Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports


	These reports are updated weekly. Last Edited: Monday, 1 November 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 strong winds continued to plague the Gold Coast last week with most afternoons completely blown out. Most mornings were relatively calm so planning an early trip and being home by ten in the morning was the best bet.

With the strong winds and building seas not many anglers headed through the bars this week. Still no reports of consistent mackerel off the Gold Coast, although good numbers are still coming from Moreton Bay and offshore of Jumpinpin. This means that the spotties can’t be too far away, so keep your ear to the ground and get out there the first you here of them.

There have been good numbers of dolphin fish around in between the 36s and 50s off Southport. These fish can turn up anywhere but trolling current lines, scum lines or around floating debris or buoys will usually find you fish if you are persistent. Most of the dollies were taken on small skirts and medium-sized diving minnows. When you have found the fish, drifting an unweighted live bait in freespool is always deadly. Plenty of mack tuna were taken over the 18 and 24 fathom reefs while further out the odd yellowfin fell victim to purple and green coloured skirts.

The bottom has been fishing fairly slowly this past week, although a few decent fish were taken on the deeper reefs. The 24s were very slow with plenty of tailor but only a few squire, parrot and the odd trag jew. Fresh strips of tailor or tuna produced the best fish while pillies were an adequate substitute. The current has really picked up on the deeper reefs so a fair chunk of lead is needed to reach the bottom. The 36s produced squire, tailor, pearl perch, parrot and a few pigfish on pilchards and flesh baits. A few cobia were also taken on live baits along the 36 fathom with most of the fish between 10 and 15 kg. The 50s fished slowly with baits, with a few pigfish, rosy jobfish, parrot, squire and pearl perch taken around dawn. Fishing live baits or jigging heavy metal jigs was the best way to connect to fish on the 50s, with plenty of small to medium kingies and amberjack taken.

The estuaries have fished well throughout the week with some good action coming from the Seaway area. The hole at the end of the north wall has been a great spot to try with soft plastics and live baits around the top of the tide. Tailor, trevally, tarpon, jew, mangrove jack and sharks have all been produced from this area during the week. Early in the morning there have been plenty of birds working in the Seaway and the adjacent channels. Casting metal lures into the frenzy has produced plenty of chopper tailor, along with the odd queenfish on smaller metals. The odd tuna has also turned up among the schools. There have been some good kingfish in the Seaway with specimens up to 15kg sighted in front of the Seaway tower during the week. Rob showed that versatility was the key to fly fishing when he managed a 3kg fish on a fly he tied from a Crazy Clarks wig. A few luderick have turned up on weed baits in front of the Seaway tower and along the Wavebreak Island rock walls.

The Broadwater has produced good flathead in the mornings trolling deep diving lures or casting soft plastics. The fish are still around in the afternoons, although the exposed areas of the Broadwater can be very rough in the strong winds, especially for those in small tinnies.

Further up the rivers there have been some good whiting for those willing to take the time to get quality bait. Yabbies, blood worms, beach worms, wriggler worms and soldier crabs are the pick of the baits, with estuary shrimp also working well. There have been trevally throughout the rivers with dawn and dusk the best time to target them. The best lures have been poppers, prawn imitations and soft plastics, while live baits work well for those with a predisposition towards baits.

The beaches haven’t seen all that much angling pressure lately because of the winds that have been around for almost a month. The mornings are the only time when a surf fish has been an option, with a few quality fish taken during this time. Dart have been the most common capture along the beaches. These fish are willing to take almost any small bait and while they aren’t too good to eat they put up a great fight. Dart aren’t fussy and can be found anywhere from the shorebreak to right out beyond the breakers.

Some good catches of whiting have come from the shallow gutters and holes along the less popular beaches. The best baits for this species are live beach worms or strips of pippies, both of which can be collected at the beach you are fishing from. There have been reports of a few tailor right on dawn in the vicinity of Narrowneck but dodging the surfers can be a pain at times.

Hinze has continued to fish very well with most of the action coming from the edges of the dam. Early morning has been the best time to fish as medium sized bass have been smashing surface and sub surface lures in the bays and inlets. Later in the day the same areas have been producing fish on soft plastics and deeper diving lures that skim above the surface of the weed beds. Trolling the rocky points has also been producing some good bass as well as a few decent yellowbelly. The saratoga are still swimming on the top of the water in the upper reaches of the dam but are still very hard to take on any artificial lures.

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