Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly
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COMPILED WEEKLY BY GARRY SMITH IN CAIRNS:
e-mail: lavallesmith@iig.com.au
Gold Coast
We have had some very windy weather on the Gold Coast over the past week. Luckily the winds did not spring up until mid to late afternoon which meant the mornings were pretty good for a quick trip offshore.

The offshore scene was fairly slow last week although time on the reefs was limited due to the weather. Quite a few anglers trolled lures during the week for very little success. While there is currently a few baitfish schools off the coast, most of the baitfish are small and don’t seem to have drawn the attention of many pelagic fish. Most of the fish taken during the week were on small skirts and bibless minnows like 5” Mackbaits. The main captures were mack tuna, bonito and striped tuna with the odd yellowfin tuna thrown in. With the hot weather and plenty of bait around we should see a few mackerel and possibly some marlin in the not too distant future. The reefs have been fishing steadily with some nice captures during the week. Snapper have been few and far between on the 24s and 36s though there are still plenty of squire, trag, parrot and tailor willing to take a well presented pilchard or flesh bait. The current is starting to pick up on the reefs so be prepared to switch to heavier sinkers than those used during winter. The 50s have been fishing very well for a mixed bag of parrot, squire, morwong and pigfish on bottom bashing rigs. Jigging or fishing livebaits has also proved very effective on some good size kingfish, amberjack and samsonfish.

The estuaries have been fishing very well and there are plenty of places to shelter from the wind. A lot of anglers have been targeting flathead in the leadup to the Flathead Classic starting on the last Thursday of this month. Most of the attention has been centred on the Broadwater which has been producing good numbers of fish. Trolling dropoffs and channels with deep diving minnows has been one way to connect to a few flathead. Fishing soft plastics around weedbeds and sand banks has also been very effective. While most of the flathead were of average size there have been a few specimens over 80cm taken in the deeper channels. There have been plenty of whiting in the rivers with most of the fish taken on the incoming tide. All the usual spots in the Nerang have fished well and some good catches have been reported from the Currumbin and Tallebudgera Creeks. The best baits have been bloodworms, beachworms, yabbies and soldier crabs. Plenty of bream also fell to baits in the rivers this week. Soft plastics also worked well on these fish around pontoons, bridges and moored boats when the tide was running strongly. A few jacks have been taken in the Monaco stretch of the Nerang on Manns Stretch 10 and 20+, Tilsans and other deep diving minnows. The Seaway fished well with livebaits and soft plastics during the week. The hole at the end of the north wall produced school jew, trevally, tarpon and sharks while the Wavebreak Island rock walls were a good spot to try for yellowtail kingfish. Fishing baits and metal lures from the Seaway walls has been effective on trevally and a few tailor.

Apart from early in the mornings, beach fishing was very difficult and uncomfortable due to the strong winds. A few bream and tailor have been taken in the deeper gutters around the sand pumping jetty and South Straddie. The best baits have been pilchards and strips of tuna and mullet. The shallow gutters have been producing plenty of dart and a few quality whiting on beachworms and pipis.

HINZE DAM
Hinze has been fishing very well although the wind has made it difficult for those casting light lures and flies. The sheltered bays and inlets yielded a few decent bass on soft plastics and sub-surface lures. Baits also worked very effectively for bass in the shallower areas. Trolling deep diving lures around the rocky points and over the old river bed produced quality bass along with a few yellowbelly. There have been some saratoga taken on surface poppers, fizzers and flies around the weedbeds in the western arm of the dam.

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

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Moreton Bay
I did a couple of trips last week and had reasonable results each time. The first saw a couple of school mackerel caught out the front of St.Helena Island on drifted pilchards before I had a need for speed and went off to look for some tuna along the inside of Moreton. I travelled from the Sand Hills to the Four Beacons before I found half a dozen good schools of longtails feeding on the surface. With a four stroke I was able to just about get close enough to spit on them but they were feeding on microscopic bait and were hard to tempt. I tried many different slugs, poppers and flies for no result. I tied on a Mojo stick bait and cast it into the school several times before I got a hook-up on a longtail, which turned and ran straight back into the school and busted me off when the line hit another fish.

After more than a hundred good casts with varying artificials I gave up and headed back towards St.Helena where I found another small school of large longtails, with several fish over 20kg smashing bait within a few feet of the boat. I laid in a cast on my Xi2 990 Sage and was instantly rewarded with a hook-up on a large longtail of around 50 old-fashioned pounds. After 40 minutes the leader wore through and the fish let me go. I think I would have been tied up for a while otherwise.

