on orders over $125Mangrove jack seem to be the words on everyone’s lips lately around the Bundaberg area, and with the wind expected to ease a little, it looks like a top weekend to get out and chase a few red devils.
The Kolan River has really fired up in the past fortnight since the warm northerly winds have boosted the water temperatures. The Kolan has many rock bars and timber stricture to target this fantastic sport fish. Casting lures around these areas has been productive. Some of the hot lures used have been the LuckyCraft Pointers and Killalure Flatz Ratz in most popular colours for the hard bodies, and Gulp and Zman soft plastics in the 3” and 4” size range, rigged on TT jig heads just heavy enough to reach the bottom.
As well as jack, estuary cod, flathead or even a barra or two could explode onto your lure. Anglers deciding to use bait to fish the snags and rock bars are also doing well. Mullet fillets, sprat and live poddy mullet have also been doing the damage.
By all reports, the Baffle is fishing well with some big mangrove jack, bream, flathead and whiting being caught all throughout this top river system. The Baffle Creek Family Fishing Festival is being held this weekend (31st October and 1st and 2nd November) at the Sport and Recreation grounds on Coast Road, Baffle Creek. This is always a great weekend to get up and fish the Baffle and win lots of prizes. Tackle World team members Bart and Matt will be attending, so drop in and say “G’day”. You can find more information on the website at http://bafflecreeksportrec.org.au/ffindex.asp
The Burnett River has also been another hot spot. Over the past week I’ve heard of a few barra being caught down around the Port on 30g jew candy lures and also under the bridges in the town reach using large whole mullet. Often the bigger fish are being caught around the tide changes. Anglers are also reporting good quality grunter, flathead, jack and whiting caught in the Burnett recently. The mackerel have been a little patchy this week with only a few spotty mackerel caught between the leads and the Two mile. Hopefully the weather improves and anglers can get out and try to locate more fish.
Lake Monduran held its annual Win Television Family Fishing Classic recently. It was a tough weekend to catch a barra due to the high wind that was experienced, but it was still a fantastic competition with over 600 entries, and lots of people won prizes and had a good time. I visited the dam last Sunday, just a week after the comp and landed two barra for the morning. There are still a lot of barra in the dam and the Monduran Anglers and Stocking Association released another 80,000 barra fingerlings last week, so over the next few months the dam should fire up.
Barra closures start from noon on Saturday (1st November) through to noon on the 1st February 2015. In all Queensland east coast waters throughout this period, it is prohibited to catch barramundi, and also to deliberately target barramundi for catch and release, as the stress of capture may prevent a fish from spawning. A take and possession limit of one barramundi applies during the closed season in certain impoundments, including Lake Monduran. The barramundi must be a minimum of 58cm and may be greater than 120 cm. More information on closures can be found on the website at www.daff.qld.gov.au
Fish with confidence,
Dale Smith
Green Acorn