Inshore
Well what a cracking week we have had so far!
The weather has been pristine and plenty of fish have been caught.
The South Westerly winds have cleared the inshore water clarity up and with the cool change we have seen some quality snapper being caught.
These fish have been chewing hard as they usually do during the first solid cool change for the year.
Whole squid and strips of mullet fillet has worked well on these fish, however soft plastic fishing can be really effective as well.
The Daiwa Bait Junkie range of 5inch and 7inch jerk tail soft plastics and the Molix Fork Flex soft plastics have proved themselves as the go to snapper lures over many seasons off our coast.
Finding good shows of bait using your sounder is key to locate where the snapper are sitting.
All of the common inshore reefs and wrecks are good places to try and find a snapper this time of year.
The grunter have also been on the chew with many of these fish being caught at the same spots as the snapper.
Even just targeting the rocky outcrops along the coast and around Burnett Heads has seen some really good sized grunter being caught.
Offshore
With the weather gods well and truly on our side this week the offshore fishos have no doubt sent it wide with some cracking results!
The amount of trout being caught has been insane especially for those fishing off 1770.
The Bunker Group has been on fire with trout around the 45-60cm mark and these fish have not been picky.
From whole baits to cut baits to jigs to plastics these trout have been savage.
Fishing the pressure edged side of the reef is no doubt the single best thing you can do to ensure you are fishing the right spot but more importantly at the right time.
Some great sized reds have also been found in about 40m of water on isolated structure, targeting these fish around the low tide change at midday has been the go.
Whole squid, cuttlefish or big flesh baits has no doubt been the go to baits for these reds.
On top of these fish the usual red throat, venus tusk fish, hussar, sweetlip and cobia have been caught in good numbers on the pressure edged side of the reefs.
Drifting the reefs has been the most effective way to fish as you can cover plenty of ground and find feeding fish and structure which not everyone will fish.
Burnett River
The Burnett is fishing really well, the standout fish has got to be the big bream and grunter!
These two fish have been caught either along the rock walls or on top of the shallow sand flats.
Fishing the rock walls with mullet fillet and chook gut is a great way to target these species, slowly drifting your bait down with a light ball sinker is the way to go.
If you are fishing the flats live yabbies and whole dead sprat is our preferred baits and the bream and grunter have been loving them!
Those catching some of these monster bream on lures have been mainly using small curl tail soft plastics and yabbie presentation lures.
Using a very light jig head and letting the lure drift naturally across the flats or rock walls is a must to get these bream to bite.
The blue salmon have shown up in good numbers around town reach and the odd ones at fairymead, these fish have been chewing during the incoming tide and have loved soft vibes like the Samaki Vibelicious soft vibes.
With the big night time tides this week we have seen good numbers of crab caught when leaving your pots in overnight.
Be sure to be using plenty of bait in your pots as this has given the best results.
Kolan River
The Kolan has been producing some very nice flathead and bream over the past week.
The flathead have been smashing 3” Zman Minnowz slow rolled over yabbie banks and gravel bars!
The bream have been loving crab imitation lures and small grubs hopped out of shallow rock bars and mangroves.
If you prefer bait fishing it’s hard to beat using prawns and mullet gut for bait, remember to use very small sinkers to present the bait as naturally as possible.
Again don’t forget to drop the pots in, there’s been some ripper muddy’s being caught in the Kolan this week!
Elliott River
The Elliott is fishing really well again this week, the flats fishing in this system has been on fire for species like grunter, flathead, bream and some big whiting.
The big night time tides this week has seen the whiting on the chew, pumping yabbies at low tide and fishing the afternoon incoming tide into the night has seen the best results.
Some really good numbers of grunter have also been caught as by catch whilst targeting these whiting, which pull like crazy on the light gear.
Schools of queenfish have also been on the move in this system with the big tides getting these fish moving.
Twitching soft plastics over the shallow flats and along the drop offs is sure to find some of these fish as they pass through.
Some really good numbers of crabs are still be caught so be sure to put the pots in if you have a chance.
Baffle Creek
The Baffle has been fishing red hot over the past week!
The two standout fish has definitely been whiting and grunter.
Some of the whiting that have been caught have been crackers getting close to 40cm!
By far the most effective way to catch them is by pumping yabbies at low tide and fishing the incoming tide over the shallow yabbie banks.
The standout techniques for the grunter have been working curl tail soft plastic’s over gravel beds and over the yabbie beds.
If you’re more into bait fishing you can’t beat using live or dead sprat to get into the grunter bite. Solid cod are still being caught at the rock bars along with some big yellowfin bream.
Whole sprat has been the go to bait for these species and fishing the rock bars during the run out tide has proved to be the most effective.
Also don’t forget to drop the crab pots in, there’s been some really good quality muddy’s being caught!
Lake Gregory
Lake Gregory has been producing some quality bass with plenty around 35cm to 40cm.
Most of these fish are schooled up throughout the dam so having a sounder to find these schools of fish is ideal however certainly not necessary.
Similar to last week slow rolling small paddle tail soft plastics and hopping vibes through the schools has been really effective on these schooled up fish.
Likely areas to look for these schooled up fish are off the points in the deeper water, casting along the edges and drop offs has also worked well if you can’t find any bass on your sounder, or even if you don’t have one at all.
A few really good sized saratoga have also been feeding along the edges and drop offs and have been caught on soft plastics, vibes and jerk baits.
Team member Josh got into the action late last week and managed plenty of bass as well as two really good sized saratoga.
From the team at Tackle World Bundaberg
