With the drop of air and water temperatures the fishing has been a bit tougher this week. We also had some windy conditions to go with it so the windows of opportunity were shorter. Offshore the conditions were mixed with a few days of light swell and winds making North Reef popular with snapper, sweetlip, cobia, tuskies and the occasional longtail tuna coming in. Sunshine reef also produced a few coral trout, sweetlip, longtail tuna and the odd mackerel. Halls reef was the pick during windier days as it’s a bit more protected. Pilchard floaters have been working well on catching longtail tuna and mackerel during the early morning tides. Trolling garfish and bonito is still a great go to for this area as the bigger pelagic fish love this area and these baits. Surf fishing is picking up with chopper tailor, whiting, bream and GT’s on the catch menu. These fish have been taking 30 gram slugs. Whole pilchards fished on smaller light gang hooks and running sinker rigs has been working well for anglers fishing off the headlands and have been getting small snapper, sweetlip and trevally.
In the estuary queenfish and flathead have been taking a wide range of lures and baits. If lure fishing curly tail plastics with a good application of scent and 12lb leaders to prevent getting rubbed off are the go to. Whole fish baits on gang or snelled rigs and lightly weighted also work very well as they cover more ground in the current. The frying pan toward the mouth of Lake Cooroibah is a great area to find these species. Other species on the list include mangrove jacks, tailor and various trevally species including cale cale and diamonds. Trevally can be found around woods bay, Munna Bridge and the ski run sections. They love soft vibes, micro jigs and grub style soft plastics as well as whitebait and herring baits. With the rains, now is a great time to get your crab pots out. Remember to keep your pots out of the boating channel and keep them clearly marked.
Borumba and Lake MacDonald are the closest options for anglers wishing to target bass as the annual closure is now in effect. Slower moving suspending lures are a must for anyone working the edges and are sure to entice a bite. The rains have seen the air temps rise a few degrees making early starts more enjoyable. If you have a sounder be sure to watch for spikes in temperature as the warmer waters can be a great place for fish to school up and hunt for bait.
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures!