The next trip was similar to that one although we didn’t see as many longtails. We also fished a few pillies around the Captain Nelson and tagged a dozen or so squire just under legal. We also tagged a shark at St.Helena but did not get any mackerel.

The next trip was to Jumpinpin where we trolled lures along Gold Bank and Whalleys Gutter on the last of the falling tide for about 15 flathead to 68cm. After the tide turned and started to run in we drifted frogmouth pillies around the bar area out from Swan Bay and caught another half dozen flatties to 60cm, five bream to 35cm, a squid and a yellowtail kingie just under legal. We kept only one flathead for the day although most were over the minimum 40cm.

There has been some good numbers of whiting in the Rous Channel, especially the top end around the reds. The quality has been nothing to get excited over but the numbers have made up for it, if you like filleting.

A few school mackerel are coming from various parts of the bay, most of which are being caught by anglers floating out pillies while targeting snapper and other bottom fish.

The sand crab numbers are on the improve, with anglers catching good numbers when setting pots along the gutters and contours in various parts of the bay. Keep those fish frames from your last successful trip, as they are top bait for your pots and best of all it saves you buying bait.

May your bait be nervous.

Gordon Macdonald
Tackle Warehouse
Ph. (07) 3398 6500
masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

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Moreton Bay - Wide
The weather has again favoured the charter fleet with every charter booked being completed this week. Some corporate friends from China spent a couple of hours trolling unsuccessfully for marlin on Wednesday but jigged up ten yellowtail kingfish to 10kg on an offshore wreck to complete a perfect day on the water.

Dubious weather conditions, which did not match the forecast restricted us to fishing close to Cape Moreton on Saturday. A solid bag of pearl perch to 3kg, along with squire and black spot wrasse filled the creel with each angler taking home five quality reefies.

Don’t be afraid to contact the boats in the charter industry on Channel 21 when you are fishing. My experience is that they are all good blokes who will steer you in the right direction towards fish if asked. Tailgating them all day will more likely result in you being given the runaround, as their vessels are always capable of good speeds over fair distances in ordinary conditions at speeds that trailer boats cannot match. Besides we would rather talk to you than have you as a shadow.

Keith Hall
INCREDIBLE CHARTERS
20 Courageous Ct,
Scarborough 4020
Tel: 3203 8188
Fax: 3203 8199
incrediblecharters@bigpond.com

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Southern Freshwater
NO REPORT

Peter Taylor
Mullet Gut Marine
Ph (07) 4632 9770
Fax (07) 4639 2543
mullet_gut@bigpond.com

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Lake Boondooma
NO REPORT

Lance & Kristy Frahm
Lake Boondooma Kiosk
Open 7 days 8am-5pm.
Ph 07-41689694, fax is 07-41689691,
PO Box 24, PROSTON 4613.
lakeboondooma@wondaishire.com
Stop Tailor Netting - Phone (07) 3284 0043 or 0414 376 217
Bribie Is. & Caloundra
Fishos united on the Sunshine Coast last weekend with the annual River to Reef Fishing Classis. I spent all day last Thursday, along with many other volunteers, setting up tents, live bait tanks, stages and stands ready for the influx of thousands of people keen to see the big fish that will win the day. Next week I will update you all on the winners and back it up with some great pictures.

This past week has been a little quiet out wide due to the constant 15-20 knot northerlies but the charter boats have managed one or two half days out with mixed success. There are plenty of big fish on the sounder but none that want to belt a bait.

Murphys produced some good sweetlip, with just an occasional small squire during the week but the place to be was definitely out at the Banks. The top end produced some big snapper, parrot and the odd cobia along with the usual mix of reefies.

Flathead still command the catches of bigger fish in the Passage at present with constant catches of good whiting and the odd trevally. It seems that all anglers can catch these days are flathead over 70cm. Further down the reaches of Bribie Island catches of mangrove jack are filtering in and should start pouring in no time at all.

Live bait is still plentiful, and has been around for quite some time this season, adding to the great catches of predatory fish. Most importantly it is holiday time and our fishing numbers have probably tripled for a period of three weeks so take care and have some patience with each other.

I look forward to bringing the report on the River to Reef next week.

