The north westerly winds will start to blow in August, making fishing tough on the wider grounds, but the inshore quite pleasant. A lot of the snapper action will coincide with their spawning run from the 18f reef line all the way out to the 36s.

August is a great month to chase snapper on soft plastics on the close reefs of Southport, Surfers, Fidos and Mud Hole off the Tweed. Soft plastics like the 5” Berkley Gulp Jerk Shad in the Nuclear colour and the 4” Flick Tail from Shads Lures have been the pick of the bunch so far this winter.

When choosing a jighead for your soft plastic, make sure that the hook is heavy duty, as a snapper will crush a light gauge hook. The TT Headlock is a fantastic jighead that comes with a heavy gauge hook, just right for snapper fishing. Long casts on medium spin gear with a slow drift aided by an electric motor or sea anchor over patchy reef and rubble close inshore is a great recipe for catching quality snapper this month.

When casting soft plastics, also try setting a lazy octopus jig. These rigs are a very underrated option when chasing snapper and will often out-fish a plastic. They are effortless to use. I like to have them about 15’ off the bottom and fish the rod in the rod holder with the ratchet on. The motion of the boat rocking is enough to get the snapper interested in the lure.

The 24f reef off Southport and the 30-36f reefs off the Tweed have been producing big numbers of quality teraglin. A simple 2 hook dropper will get more bites then float lining for teraglin, and will often catch your bag limit of 5 fish in a short period of time.

Cobia numbers have been excellent on the 18 and 20f, and the Inner and Outer Focus Reef. In August we should see plenty of fish around or over the 15kg mark. Look for reefs that hold plenty of bait, as cobia are fast growers and need lots of food. Don’t hesitate to use large baits such as legal tailor and big slimy mackerel.

If the weather is fine and the wind not blowing north west, you may be keen to head a little bit wider from the coast. The 42 and 50f lines are the perfect places to target reefies like pearl perch, pigfish, morwong and snapper, as well as numerous other species that live out there. When fishing these deep reefs, I prefer to use a paternoster or dropper rig. I think because these fish mainly live close down to the bottom, your bait spends more time in the bite zone.

August north westerlies and big tides can turn the Broadwater into a cold and lifeless brown puddle, making fishing tough on certain days. The Broadwater has an influx in bait like mullet, whitebait and herring. With this, the winter run of mulloway, flathead, tailor and bream have been excellent.

Flathead tend to move around a lot in August, prior to their spawning run. Trolling hardbody lures like Lively Lures, Micro Mullets and Pig Lures are great searching tools for finding lizards. When you have found a few, try anchoring up and casting plastics and soft vibes. This will draw most flathead close to the boat and is a great method for catching a lot in a certain area.

If the water is dirty, try fishing places that are out of the tidal flow in areas like the Hole in the middle of Crab Island, Tipplers Passage and places like the weedbeds in front of the Grand Hotel all the way up to the swimming enclosures in front of Southport.

There should be a few big mulloway in the Tweed and the Seaway this month. Live mullet on the top of the tide is your best bet. As well as mulloway, big live bait can produce yellowtail kings. The kingie numbers are more prevalent during the weekdays due to less boat traffic. They respond well to surface lures and both live bait and metal jigs. They are most active on the last of a run-in tide.

If we get a good run of northerly winds, don’t rule out an early mangrove jack. Places like the Runaway Bay canal system have big concrete retaining walls that heat up during the day, making the water a fraction warmer during the winter months. Slow rolling Z-Man 4” under pontoons is worth a look in August.

On the beach front, the tailor are in good numbers in places like Narrowneck Sand Bags, Tweed Bar, the mouth of both Currumbin and Tallebudgera bars, and the sand-pumping jetty. To catch a few greenback tailor, try using pilchards and garfish baits on gang hooks in early mornings and late afternoons, and then well into the night.

Overall, the fishing options are endless for August. Don’t forget the Flathead Classic is quickly approaching too. To register your team, go to www.goldcoastsportfishingclub.com.au

Sand0815_1

Big female flathead will start to show up in August.

Sand0815_2

Mark Gleeson with a lovely Gold Coast snapper taken on the 18f line off Southport.