Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports


	These reports are updated weekly. Last Edited: Monday, 22 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

The weather was fair to good all last week on the Gold Coast. While seas started out a bit rough, towards the end of the week the winds shifted to the north, which produced some nice calm days.

There was plenty of action on the offshore grounds as many boats took advantage of the reasonable weather to chase snapper and reefies. There wasn’t a lot happening for the boaties pulling plastic last week, with just a few mack and yellowfin tuna taken off Southport. On the Tweed Nine Mile the bite was a little hotter with better numbers of yellowfin and a few trevally mixed in with the mack tuna, which are still in plague proportions down south.

There are already reports of spotty mackerel being taken off Point Lookout so it may be an early mackerel season this year. If you are after some pelagics try trolling Halcos, Rapalas, Mackbaits and small skirts along the 36 and 50 fathom lines off Southport and Straddie or down off Tweed.

Fishing the bottom was a lot more productive with plenty of good fish brought to the boat. The 18s and 24s saw good numbers of tailor, squire, parrot, trag and a few larger snapper taken. Best baits were snap-frozen pilchards and squid or fresh strips of yellowtail, slimies, mack tuna, mullet or tailor. There have also been good numbers of cobia and whaler sharks on most of the inshore reefs for those willing to throw out a live bait of slimie mackerel or tailor. Further out on the 36s and 50s the fish have been biting their heads off. Fishing baits on either paternoster or floatline rigs produced a mixed bag of squire, parrot, pigfish and pearl perch. Jigging with heavy metals is still producing plenty of good kingfish, amberjack and mixed reef fish over the deeper reefs.

The estuaries have been a great spot to wet a line during the week, with bream, flathead and whiting the major targets. The Seaway was a tad quiet this week, with bream and luderick the most common species. Bream have been taken along both rock walls and those on Wavebreak Island. Fresh baits of yabbies, strips of mullet, small live herring and whitebait did the trick. If you have access to a boat have a go at catching these bream on soft plastics around the tide changes, as they are fantastic sport on light tackle and pretty good on the dinner plate as well. Luderick were taken most days of the week in front of the Seaway Tower and from both Wavebreak Island rock walls. Always use a float for these fish and try to source fresh local weed baits for the best results. A few tailor, trevally and queenfish were also taken in the area, especially around dawn on the incoming tide. Try small metal slugs, soft plastics or deep diving minnows for these fish. There have been good numbers of flathead and whiting in the Broadwater and further up the rivers. A few larger flathead are starting to turn up, so try the drains, channels and holes around the sand flats and weed beds with small lures and soft plastics. The numbers of whiting have begun to increase but the size has not suffered yet, with some huge whiting taken during the week on worms, yabbies, shrimp and soldier crabs. There are currently good numbers of smaller trevally and tarpon in the upper reaches of the rivers and these fish are great fun on small baits, lures, soft plastics and flies.

The beaches have been fishing steadily over the past week with a mixture of fish taken. Most were dart, bream and tarwhine with plenty of these fish taken in the gutters and holes along the coast on beachworms, pippies and yabbies. For the bigger bream and tarries, whitebait or frogmouth pilchards were a good option. There has been the odd whiting showing up in the shallow gutters but it is still early in the season for these fish. Tailor have been elusive but the best bets were the northern beaches on the Spit and South Straddie. Try pilchards, garfish or metal lures and make sure the bait is constantly moving to attract the attention of tailor.

Hinze Dam is still a little slow, with small to medium bass the most active fish in the dam. Try small surface or sub-surface lures in the late afternoon for a bit of entertaining fishing. During the day, fishing baits or trolling along the rocky shores and around the points has been producing quite a few fish, but there is not much size to them. In the western arm, saratoga have been seen cruising the surface but are proving very hard to hook. Try small flies or soft plastics to entice them into biting.

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