Brad McKendrick
Raine & Horne - Caloundra (07) 5491 3555
Compiled by Brad McKendrick from local fisherman with local reports.
brad@caloundraproperty.com.au
Currimundi to Coolum
Currimundi Reef has not been bad during the week with a few large and plate sized squire being caught on pillies just after dark with a bit of the old burley to get them concentrated behind the boat. Out a little wider there have been some small parrot during the day but not much else. The biggest parrot have come from Murphies and the area of rubble just east of the Inner Gneerings.

The wide grounds, the Barwon Banks and the Hard, have been producing a good bag of mixed reef but you'll have to work for them. When we fish these areas we sound around till we see a show and anchor so your baits go down into that area. It may take a number of attempts to get into the right spot, but it's a matter of near enough is really not good enough if you want to catch fish.

The Mooloolaba River is still fishing very good for trevally in all the old haunts like around the fishing boats, Minyama and Kawana Bridges. Some good quality fish have been caught on live baits especially around the bridges, mainly late in the arvo.

Maroochy River is producing quality whiting, up to 50cm elbow slappers, mainly on the north bank opposite Chambers Island. Most I've seen have been caught on live worms and live prawns, with the biggest falling for a well presented live prawn.

Up around Bli Bli and the islands there are school flathead. Nice pan sized fish, which are the best eating size. Some anglers are trolling small 2 and 3 inch minnow patterns for them but the soft plastic brigade are scoring the best quality.

Further up the river the fly guys are still having a ball fishing small bream flies in the shadows under the trees. The hot pattern this past week has been the Haywood Shrimp fished on an intermediate or clear tip line with at least a 9 foot Flurocarbon leader. Remember you have to get right in under the snags to get results. Early or late in the day is best. As the sun gets higher and the shadows get smaller the bream get very shy. If you've never done it you should try it as it's a great way to while away a lazy afternoon.

Good fishing,

Gavin

Gavin Platz
Tie ’N’ Fly Outfitters - Ph 07 54440611, tienfly@sun.big.net.au
Northern Sunshine Coast

Bream, whiting and flathead are well worth chasing in the Noosa River. The river mouth, the Frying Pan, Munna Point and Noosa Harbour are all worth targeting. Some excellent flathead are being landed throughout the system, and the area around the entrance to Lake Cooroibah is always a good spot to throw in a line. Tailor and trevally are on the bite around the Woods Bays early morning and evening, plus the odd mangrove jack is being landed between the two lakes.

On the freshwater scene, at Lake MacDonald, at long last good bass have been taken, as have a few Mary River cod.

Offshore, quality snapper are well spread on all reefs, as are some huge cobia.

Lastly, Davo's Bait and Tackle sponsored employee Mark Pertot has just won first place at the Stessl bass competition held at Somerset Dam. Mark weighed in a perfect six bass with all but one fish around the 50cm mark. Well done!

Davo's website to visit is www.fishingnoosa.com.au or call the guys at Davo's on 5449 8099 for all the local fishing hot spots and tips.

Davo's - (07) 5449 8099
www.fishingnoosa.com.au

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Hervey Bay

Things still continue to be a little on the quiet side in the bay. The major emphasis has been on whiting off the beaches and pier with many good catches.
The local reefs continue to be quiet but should pick up in a couple of weeks.
Mackerel are mainly around the beacons and best catches have been with live herring.
In the rivers the odd barra and a few salmon are putting in an appearance.
Lenthalls Dam continues to fish well for bass.

Jim Sullivan
Fisherman's Corner - Ph (07) 4128 1022
fishco@bigpond.net.au

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Bundaberg
Well another week has passed us by and fishing in the rivers has been slow but those who fished hard produced some nice fish. Some really nice whiting and bream were caught and also some excellent flathead fishing has been had. They seem to be everywhere. Try drifting across the sandflats or fishing the rock walls with small live baits or dead sprats and even soft plastic lures have been working. If you like lure fishing try using a 10+ and this should result in some nice fish.

Again Monduran Dam has been a hot topic. Roland, Gary, Damien and I managed to land six barra and missed quite a few more on our day out last week. We were using B52”s, Bombers and Scorpions and also the new twitching Minnows. Casting off the bank has been our preferred method as we can work the shallow bays with shallow lures.

