Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports


	These reports are updated weekly. Last Edited: Monday, 19 July 2004 Quick Jump Links: Gold Coast, Moreton Bay, Freshwater, Bribie Is & Caloundra, Sunshine Coast, 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 weather started off fantastically at the beginning of last week but deteriorated towards the end of the week. Early mornings proved to be the best time to head offshore with minimal wind most mornings.

The reefs have been fishing very well although the pelagic action has been very slow. A few larger boats are still getting a few blue and striped marlin on large skirts and trolled livebaits on the wider grounds. In closer a few whaoo have been taken on the Tweed Nine Mile on dark coloured skirts and Halco Laser Pros. Plenty of mack tuna have been taken on smaller trolled lures and there has been the odd yellowfin tuna around though they are fairly rare at the moment. Dolphinfish have been coming and going over the last few weeks and are most likely to be encountered on the 36 and 50 fathom lines. To make up for the slow pelagic fishing the reefs have been firing with some great fish taken. The shallow reefs on the 18s and 24s have been fishing very well for squire, parrot, flathead, tailor and some good trag. There have also been some good snapper taken from these areas early in the mornings on pilchards, fresh fish heads or live yellowtail. Livebaiting the 12 and 18 fathom reefs has seen cobia, tailor, mack tuna and a few decent jewies caught. The 36 and 50 fathom reefs have also fished well with parrot, squire, pearlies, snapper, trag and morwong the most common captures. Pilchards, flesh baits and livies all worked very well. The current is very slow at the moment even out wide so a berley trail is very effective. Jigging the 36 and 50 fathom reefs produced amberjack, kingfish and the odd pearlie and sampson fish. Knife and River to Sea Jigs are some of the more effective styles.

Last week there was some spectacular action in the estuaries and this should continue for the next month or so. Bream were once again the mainstay of the captures with some big fish landed around the Seaway area. There was also plenty of bream further up the estuaries and these could be taken on baits or lures. I have a couple of mates who are very keen on soft plastics and have been landing more than 30 fish a session in the Nerang for the last two weeks. Small soft plastic grubs and ‘fluke’ style lures like the Berkley 3” Power Bait have been the most productive offerings and also tempt plenty of other species. There have also been great numbers of school flatties and the odd bigger one in the Broadwater. Most of the fish are taken on the top of the tide around sand flats and weedbeds where the water temperature is a bit warmer. Soft plastics have been working well as has trolling small lures a long way behind the boat past the edges of sand flats. Drifting small live mullet or casting whitebait are other methods that work effectively. Up the rivers a few whiting have turned up, especially around the Council Chambers, Chevron Island and Paradise Waters. Bloodworms and yabbies have been the best baits. There has been the odd trevally taken around the bridges and canal entrances on livebaits or trolling deep diving minnows. The Seaway has been fishing really well especially on the incoming tide. Plenty of bream have been taken off the rock walls with small livebaits or strips of mullet. Chicken gut also works very well at night. Casting metal lures along the north wall has produced swags of tailor as well as tarpon, trevally and a few queenfish, bonito and mack tuna. Livebaiting the Pipeline, the hole at the end of the north wall and the Wavebreak Island walls has produced quite a few kingies as well as a few jewfish lately. The high tide has been the best time to fish for these species as the current makes it difficult in the middle of the tide.

The beaches have been fishing very well with some nice schools of tailor along the coast during the week. Most of these fish were taken from the north and south of the coast from Narrowneck north and Burleigh south with very little action in between. Pilchards were the best baits with metal lures also working well at times when there were a few fish on chew. I prefer not to use any wire and rely on the ganged hooks or a snap swivel to keep the line clear of the tailor’s chompers. While you lose a fw rigs you definitely get more hits. There have also been plenty of bream and dart in most of the gutters with a beachworm fished at dawn or dusk the best option.

Hinze has once again been a little slow with some more cold weather shutting the fish down. A few bass were still on the chew, mostly in the shallow water in bays and inlets. Livebaits were definitely the best way to pull a fish although soft plastics did get the odd fish. Trolling lures around the rocky points pulled a few yellowbelly and the odd hungry bass. Fishing the banks with bait produced a few silver perch, catfish and small bass.

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