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
Last week was a week of wild weather on the Coast, with over seven inches of rain falling in most parts during numerous squalls, storms and showers. Later in the week some breaks in the weather provided a brief opportunity to head offshore.

The offshore boaties were kept inside for much of the week but from Thursday through to Saturday some nice fish were landed. A few spanish mackerel have started to show up with most success being had on the Tweed Nine Mile. Trolling Halcos was the most effective method with most colours working well. Plenty of mack tuna were also taken in the same region along with a few school yellowfin between five and ten kilos. There have been a few early season spotties taken on the Palm Beach Reef using pilchards or by casting metal slugs. The shallow reefs off Southport have been very quiet and should remain so until the water clears. Further out on the 36s a mixed bag of squire, parrotfish and tailor were taken along with a few pearl perch. Jigging heavy metal lures along the 50 fathom line has been producing some great catches with some trophy amberjack and kingfish caught last week. 250 and 300 gram jigs have been working best with the luminescent jigs preferred.

With all the rain we have had the rivers are extremely dirty at the moment. Some large logs are likely to be around in the rivers so take extra care when boating. The incoming tides have been fishing reasonably well for a variety of fish, with areas adjacent to the Seaway the most effective. The Seaway itself has been fishing very well, with live-baiting the best option. The hole at the end of the north wall has been fishing well for trevally, the odd school jew and a few tailor on live mullet as well as soft plastics and metal lures. Kingfish can still be taken most mornings on soft plastic or fly around the Wavebreak Island rock walls or in front of the Seaway tower. Bait fishing from the south wall has been working effectively for some decent bream along with the odd trevally. Around Chevron Island some nice whiting have been taken around the top of the tide on bloodworms and yabbies. Trevallies have been turning up around the Nerang as well as in most of the lakes. They can be targeted using poppers, soft plastics or live baits. Another species that thrives in the dirty water is the bull shark. Large, smelly baits such as stripes of mullet or stingray flaps are irresistible to sharks and should be set on a two metre nylon-coated wire trace. Take great care when handling sharks as they can do a lot of damage to both you and your boat.

Due to the weather there hasn’t been a lot of fishing done on the beaches over the past week. Those few anglers who braved the weather were rewarded with some nice bream, tarwhine and dart. The best baits were beachworms and strips of pippies, with half pilchard pieces a suitable alternative.

Hinze has been fishing extremely well despite the weather and will continue to do so as the water rises. Fishing around the fringes is by far the most successful methods at times like this, and the surface fishing ranges from good to spectacular. While most of the bass have been under 40cm, they make up for this with their surface strikes and dogged fight. A few saratoga have also been taken on flies and small lures 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
Not a lot of reports have filtered in this week due to the terrible weather conditions we have been experiencing.

A few quality spotted mackerel have shown up around the beacons with a good one to 4kg being taken around the M8 beacon early last week. Most of the beacons are worth jigging or floating a pillie around, especially in the northern bay.

Plenty of stories have been received of good sharks being sighted around the bay islands, often in rather shallow water. Anglers are regularly having their prized catches of mackerel and squire being engulfed soon after hook-up.

An occasional school of tuna has busted up along the inside of Moreton between Tangalooma and the Sand Hills. They have been fairly flighty and aren’t that easy to hook even when you do get within casting range. Small chrome slugs between 15g and 25g seem to be the best option. Blacking out the hooks will also help to shorten the flashy profile which will often entice strikes.

A few good whiting have come from the shallows around the creek mouths. The flats out the front of Nudgee Creek have also been worth a try, especially on a rising tide.

One angler caught a few jacks in the Manly Harbour on soft plastics worked around the moorings and pylons during the week. They weren’t big fish that he landed but were a lot of fun on bream style gear. He also got busted up a few times which indicates that there were a few better fish around as well.

The muddies should be on the chew again after the recent rains and it would definitely be worth setting a few pots in the deeper holes around the mouths of the feeder creeks and also on the flats at the mouths of the creeks. Deception Bay often fishes well for muddies after a bit of rain.

Plastics fishers are still nailing some good quality snapper around the bay islands on the reef and rubble patches. The slower the plastic is worked the more likely that a hook-up will occur, especially on the better quality fish.

May your bait be nervous.

