Fishing Report – 1st September 2022    

Hi Everyone, hope you are all having a nice week, as we say goodbye to winter and transition into springtime we have seen a few showers hanging around on the Tweed and Gold Coast this week. Let’s have a look at how the fishing was this week. 

FLATHEAD

Fishos reported some nice catches of Flathead again this week with good numbers of fish being landed throughout the Broadwater, Jumpinpin and adjoining rivers and estuaries. Unfortunately, there has been a bit of the dreaded snot weed starting to show up in some areas just to make anglers lives a bit more difficult when fishing. When targeting Flathead in the Broadwater and Jumpinpin systems the two main things you should look for is water quality especially on the run-in tide and the other is bait including bait fish and prawns being the main sources. Finding clean water will normally increase your hookup rate as the fish will tend to spot your lure or bait much easier rather than just swiping at it when the water is dirty. Any bait activity is important when you are fishing and that applies to Flathead, keep and eye out in the shallow water for bait fish and prawns jumping around trying to escape from predators and also keep an eye on the sounder in the deep water as the bait schools will attract Flathead to feed in these areas. My favourite tide to fish is the run-out tide when chasing Flathead, you can choose to target the edges of sandbanks, creek mouths, drains and river mouths are all good spots to find Flathead laying in wait. As the water level drops and the bait moves towards deeper water the Flathead will be waiting to head into the tide ready to pounce on anything that swims past. 

LURES

When using lures trying a mixture of trolling hard body lures, casting soft plastics or working soft vibes are all worth a go to see which method the fish are best responding to on the day. When trolling lures, you are best to troll with the tidal flow to increase your hook up rate. The same applies when casing plastics try and retrieve with the flow of water. 

GOOD FISHING SPOTS

Some good spots producing fish at the moment are Wave Break Island, Nerang River, Currigee, Crab Island, Brown Island, Coomera River, Tipplers Passage, Bedrooms, Kalinga Bank, Crusoe Island, Tiger Mullet Channel, Logan River, Tweed River, Tallebudgera and Currumbin Creeks.     

We have been lucky enough to have a pretty good run of weather the past week giving fishos plenty of opportunities to head offshore and chase a feed from the local reefs. Once again quality catches of Snapper have been the standout with good numbers of fish being caught. Once the strong wind and swell predicted for the weekend settles down, getting an early start and hitting the 18 and 24 fathom grounds off the Seaway will be a good option with some great quality fish being landed in these areas. Make sure you get out as early as possible to allow enough time to have a good sound around between 18 to 24 fathoms reefs and find a show of fish and bait to target on the sunrise bite time. 

RIGGING

Fish as light as possible, sometimes you can get bricked on the bottom, but you find the lighter set up will always out fish the heavy gear and you will catch a lot more fish in the long run. A float line rig set up is again my first choice when fishing either live or dead bait as you have all the control on how quick you drop your baits making them present as natural as possible producing a hit on the drop. 

WHAT ELSE IS BITING?

There has been a good general mixed bag of Snapper, Moses Perch, Jew Fish, Cobia, Trag Jew, Maori Cod and Tusk Fish on offer. As you head out wider the 36 and 50 fathoms grounds are also fishing well current dependent with good numbers of quality Snapper, Pearl Perch, Tusk Fish, Trag Jew, Yellow Tail Kingfish, Amber Jack, Cobia and Samson Fish being landed. Best baits are WA pilchards, Whole large Squid, Mullet Fillet, Bonito Fillet or live or dead Yakkas.   

FISHING CHARTER REPORTS

Brad from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports,

“I only did a couple of days work on the Tweed River this week, and had a sensational day with Clint travelling to Brisbane to meet our new sponsors. We met up with Gareth the owner of Tackle Tactics and we are both now proud users of Okuma Australia reels and TT rods. Okuma makes a fantastic reliable range of reels and I could not wait to get back to the Tweed to use them. The best fishing for us this week was to once again jig vibes in the deep holes and channels where we caught Flatties, Bream, Tailor, Big Eye Trevally and Jewies. We also caught a few Australian Bass and of course released them very quickly and carefully as it is closed season for them in tidal estuaries at this time of the year. It is well worth noting that the Bass have moved well down the river this year due to the ridiculous amount of rain we have received this year.”

Clint from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports,

“Once again this week the Squid were keeping us entertained, and there were plenty of Flathead on the chew. We are blessed to have an abundance of Squid in our waters over winter, and they are so much fun to catch and absolutely delicious to eat. Some days they will aggressively attack Ecogear Australia Dartmax squid jigs, other days the Ecogear and vibe lures we use daily are the best offering to tempt them. Flathead have been everywhere, shallow to deep, the key to finding them is looking for bait fish. In shallow water keep an eye out for birds diving and the actual small fish in the clear water. In deeper water look for patches of bait on your fish finder then dropping lures under them. Water temperature has been hovering around 18 degrees, there has also been some decent Flounder, Winter Whiting, Tailor, Bream, and Trevally hunting in the Broadwater.”

LINKS & INFO

If you have any great catches or photos you would like to share, please email us and let us know how you went. brett@coomerahouseboats.com.au or brett@fishotackle.com.au     

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

Fisho Tackle and Coomera Houseboat Holidays now have Hire Tinnies follow the link to view http://www.coomerahouseboats.com.au/our-fleet-type/hire-tinnies/     

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

Good luck with the Fishing. Brett