Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports


	These reports are updated weekly. Last Edited: Monday, 8 August 2005 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

We experienced the full spectrum of weather on the Gold Coast last week. A couple of beautiful fine days were interrupted by days of strong winds and a few showers of rain. Right at the end of the week the weather cleared again and boats were able to head through the bars to fish the offshore reefs.

Plenty of boats headed to the offshore grounds on the calm days last week. There were plenty of fish on the chew to satisfy all styles of angling. Quite a few marlin were sighted during the week between the 36 and 50 fathom lines. Most were small blacks but there were a few stripes amongst them as well. Try trolling small to medium skirts at about eight knots to tempt these fish. I didn’t hear of any being landed last week but the week before a decent stripie and a couple of small blacks were brought to the boat.

A few reasonable yellowfin tuna around the ten kilo mark were also landed on marlin baits. Down off Tweed there has been hordes of mack tuna with the odd yellowfin mixed in. If you get sick of the macks and just want a couple of yellowfins, upgrade your small skirts and minnows to a medium or large skirted lure. These lures prove too big for most of the mack tuna but are readily accepted by all but the smallest yellowfin tuna.

The bottom fishing has been excellent over the last few weeks. The 18s and 24s have been producing plenty of quality snapper and squire on pilchards and slimies. Floatlining has been the most effective method and has also accounted for plenty of tailor and a few parrot. There have also been some good pearl perch taken along the 24s but the successful anglers are very secretive about their shallow pearlie spots.

The 36s have been fishing very well for a mixed bag of reef fish. Try baits of pilchard, squid and flesh baits for squire, pearlies, parrot, pigfish and the odd amberjack. The 50s saw the same species coming to the boat, as well as a few rosy jobfish and goatfish. Jigging heavy metals or live baiting over the 42 and 50 fathom reefs has been great entertainment with lots of anglers getting dragged around by big kingfish, amberjack and a few sampson fish.

The estuaries have been fishing very consistently, although the upper reaches are still a little murky from the flooding we experienced last month. The Seaway has been copping plenty of attention and some great fish have been landed in this area. For the anglers fishing yabbies and whitebait from the walls, bream and flathead have made up most of the catches with a couple of golden trevally thrown in. Casting metal lures around bait schools and from the ends of the walls has worked well for tailor and trevally, as well as the odd tarpon. Trevally and tarpon have also been responding well to large soft plastic paddletails and grubs worked on the bottom along the outer half of the south wall. There are still a few jewies around on the tide changes and these are best targeted with live baits or large soft plastic shads. Kingies have been showing up in the Seaway and along some of the rock walls and drop-offs just inside the rivers. Live baits, soft plastics, metals, poppers and saltwater flies are all excellent options when targeting these fish. Just be sure your tackle can handle the strong runs of these large, powerful fish.

The Broadwater has seem some good flathead action during last week. Most fish were 40 to 50 cm, although larger fish are starting to show up more often, which bodes well for the Flathead Classic in six weeks. Soft plastics were the favoured baits, although hard-bodied lures and small live mullet and herring also produced the goods.

Further up the rivers there are plenty of bream hanging around the bridges, pontoons, beacons and canal entrances. There have also been some early schools of whiting showing up in the usual spots and biting on yabbies, shrimp and worms. There have also been quite a few school jew around bridges and in the holes in the upper reaches of the rivers.

The beaches have been fishing well when the swell is not too vicious. The northern beaches have been producing some excellent catches of sea bream and a few tailor in the mornings and afternoons. Tailor have been eating pilchards, metal lures and whitebaits, while bream will take whitebait, pippies and beachworms. There have been some oversized dart taken all along the coast on beachworms and pippies and a few whiting on the same baits in the shallow holes and gutters.

Hinze Dam has produced plenty of bass over the last few weeks, although the average size is a little smaller than usual. Try the bays and inlets in the morning with soft plastics, bibless minnows, small diving minnows and baits. Later in the day move into the dam proper and try trolling around the deep points or along steep banks with deep-diving minnows. Soft plastics, bibless minnows and baits can also be used in open water once the fish are located. A few yellowbelly were also caught during the week on diving minnows, soft plastics and live worms.

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