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

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Moreton Bay - Wide
The weekend has been blessed with great weather, although the colour of the water in Moreton Bay on the way out has been patchy to say at the least. Black marlins have been caught in numbers as have yellow fin tuna and striped tuna. Wahoo and dolphin fish have been conspicuous by their absence since the rains.

Bottom fishing is still producing solid feeds of pearl perch, squire and moses perch from Wide Caloundra. We captured a haul of fifty reefies for our Sunday group with plenty of variety but nothing of gargantuan proportions. Pillies and squid are still the all time favourite baits for bottom bouncing.
Enjoy your fishing.
Regards,

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

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Southern Freshwater
Brisbane River:

It might look dirty, but the fish love it. Look for jewies ‘round the top of rapids on local bait. Bass will be around the colour changes. They’ll go for bright surface lures and light drift bait. With this much fresh in the river, big fish will be hunting in the best spots. It might take some work, however it will be worth it.

Bait will be all over the place, so your best bet will be scrub worms, shrimp, with no weight, will be prime ;if you can get them.

Mid day trolling (deepwater) & morning/afternoon (shallows/overhanging trees) will be the best bet.

Rob Clouten & Paul Cass
Fishin Essentials



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

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Lake Boondooma

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
Talk about Melbourne weather at the moment. The early holiday makers must be a little disappointed with the “Sunshine” Coast at the moment. Traditionally this time of year is supposed to be a little different but not to this constant extreme. So the report this week is that the weather sux, but the fish are still on the tooth for those who want to tackle the unpredictable weather.

Murphy’s has this week fired in the early evenings with pilchards and fresh squid producing some great pearlies and parrot. Three mad Maori cod were being cleaned on Tuesday at Mooloolaba jetty, each well over 3kg. The boys on ‘Restless’ caught them on the southern side of the blinker after 6pm.

Trolling the ‘runway’ along to Caloundra will produce a mixed variety of pelagics including tuna, spotty mackerel, cobia and bonito. We used deep and shallow diver blue pillies with limited success on the bigger fish but caught plenty of bonito. Trolling the bait bursts is also an absolute must at the moment.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the etiquette of trolling a bait fish break then let me give you my understanding of the situation. After last week I think we all need this little lesson. Normally there is more than one group of anglers targeting a bait break, particularly on the weekends, so you need to remember to work around the out skirts of the break and not come roaring up through the centre (like some twit) and forcing all the bait to disperse and not be seen for 20 minutes or more. Some like to zap ahead of the travelling bait schools and remain dormant as they breach all around the boat, tossing lures and everything else at them and that is fine. At least they don’t rev up right down the centre and send them packing.

Watch the birds circling and work that area in a circular fashion, the more you stir things up the worse it will be for you and others. Sadly some people’s patience is not what it should be, but I find it’s always handy to carry a few extra torpedoes** to deal with such people.

Caloundra Wide is the place to be if you want some good quality fish in numbers and size. That is of course if you can handle the wind, rain and swell. Plenty of big pearlies, parrot, sweetlip and snapper around out there with the occasional dolphinfish and cobia smacking a line.

The Pumicestone Passage has seen a lot of rain over the past week and things have naturally slowed a little. There are still whiting to be caught and the odd mangrove jack and trevally around the board walk on the changing tides.

Flathead are quiet, but that is understandable for the season. I know they are still there somewhere so keep throwing those lures or drifting with your bait until you get a hit. Remember flathead normally congregate in an area so it is worth working it hard once you have had success.

Let’s hope that the weather improves remarkably and allows for a few extra trips in the coming weeks to Christmas. Have Fun!

** (Please note I am only joking) I don’t have any torpedoes, and NO, I don’t know where to purchase them.

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
The last week has been up and down with the weather, and a case of going when you could, if the wind was down. A number of mornings this past week saw the wind back off, but the sea was still a little sloppy from the wind each afternoon. So if you’re on holidays, it's best to get up at daylight and have a look. You may be surprised.

