Elliott River
Last weekend was a great time to be on the Elliott with very little boat traffic due to the VMR Bundaberg Family Fishing Classic having a lot of anglers fishing the Burnett.
Anglers fishing the shallows in this system have been nailing some cracking fish with bream, whiting and flathead all being common catches.
Fresh yabbies or beach worms have no doubt been a standout bait in these areas.
If you are chasing flathead or grunter a whole sprat or strip of mullet fillet are two great baits.
Be sure to be fishing these shallows during the incoming tide for you best chances at these bread and butter species.
This system is super clear at the moment and for some this has been challenging conditions to fish in, if you are struggling to find quality fish at the moment try some of these Winter tips;
- Down-size your leader
- Use smaller lures/baits
- Choose natural coloured lures
- If you think it’s too shallow it’s probably not
- Be very quiet especially when fishing the shallows
Due to the clear water we often see fish become quite spooky but if you try some of these tips chances are your luck is going to improve!
Kolan River
Well last weekend on the Kolan proved to be a cracking time to be fishing this system, the flathead and grunter sure were on the chew big time.
Anglers casting small soft plastics along the sand banks towards the mouth of the river proved to have no trouble getting some quality flathead on board.
The key was to be covering ground with the tide to constantly present your lure to new fish which inevitably results in more fish caught.
A lot of the grunter being caught in this system have come from up the top around Booyan Bridge on the sand flats as well as in the deeper holes particularly towards the bottom of the tide.
Strips of mullet fillet is always a great bait for these grunter, however if you do want to chase them on lures a lightly weighted curl tail soft plastic in the shallows or a 70mm to 100mm soft vibe in the deeper sections is the way to go.
The odd blue salmon has also been caught up around Booyan Bridge in the deeper channels and holes.
Anglers using whole sprat have definitely had better luck, targeting them during a tide change always helps to improve the chance of one of these fish biting.
Inshore/Offshore
How good has the weather been over the last week!
There sure has been plenty of opportunities to head offshore and it could not have been better timing with the VMR Bundaberg Family Fishing Classic held last weekend.
We saw plenty of boats head wide and get stuck into some incredible fishing.
Coral trout, red emperor, cobia, tusk fish and big snapper were the standout species.
Those bottom bashing did run into some shark troubles in certain areas however for the most part they left most of the fish alone due to the cooler water temperatures.
Whole squid and whole pilchards were two very effective baits particularly for those fishing shallower reefs like the Warrego’s or the Herald’s for trout and red throat.
Big flesh baits or whole cuttlefish were no doubt doing the damage in the deeper areas and around the wrecks with red emperor, cobia and big sweetlip all being suckers for a well presented flesh bait.
Plenty of quality sized snapper with the occasional brute up to 6.8kg were caught in close proving just how good the snapper fishing off our coast is at the moment.
These fish are being caught on both baits and lures with early mornings and late afternoons being the key times to be on the water.
For the lure anglers a soft vibe or a lightly weighted jerk shad soft plastic has been dynamite on these fish.
This weekends weather is looking pretty solid, certainly very do-able for an inshore run at least so keep an eye on the latest forecast if you want to get into this snapper action!
Burnett River
How good is the Burnett fishing at the moment!
With the VMR Bundaberg Family Fishing classic on last weekend we saw plenty of superb catches come from the Burnett, it’s safe to say that this system is in top shape!
The bread and butter fishing was the target for most with bream, whiting, flathead and grunter all being categories in the classic.
Fishing around structures such as rock walls, jetty’s or fallen trees is where most of the big bream were caught with mullet fillet and whole sprat being the standout baits.
Those who got stuck into the whiting action definitely found that fresh yabbies or beach worms were the go to baits and fishing them on the shallow flats with the incoming tide worked a treat.
Those fishing deeper sand bars and drop offs around Strathdees and Kirby’s Wall area found some solid grunter, these fish could not resist a soft vibe or a curl tail soft plastics hopped along the bottom.
Plenty of big flathead were caught over the weekend on a range of different techniques, as we all know the flathead certainly is not a very fussy fish!
Those who managed better numbers were the lure anglers hopping small 3 to 4 inch soft plastics or twitching shallow diving hardbodies along sand flats and drop offs.
Baffle Creek
This week has continued to see the shallow flats and drop offs throughout this system hold plenty of quality fish.
Fresh yabbies have no doubt been doing the trick on the sand flats on species like flathead, bream, whiting, and big grunter!
The high tide has been the prime time to target these fish up on the shallows so this weekend is looking like a great opportunity to target them with the high tide just before lunch.
Flicking small soft plastics and hardbodies has also paid off big time on these fish, in particular the flathead have been loving a shallow diving hardbody.
The mouth of the river has seen good numbers of queenfish and numerous types of trevally on the move as they follow schools of bait being pushed up river.
Twitching soft plastics around structure that is getting hit with current has been the most effective way to target these pelagic fish.
If bait fishing is more your thing anchor up current of the structure you want to fish and float out a whole unweighted sprat.
If you are on the water this weekend It is definitely worth placing the pots in the Baffle with the big night time tides helping to guide some cracking bucks into a few anglers pots so far this week.
Lake Gregory
Lake Gregory is having another steady week of fishing with a fair few more fish being caught in slightly shallower sections of the lake.
Team member Jordan got up to the lake recently and managed to land 8 fish all coming from weed towers using small hard bodies twitched amongst and through the weed.
Often times getting his lure stuck in the weed and giving it a very erratic twitch to free it up was what got him the most bites.
There is still plenty of fish schooled throughout the lake however it has been quite hard to get them to bite.
Targeting them in the late afternoons has been most consistent, especially if a major or minor bite time coincides with the sunset, this could be a tide turn or moon rises/sets.
Metal lures have still been the standouts when fishing these schools, as mentioned last week the Palms Slow Blatt 20g jigs and Hot Bite Gang Banger G2 spoons are the go to at the moment.
Lake Monduran
Lake Monduran has continued to produce another week of good fishing with the majority of fish being caught are well over the magic metre mark!
There has been some smaller fish around typically throughout the day along shallow points hiding underneath lily pads and in shady pockets proving to be great fun.
Those fishing these shallow points have certainly had the most luck when finding points that are close to the main river channels.
Having a quality map in your sounder is a game change to find these locations and it even allows you to mark a few sections of the dam you would like to check out whilst at home.
It’s no secret that those with live scope have been getting the best results, especially those putting in the hours throughout the night.
These anglers are mainly scoping deeper channels and are targeting individual fish.
For those without live scope your best bet is to target shallow wind-blown points close to the main river channels with a mix of jerk bait style hard body lures and slow wound paddle tail soft plastics or swimbaits.
From the team at Tackle World Bundaberg
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