Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
How good is it to live in this part of Australia at this time of the year? I’m sure everyone enjoyed their Australia Day celebrations, and it was great to see so many anglers around the Bundaberg area out wetting a line last weekend.
BUNDABERG OFFSHORE
Finally, there was a small window in the weather for a few of the larger boats to head out to the islands and reefs last weekend. Whilst the conditions weren’t fantastic, anglers who braved the conditions managed to land a good mixed bag of reef fish including coral trout, hussar, parrot and sweetlip. Once again there has been quite a few Spanish mackerel and cobia caught this past week. Trolling larger hard body lures that dive between 2 and 4 metres, such as the Xraps and Halco Laser Pro, has been working a treat.
THE BURNETT RIVER
The good news for all the local barra fishermen is that it’s open season starting at midday on Friday, 1st February in all our local rivers, creeks and impoundments. Other species that have been on the chew in the Burnett include big grunter, flathead, whiting and some cracking bream for this time of the year. Towards the mouth there has been quite a few queenfish and trevally willing to eat small plastics and metal lures, providing plenty of entertainment. There are still a few mud crabs and prawns around in the Burnett, so it will be well worth chasing both this weekend.
WOODGATE AND THE BURRUM RIVER
We don’t hear a lot of reports from down towards Woodgate and the Burrum, but I have heard of some nice whiting and dart caught along the beach at Woodgate. Now the barra season is open, systems like the Burrum, Gregory and Isis will be well and truly worth a look for both barra and mangrove jack. Just take care navigating through these areas due to the many sand and rock bars. Towards the mouth at Burrum Heads should hold some nice grunter and barramundi in the deeper channels and plenty of flathead and whiting around the sand bars with fresh yabbies and sand worms being the best baits.
BAFFLE CREEK AND THE KOLAN RIVER
Both the Baffle and Kolan systems were busy over the Australia Day long weekend and by the sounds of it, there were plenty of fish and crabs caught in both. Flathead and whiting were the main species caught towards the mouth whereas mangrove jack up to 54cm have been caught in good numbers towards the top of the Baffle and Kolan. A stand-out lure last weekend for the jacks was the good old Tilsan Barra 80mm.
LAKE MONDURAN
Lake Monduran was another extremely popular destination over the long weekend and it was fantastic to see so many anglers on the water. There are good numbers of barra all over the dam at the moment from Bird Bay, Section “B”, the Rainforest and up towards Walily Creek. Stand-out lures were Rapala X Raps, Strada Tera 12s and Jackall Squirrels. With the amount of barra between 50-85cm caught last weekend, the future is looking bright for Lake Monduran.
Fish with confidence
Dale Smith