There is plenty of bait around at the moment, both offshore and inshore. The guys who got out early on the rare calm mornings were able to score a few mackerel, mainly at Currimundi and Arkwright Shoal, and generally on trolled pillies set up on gang hooks. I prefer to use Mustad Tarpon Hooks- # 7766. The first hook weighted with lead to keel the rig and the last hook ganged on the opposite way, so you have two or three hooks in the troll bait and the last hook swinging. I also like to slip a pink squid over the nose of the bait. It's most important to position the hooks dead centre of the bait or it will not swim properly. Always trial swim the bait before positioning it in the spread of trolled baits. Spending a couple of minutes now will increase your strike rate.

Reports from the reefs have been patchy as the weather was bad all week. I do think that as soon as the weather clears we'll have great fishing for Chrissy. You should expect to get good quality squire and sweetlip from the close reefs, especially after this bit of dirty weather, and on the wide grounds some pearlies, parrot and of course good quality squire. Let’s just hope we get good weather for Chrissy. Seafood for Chrissy dinner is a tradition for the Platz family.

The estuaries are the colour of mud at the moment so the fishing is not real flash, but before this rain the bream were going nuts around the jetties in the canal systems in the Mooloolaba River. This has been a lot of fun with some very good quality fish being taken. Most have been released.

While the water is so dirty from the rain, and the big tides coming up, it'd be a good time to dust off the crab pots and do a few runs in the river. Trust me you won't be alone. The Fisheries and Water Police will be on the water regularly so make sure you’re not drinking, your safety gear is up to scratch and always check your fish sizes.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year.

Gavin

Gavin Platz
Tie ’N’ Fly Outfitters - Ph (07) 5444 0611
tienfly@sun.big.net.au
Northern Sunshine Coast

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

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Hervey Bay

The weather over the past few days has basically shut fishing down with just a few venturing up the creeks. Prawns and crabs have been targeted in the Mary, Susan and Burrum rivers, with the latter being the most productive.

On the fishing scene, a few flathead and the odd whiting is all that we have had reported. If the weather settles down head to Platypus Bay and try for spotted mackerel.

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

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Bundaberg
Freshwater fishing is the flavour at the moment with all the local dams firing and Monduran really turning it on. Some big barra to 109cm have been landed and some bigger ones lost while casting lures and using a very slow retrieve with a few short sharp twitches. Casting around the sunken timber and lantana, as well as out on the open flats will be a good place to start. A few favourite lures have been Bombers and the new Owner Rippin Minnow 112’s.

Still on the freshwater side, the bass are on the bite. I fished out in the Isis Impoundment (Lake Gregory) on Monday and Tuesday afternoons and caught a few good bass and a big sleepy cod. These fish were caught by casting over the top of the shallow weed beds using the 65mm Owner Rippin Minnow. These lures are perfect for this as they are a shallow diving lure and swim just above the weed beds. It didn’t seem to matter what colour I used.

In the rivers there are still a few bream, whiting, flatties and the odd jack around the river mouths. Mackerel (both school and spotted), tuna and bonito are everywhere and by spinning with chrome lures you should have some success.

There has been no reef fishing done as the spawning closure is still on until the 14th of December. After that it will be all go.

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

Hi Folks,

Monduran has been working well this past week with barra being boated in all sizes from 40cm to 109cm. We have been fishing in all conditions from perfect to howling wind and rain, and still getting barra.

Night fishing seems to be taking off with a few game boaties heading out on sunset and reaping the rewards. A small hint for night barra at Monduran. If you launch at the dirt ramp, reverse back about 50 feet and start fishing. You will be surprised. Also listen out for the barra strikes on the surface. If there are none, change spots or go home.

The Burnett River has been firing, so I thought I would take some personal time out and do a bit of breaming on soft plastics. I started at around 6am and finished at 12:30pm, with 56 bream from 28cm to 36 cm, one cod and one mangrove jack boated. The day ended up like it was hard work and honestly I was not trying too hard. I was only there for a bit of R&R.

Until Next Week, Safe Boating

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

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Yeppoon

It's finally rained!!! Not enough in most areas to do any good yet, but a good start. It's been pretty breezy with the trough hanging around, so opportunities to wet a line have been rare.

There are very large morning tides for most of this week, so the good old Causeway Lake, coupled with the start of the school holidays will inevitably see huge crowds fishing the daily run-throughs. I'd expect some good jacks, trevally and queenies to be taken.

