Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports


	These reports are updated weekly. Last Edited: Monday, 15 March 2004 Quick Jump Links: Gold Coast, Moreton Bay, Freshwater, Bribie Is & Caloundra, Sunshine Coast, Maroochy/Mooloolaba. Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Yeppoon, Stanage Bay, Mackay, Whitsundays. Townsville, Hinchinbrook. Mission Beach, Karumba, Cairns, Port Douglas. C ooktown, Weipa, Archived Reports, Weather & Tides.
COMPILED WEEKLY BY GARRY SMITH IN CAIRNS: e-mail: lavallesmith@iig.com.au

Gold Coast

The seas have abated over the last week, which has made it possible to fish the offshore grounds. Most of the week has seen steady southerlies that abate in the afternoons, making an offshore trip late in the day the best prospect.

Early last week the seas were still a bit rough to cross the bars, but by Wednesday conditions had calmed to reasonable levels. Pelagic fishing continues to be very popular and some nice fish were taken during the week. There are still a few billfish about but with the dirty water flushing out of the estuaries most of the action was on the 50 fathom mark and beyond. Trolling hexhead skirts and live or dead slimie mackerel was the most popular way to tempt a marlin. Most boats headed north from the Seaway to fish between Couran Cove and the Pin, as this was where most of the big bait schools are currently located.

On the shallower grounds some good catches of spotted and Spanish mackerel were taken. Trolling lures and live baits, drifting livies, floatlining and casting metal slugs were all effective methods, depending on what the fish were doing. Some of the spotties taken were absolute monsters, with a few going very close to the ten kilo mark. While the schools of spotties haven't been huge, the size has more than made up for that.

The Spaniards are not around in huge numbers either but by trolling large purple skirts or whole dead bonito and tailor some nice fish were taken. Once again a lot of the action happened north of the Seaway but Palm Beach and Mermaid Reefs produced some consistent catches. Trolling further out also produced quite a few mack tuna and the odd yellowfin.

Fishing the bottom has been good once the water cleared. The shallow reefs have been fishing well for tailor, squire, trag and parrotfish. The best baits to try were fish strips, whole pilchards and squid. It is always a good idea to take a heavier rod rigged up for livies and a few balloons when bottom bashing as plenty of mackerel and cobia are taken on this rig while fishing the bottom with lighter gear.

The deeper reefs also fished well, with some nice snapper turning up this week, which shows there are good prospects for the upcoming season. Other fish taken in the deep water were pearlies, trag, parrot, amberjack and morwong.

The estuaries have been fishing very well after the recent freshwater flushing that they received. While the water in the rivers hasn't cleared up completely plenty of fish have been on the chew, especially in the lower reaches. Whiting, bream and flathead were the main catches during the week, with all of these species showing up in good numbers. The bream are still reasonably small. I had one frustrating session during the week where 20 bream were landed, with the smallest being 20cm and the largest 25cm. Some bigger bream have turned up mainly at night around rock walls, bridges and canal entrances. The logs in the channel south of the Seaway have also been producing some big catches at night, especially around the top of the tide.

The numbers of whiting around may have dropped just a touch, but there is still enough to get a decent feed out of a good session. Most of the whiting have moved closer to the mouths of the rivers to avoid the dirty water and can be taken on bloodworms, yabbies, beachworms or peeled prawns.

The Broadwater was a great place to try for flathead on soft plastics and hard-bodied lures. Although there are not many fish around over 60cm, the numbers are there and it is not too much trouble to pull a feed from around weed beds and run-off channels.

For those who like tangling with big toothy critters, sharks have been in plague proportions in the rivers over the past week, as is often the case after some heavy rain. Live mullet, tailor or slabs of these fish are as good a bait as any. Just be careful when landing sharks as they have a nasty habit of playing dead and then going absolutely bezerk when they are gaffed or pulled into the boat. There have been times when I've almost left the boat to a shark and jumped into the water myself to escape.

The Seaway was a popular place to wet a line during the week and some excellent fish were caught in this area. Trevally, bream, flathead and tailor were common captures on bait and lures from the rock walls. There was also a few luderick about in front of the tower for those who enjoy catching and eating these fish. Fresh weed is the best bait for them but worms and peeled prawns will often account for a few. At the beginning of the week there were also snapper and parrot feeding along the walls and they could be targeted using live baits and frogmouth pilchards. Some nice tarpon, school jew, kingfish and sharks were also pulled from along the pipeline and the hole at the end of the north wall on live baits.

The beaches have fished reasonably well for the second half of the week after the big seas made them a no-go zone earlier. Some nice tailor were taken from the northern beaches, especially from the sand pumping jetty and in the gutters between here and the southern Seaway wall. Pilchards and Raider lures were the preferred offerings.

There have also been some large sea bream and tarwhine in the deeper gutters, along with good numbers of large dart. These fish can be targeted on beach worms, pippies and yabbies. Whiting have been a bit sporadic but a few were taken from the shallow gutters and holes along the coast on beach worm or pippies.

Hinze Dam is finally looking healthy again with the water level up around 80%. There are a few small drains and creeks still emptying into the dam and these are good spots to start your fishing session. Fishing soft plastics and small sub surface minnows in these areas can attract just about any of the dams fish species, although bass are generally the main target. Bass were also taken trolling the rocky points and old riverbed with deep diving minnows. Some good yellowbelly were taken along the steep banks on bait and lures, as were a few rare Mary River cod. It is always great to catch one of these fish and make sure it is returned safely to the water. Fishing from the banks with bait or soft plastics yielded a few small bass and silver perch.

John Polson & Paul Revie
The Fisherman Pty Ltd
Sporty's Warehouse
32 Strathaird Rd. Surfers Paradise
Gold Coast. QLD 4217
Australia
Phone: +61 7 5531 6511
Mobile: +61 418 751220
www.thefisherman.com.au