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There has certainly been a lot of welcome rain that has fallen over the Bundaberg district during the past few weeks.
Unfortunately, the Kolan River and Baffle Creek are both running really fresh, which has made fishing very difficult. Fishing the mouths of these two is the only option. Whiting, flathead, bream and mangrove jacks in the clean salty water with fresh baits would be the species to target.
Mud crabs and prawns would definitely be other options with the amount of fresh water around.
The Burnett River has been producing nice trumpeter up to 55cm in length, around both traffic bridges in the town reach. Night fishing seems to produce the bigger fish and fresh live baits are the preferred options. Try targeting mangrove jack and fingermark in the deeper holes towards the mouth as well.
The Burrum River is fishing really well because it has escaped the fresh water influx. Mangrove jack, bream, whiting and flathead are the main fish species filling the creels. At the mouth of the Burrum a lot of school mackeral have been captured. Trolling metal lures or drifting unweighted baits has been landing most of the fish.
On the reef scene things have been very quiet because of weather conditions, but the topic of conversation with anglers is spanish mackeral. The outer reefs such as the Five Degree Patch and the Fifteen Mile Gutter have been producing most of these quality fish. Sweetlip, hussar, parrot and red emperor are other species filling the ice boxes.
In our closer inshore reefs school mackeral and the odd spotted mackeral have all been hooked using chrome slugs and by drifting unweighted gar and pilchards.
The freshwater scene has slowed because of the inclement weather, even though Lake Monduran has still been producing one metre plus barra during the middle of the day. With water temperature and water clarity both dropping, I would be using brighter coloured lures to target these huge fish. With the influx of fresh water, a lot of these larger would be traveling to the main basin, where trolling deep diving lures will be your best option.
A recent trip to Lake Gregory produced 30 bass for a four-hour session. A lot of these fish were undersized with the biggest being 48cm. The Little Max blades captured ninety percent of these fish. It is encouraging to see the amount of small fish in this impoundment as it is a great sign for future fishing.
Till next time,
Gary Leather
Green Acorn