Offshore - how knows? If the winds drop, there should be reasonable reef fishing to be had around the Keppels later in the week. There apparently has been an unexpected run of doggie mackerel inshore, so maybe give them a go if conditions allow.

There is a small fresh coming down the Fitzroy River, with four gates on the barrage open at present. In years gone by, that would always herald a period of good king fishing in the town reaches. Could be worth a look. Little to report from the estuaries still unfortunately.

Kim Martin

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Stanage Bay

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

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Mackay

Bruce Nash / Tony Lisciandro
Northside Fishing Centre - Ph (07) 4957 2272
Peter Faust Dam / Eungella Dam


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

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Airlie Beach / Whitsundays

Andy Thomsen (Fishing Guide)
www.andysfishing.com.au
0409 466 336
Whitsundays - Bluewater
The Christmas northerly winds have come early this year but this has not stopped the sailfish and small black marlin bite we have enjoyed since returning from Cairns. The outer islands are full of bait and the small trigger fish are schooled up to the north of Hayman and east of Edward Islands. The occasional Spanish mackerel are appearing in their usual haunts of Dolphin Point and Evit Shoal. The reef fishing has been excellent with the big coral trout filling the kill bin.

We have just been through another 'reef fin fish closure' for nine days. The last two closures in November and December proved a waste of time and money with no coral trout spawning. The DPI in an attempt to justify their department have imposed a month reef fish closure to ' protect the reef'. Sounds like GROUNDHOG DAY. If the DPI (Department of Primary Industries) and GBRMPA (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) got into bed together you could kiss the reef goodbye forever.

Now is the time to be good and ask Santa for a new fishing combo. For those of you in the Mackay area ' Ocean Marine' is closing down the fishing store and are selling all fishing gear at cost.

Cheers Ken.

Capt. Ken Bryant
Marlin Blue Charters Ph 07 49465044

www.marlinblue.com.au

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Townsville
It looks as though the wind has gone away for a few days and just in time for the dark moon. The dark moons this time of the year are especially good for fingermark fishing and this phase has been no different. There have been a lot of good fish coming in from around Magnetic Island and the inshore shoals, and as usual the best fish are coming from those who are fishing at night using freshly caught squid for bait.

The big tides associated with the new moon have also brought the grunter back on the bite, and all the usual haunts like Cape Upstart and Cleveland bay are all fishing well for those who have been able to get out mid week.

Halifax and Cleveland bays have also been full of grey mackerel that are more than keen to take a spoon or a floated pilchard. These fish won't be here for much longer and this moon phase may well be their last big run for the year.

Coral reef finfish spawning closures will come to an end on Tuesday night at midnight and that is it for this year’s spawning closures.

We've had a little rain in the north over the past few days and as a result the mud crabs have been washed out of their holes and are feeding very well, and it's definitely worth throwing the pots in if you enjoy a feed of crabs.

Until next week, Good Fishing.

Regards

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

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Hinchinbrook

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

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Cairns

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

Garry Smith
lavallesmith@iig.com.au

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Port Douglas

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

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Cooktown

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

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Karumba

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
My next report will be around New Year and our 2005 Newsletter will be posted out in mid January. Our website, www.weipafishing.com, is set to receive a major overhaul during the wet season break with more features and photos. I hope to add a selection of my magazine articles written over the past 30 plus years in a new section.

For those still contemplating a 2005 trip, be warned that dates from March to June are getting very scarce and the rest of the year is filling steadily. Be sure to get in early to avoid disappointment.

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

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Archived Weekly Reports

5/1/2004 12/1/2004 19/1/2004 27/1/2004
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4/10/2004 11/10/04 18/10/2004 25/10/2004
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6/12/2004



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5/11/2001
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26/11/2001
3/12/2001
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17/12/2001
24/12/2001


3/7/2000
10/7/2000
17/7/2000
24/7/2000
31/7/2000
7/8/2000
14/8/2000
21/8/2000
28/8/2000
4/9/2000
11/9/2000
18/9/2000
25/9/2000
2/10/2000
9/10/2000
16/10/2000
23/10/2000
30/10/2000
6/11/2000
13/11/2000
20/11/2000
27/11/2000
4/12/2000
11/12/2000
18/12/2000
25/12/2000

Queensland Tide Times

Bureau of Meteorology