Hi Everyone, hope you have all had a good week, School Holidays has kicked off with plenty of family’s heading out on our Houseboats to enjoy the fabulous Gold Coast Waterways and hopefully catch a feed of fish. Conditions are looking nice on the Tweed and Gold Coast for getting out of the house and making the most of the great winter weather on offer. Let’s have a look at what’s been on offer for anglers this week.

With School Holidays underway this week it is a great time to get the kids out of the house, off the xbox, phone’s and spend some quality time trying your luck to catch a fish. You don’t need fancy gear if you are just getting started or want to try something different with the kids. A light estuary outfit with a running sinker rig will work well, Prawns, White Pilchards, Worms or Yabbies are great bait. Fishing from a jetty or the beach is a great option especially with kids as you can access facilities in most of the local parks. Some good spots to try are Coomera River, Paradise Point, Runaway Bay, Labrador, Biggera Waters, Broadwater Parklands, Marine Stadium, Nerang River and Jacobs Well. You will mainly be targeting Bream, Whiting and Flathead from these areas, they are a great fun for the kids to catch. Make sure you get a photo of them holding their catch and email it to me to go in the paper.

Jumpinpin has been fishing well this week with a mixture of Bream, Squire, Tailor and Jew Fish being landed by local Fishos. Try the Pin Bar mouth on the last of the run-in tide for Tailor and big Jewfish chasing the bait schools in the deeper water, Crusoe Island, Kalinga Bank and Short Island will also be worth a try. Some good-sized Squire have been landed hanging around the Bream schools at the moment, spots to start looking are Kalinga Bank, Short Island, Whalleys Gutter, Tiger Mullet Channel, Little Rocky Point and the Power Lines.

Brad from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports we had some chilly starts this week with the cool mornings turning into perfectly comfortable winter days. It has seen a bit of an unusual week in the fact that it has been about quality more than quantity. Some of the Whiting taking the lures in the deep holes have been crackers  and the same goes with the Bream with the average size being between 35 to 40 cm long. The best lures have been zx40s, vx45s and samiki vibelicous soft vibes and they have all worked equally well. We did not get a Jewie this week but there was still a few small but hard fighting Giant Trevally in the deeper holes. Trolling along the edges of the channels with slam 47 and pontoon 21 crackjacks also produced some quality Flathead around the first hour of the run-out tides.

Clint reports the fishing is amazing in the Broadwater with big daily hauls of up to 100 Fish, Squid, and Crabs. This is the best time of the year to catch a superb feed of fresh seafood. The big Arrow Squid have been thick and a heap of fun to catch, not to mention delicious in the pan! Ecogear ZX40’s really fire them up, and they then eagerly grab squid jigs. We have also been getting lots of nice big Blue Swimmer Crabs, Winter Whiting, Bream, Bar Tail and Dusky Flathead, Tarwhine, and heaps of Flounder. Ensuring our guests go home with a seafood basket from heaven. Best bait by far is live yabbies, best lures are Ecogear ZX40 in colours 440, 418, 411, 415, coated in Smithy’s UV Sax scent.

Gavin from Sea Probe Fishing Charters reports 50 fathoms has been still fishing well with nice size Kingys , Amberjack, Samson Fish, Snapper and Pearl Perch. Live baits like yakkas and slimeys are doing the best with a BKK circle glow hook and a good size sinker to get down to the bottom, also try pillies and squid. 36 fathoms try for Snapper Tuskies, Pearlies and Dolphin Fish and  24s and 18s Snapper, Jewfish and Cobia.

Stay up to date with all fishing regulations in Queensland https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/business-priorities/fisheries

Seabreeze is a great website to access a local forecast http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/

If you have any great catches to report or fishing photos please email them to  brett@fishotackle.com.au    Good luck with the Fishing.  Brett