Reef fishing has been slow due to the weather but on the better days the fishing has been good with big parrot and sweetlip being caught. These made up most bag limits with the odd trout, reds and also some excellent snapper. There have also been reports of some big mackerel, black king, and trevally for those throwing out a livie or a floater. This seems to get the pelagics stirred up and should improve your chances of a good catch.

Best breezes,

Tim Mulhall / Matt Costar / Ben Shorten
Salty's Fishing Team
Salty's - Ph (07) 4153 4747
info@saltys.net

Back on the water again up at Lake Monduran with a couple of tourists from Melbourne and Brisbane. The guys had the time of their life with the day starting off with a 95cm, 16.5kg barra, another lost due to snags, around the same size. A B52 lure was completely destroyed with only the head and bib coming back to the boat. In all we had 19 solid strikes for the day before the boys returned to Noosa that evening for a day’s reef fishing the following day.

The lake has been fishing quite well at times, and once you learn the technique to find them it does make it a bit easier to track one down. There have been reports of plenty of juveniles being hooked around the 40 to 50 cm mark, but I am yet to see one below 88cm.

I’m getting quite a lot of return clients this year, now that we have proven that we can match the size and quantity of the Top End barra. People are realising you don't have to travel to North Qld to score a barra of a lifetime. But do not forget we can still have our days where the esky can go home empty.

Until next week, Safe Boating

Brett Jones
Still Water Charters
stillwatercharters@yahoo.com.au
www.stillwatercharters.homestead.com

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Yeppoon

The weather has been excellent in patches for offshore fishing, however most reports filtering back have been that reef fish in particular have been extremely hard to locate.

The saving grace for some parties was doggie mackerel. Doggies were around the Keppels, but once the sun rose in the sky, they became very skittish and hard to tempt. That's when you need to lose your wire and bury your hooks in the bait as much as possible to hide them from the wary eyes of the mackos.

I tried Fishing Creek on the dropping tide and found the fish equally hard to find. The whiting completely eluded me and I only went home with four bream after a couple of hard hour’s fishing. However with full moon this Tuesday, hopefully things will improve.

Day time temperatures have been pretty high for September and I'd expect that to result in the barra becoming active, so a trip to the middle reaches of the Fitzroy could be a good bet.

Beach fishing isn't a great prospect because of the algae, so I'd make that the last resort.

The good old Causeway Lake will undoubtedly produce a few decent jacks for those in the know and maybe even a barra on live bait on the evening run-throughs.

Kim Martin

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Stanage Bay
Howdy to all ye fishers from Stanage Bay, Shoalwater Bay, The Dukes and Percy Islands

This week the weather did nothing that was predicted here at the bay. Thirsty Sound was still fishing with barra, salmon, mackerel, jew, bream, cod and grunter. The bay near Pier Head was a top spot for mackerel, providing the wind was blowing in the right direction. I didn't get the pleasure of weighing in all of these beauties, so fellas, pick your game up and come in and weigh in. Even if you don't want your mad mug in the local paper you can still weigh in without the photo.

I did have the pleasure of tying another crab again and weighing in half a dozen. This week they were caught on whole mullet. Genni Bay produced the best sizes. Oh no! My mate Steve has just spied on the report. I have had to delete the best crabbing spots for this time of year. Talk about selfish Steven! Blackmail man.

Steve, his wife Ann and his brother Baz are having a working bee for me, and thanks to another mate Bloob, I now have running water again, after one of my rain water tanks was empty. You guessed right - still no rain.

Alligator Beach surprised a lot of campers when their lines bent and nice sized salmon were reeled in. The rocky outcrops between Plumtree, Flat Rock and Alligator Point also surprised fishers with some good sized reef fish being caught, including a 5.5kg and a 6kg parrot.

The people staying in Pacific Villa, Kaye and crew, were the most consistent with their weigh-ins and photos. Thanks guys.

The Fisheries were out and about and booked one boat for an under sized bream - point 8cm under and he was still alive. They were booked $215. So there is a lesson in that one. The Water Police also checked boats fishing around the Percy's for safety gear. One of the local identities went for out of date flares. The fine cost $150, but new flares only cost $66 in my shop - another lesson.

Good luck to Charles and his mates, who are kayaking to the Percy Islands. Talk about keen and adventurous.

The road just got another victim - apparently snapping U-bolts on the boat trailer. Stanage Bay’s best mate Scotty, had a blowout on a corner in his 4WD and jack knifed his fully loaded trailer. His beloved 4WD wagon is now in the panel beaters. Sorry mate. Thanks for delivering the prop just the same -much appreciated. I need not say another thing about the road this week, apart from, it’s not good.

