on orders over $125BUNDABERG OFFSHORE
Well, it’s school holiday time again and it’s excellent to see so many kids gearing up for their next fishing adventure around the Bundaberg area. Due to the ordinary weather conditions we experienced last weekend, there weren’t many reports from our offshore anglers, but luckily enough the inshore reefs, rivers, creeks and impoundments have all been fishing well this past week.
INSHORE REEFS
A few anglers have been making the most of the small weather windows and fishing the many shallow reefs off Bundaberg. Good numbers of school mackerel seem to be everywhere at the moment, with floating pilchards rigged on gang hooks with no weight, and casting or trolling metal lures both working well. All the popular marks are also holding good numbers of grunter and squire/snapper, fishing closer to the bottom.
THE BURNETT RIVER
As the water temperature is starting to rise, so are the number of mangrove jack and barra being hooked in the Burnett, which is fantastic to see. We’ve also had good reports come in from anglers fishing around the full moon on Tuesday night, of some monster flathead and summer whiting, with fresh yabbies and beach worms being the two top baits. A few three tooth jew and bream have been caught in the deeper holes between the Fairymead Bend and Rubyanna, and these are both fantastic fish to catch on light gear. The Town Reach is still holding a reasonable population of blue salmon up to 89cm. One of the most productive techniques has been trolling small hard body lures that dive to two to three metres.
ELLIOTT RIVER AND COONARR CREEK
Both of these systems have fished very well this past week. The anglers willing to put in the hours with fresh baits have been well rewarded. Massive summer whiting to 40cm have been common, along with plenty of flathead and dart caught around the shallows towards the mouths. Good populations of mangrove jacks also inhabit the upper reaches of both systems. Jacks up to 50cm have been testing anglers’ skills, and let’s hope this continues over the coming months.
LAKE WURUMA AND CANIA
Last weekend, a Basstastic competition was held at Lake Wuruma with anglers catching heaps of Australian bass and yellowbelly. Lake Wuruma is more well-known for the amount of red claw it produces, but the size and quantity of the fish caught was really impressive. I’m sure anglers are already planning their next trip to Wuruma.
Lake Cania is also a fantastic destination during the school holidays with heaps for everyone to do. As it gets warmer, the saratoga in Cania are also firing up with surface poppers and spinnerbaits my two favourites to target these great sports fish.
LAKE MONDURAN
What a difference a couple of weeks makes! The barra in Lake Monduran are becoming more active with some anglers hooking up to ten barra per session. One gun angler reported losing two to three barra well above the average size of 70-80cm, which is a great sign that there are still barra up to and over the magic metre in this impoundment. Most of the barra and monster bass have responded well this week to suspending hard body lures fished tight to structure. Fingers crossed that the action only improves for the annual Lake Monduran Family Fishing Classic being held next month.
Fish with confidence,
Dale Smith
Tackle World Bundaberg
Green Acorn