With the amount of rain in recent weeks, most estuary systems in the local Bundaberg area are running fairly fresh.
This has slowed the fishing in our district, however targeting the cleaner water at the entrances to the rivers and creeks has been producing some nice sized flathead and whiting, with the odd trumpeter further upstream.
On the upside, there are plenty of crabs and scattered prawns moving about the river systems.
Mangrove jacks have also slowed because of the dirty water, but live-baiting around rock walls and fallen structure such as trees, has been producing the best results.
The reef scene has also been fairly quite because of weather conditions, however those who have been making the most of the windows of opportunity have been returning with a nice bag of spanish mackerel, red emperor, parrot and sweetlip.
Well, lately we just can’t pick the weather around the local Bundaberg area, as we’re now into the first week of December and temperatures are still quite cool. We have also had our fair share of wind, rain and more wind. Surely it will let up sooner or later.
This wind has kept the bigger boats from heading offshore, but a few smaller boats have been fishing the coastline with some great results. Good catches of tuna, mackerel and even cobia have been caught. Live baits have been best with yakkas and pike being the favourites. The preferred rig has been 10/0 hooks rigged on light trace wire with one hook in the nose and the other in the tail.
The Burnett River mouth has also been producing some smaller school mackerel. Trolling the rock walls with Spoons, Flashas and small deep diving Minnows has been the best way to target mackerel. Even the guys fishing off the rocks have been getting mackerel on pillys rigged on gang hooks and by casting and retrieving them.
We have finally had a great run of weather with some calm, hot, sunny, windless days around the local Bundaberg area, allowing a lot of boats to head offshore.
Most landed their fair share of fish, including some big coral trout. These were caught by dropping big livies to the bottom and hanging on! Sweetlip, parrot, cod and hussar made up the rest of the catch.
Some big spanish mackerel and cobia have been caught by floating out a live bait or a dead slimey or yakka.
Well, we have finally cracked a few days of good weather, but we are now left with a Coral Reef Finfish closure which came into place in Wednesday, 3rd November and will be effective until midnight on Sunday, 7th November.
This means we will have to stick to the local rivers, creeks and dams for the weekend, and the tops of the tides around the river mouths will be a good place to start.
Finally this week we've had a run of good weather around the local Bundaberg area. With 10-15 knots being the average forecast, this allowed a lot of boats to head offshore.
Some good catches were landed with a good mixed bag of red emperor, coral trout, sweetlip, parrot and the usual other mixed reef species. Pilchards seem to be the preferred bait for these bottom species. Those anglers floating out a bait around these reefy areas scored good catches of spanish mackerel and cobia.
Due to the wind and recent rains, there has been no reef or offshore fishing being done in the local Bundaberg area, so most of the fishing has been confined to the local rivers, creeks and dams.
The upper reaches of the Burnett River are still running a bit fresh, so most of the fish have been pushed down to the cleaner, saltier water, where there's been a good number of bream, flathead and grunter caught.
The weather around the local Bundaberg area has been a bit unsettled over the past few weeks, with patches of showers and wind about. However, when the weather has been good, the fishing has been good as well.
The Elliott River has been fishing well for summer whiting, with the night time tides being the better tides to fish for these fish. Yabbies and beach worms have been a favourite bait, and the incoming tides seem to be producing the most fish.
There have been a few prawns in most of the local rivers. Don't forget, the limit is a 10 litre bucket per person.
Finally we have had a run of good weather around the local Bundaberg area, but unfortunately for the reef fishermen, we can’t do much due to the Coral Reef Fin Fish closure. This a 5-day closure finishing on the 9th October this year to allow most of the reef fish to spawn for future seasons. There will be another 5-day closure about the same time next month from 3rd to 7th November inclusive.
Well, it’s been great to see some rain with some good falls around the Bundaberg area during this week. This has put the river into a bit of a spin as a lot of fresh from upriver is now washing down and the upper part of the Burnett is not only fresh but very dirty.
The local fishing has been great lately with a good list of species being caught in the rivers and estuaries around Bundaberg as well as offshore.
The bream have still been about in good numbers, mainly around the rocky areas. Gary Leather and myself has a session on the bream recently and managed to land some good ones by using small TT bladed lures, fished along the bottom with a few hops in there for some extra action.
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