Remember the 2005 tide books are now available, so check next year’s best tides and don't miss out on your self-contained accommodation. Give Von or one of the girls a ring, or just email.

Well till next week - keep those lines wet and keep reeling them in.
Yours in fishing and crabbing

Von Ann Ireland
stanagebaymarine@bigpond.com
www.stanagebay.com

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Mackay

NO REPORT

Bruce Nash / Tony Lisciandro
Northside Fishing Centre - Ph (07) 4957 2272
Peter Faust Dam / Eungella Dam
NO REPORT

Andy Thomsen (Fishing Guide)
www.andysfishing.com.au
0409 466 336

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Airlie Beach / Whitsundays

NO REPORT

Andy Thomsen (Fishing Guide)
www.andysfishing.com.au
0409 466 336
Whitsundays - Bluewater
NO REPORT


Cheers Ken.

Capt. Ken Bryant
Marlin Blue Charters Ph 07 49465044

www.marlinblue.com.au

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Townsville
NO REPORT

Tony Katsaros
Tackle World
Ph. 0747251266
tackleworldtsv@beyond.net.au

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Hinchinbrook
NO REPORT


Al Goodwin
Crackajack Sportfishing Adventures
Lucinda Ph/Fax 61+07 47778365
crackfish@ozemail.com.au
www.crackfish.com

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Mission Beach

NO REPORT

Malcolm Hills
FNQ Fishing Adventures- Ph (07) 4068 9000
fnqfishing@bigpond.com
www.fishingnorthqueensland.com

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Cairns

Constant strong winds to 30 knots has had fishing virtually wiped off the menu in Far North Qld for most fishers. As per last week even estuary and river fishing has been dramatically restricted due to these atrocious conditions.

Those braving the wind gusts have still experienced some excellent barramundi fishing in the Cairns Inlet and the Russell/Mulgrave River systems. As we are experiencing one of the best runs of local banana prawns in many years the barra have been having a field day feasting on their favourite food source. Fishing live prawns in the snags has produced outstanding results with plenty of good sized fish being taken. A prawn floated in the tidal current along a snag under a bobby float is exciting fast fishing action as the barra try to escape into their heavily timbered homes. Excellent mangrove jacks have also been taken while targeting barramundi.

Only the heavy tackle game fishing boats have braved the big seas on the blue water scene. The black marlin season is now in full swing and fishing has been red hot with plenty of fish being tagged and released from Linden Bank to No.10 Ribbon Reef.

This weekend is looking much better with the wind easing to around the 15 knot mark, which will be heavenly compared to the two previous weeks. Both the estuaries and the reef should fire up with the building tides. Before the wind coral trout were really biting well and will again be the main target for reef fishermen.

Barramundi fishing should be excellent with great tides to either live bait the snags or throw a lure. If live baiting, fish the hour each side of the high or low tide and drift your bait along the entire length of the structure you are fishing. The tidal current will allow this if your boat is positioned correctly. Lure fishing will be best on the last half of the run out tide, both in the snags or run off gutters.

Also don't forget Tinaroo Dam. With a full moon on Tuesday a good bite should be on the cards and 50lb plus barra common.

Robert Erskine
Erskine's Tackle Shop
51 Mulgrave Rd Cairns
Ph (07) 4051 6099
erskinestackle@bigpond.com
Cairns - Reports compiled by Garry Smith

NO REPORT

Garry Smith
lavallesmith@iig.com.au

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Port Douglas
NO REPORT

Lynton "Heff" Heffer
Ph (07) 4098 5354
www.fishingportdouglas.com.au

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Cooktown
NO REPORT


Leonard Todaro
Reel River Sportfishing.
PO Box 829 Cooktown Qld 4871
Ph 07 4069 5346.
reelriver@hotmail.com

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Karumba
NO REPORT

Jason Jesse
Gulf Sportfishing Adventures
P.O. Box 228 Karumba
Phone - (07)4745 9434
gsakarum@tpg.com.au
www.gulfsportfishingadventures.com.au

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Weipa
NO REPORT

Barra Dave Donald
Dave Donald SPORTFISHING - Ph (07) 4069 9064
DDSPORTFISH@bigpond.com
www.weipafishing.com

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Queensland Tide Times

Bureau of Meteorology