream, Trevally, and a few Sand Whiting. Next week the Sand Whiting should continue to increase in numbers, and the Squid and fish will appreciate feeding during the smaller tides in the Northern Broadwater and Seaway.
Gavin from Sea Probe Fishing Charters reports Snapper have been biting well for us this week you do have to work hard for them especially when the current gets up, but they are all great size 3 to 5kg fish and plenty of them, we have also been catching stripe and black marlins while fishing for Snapper. On the 36s still plenty of Snapper, Tuskies and Trag Jew and also on 24s plenty of Trag and Reef Flathead.
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
