Well, the heavy rain in the Bundaberg area has stopped for now and the river flow has slowed right down. With the bigger tides at the moment, this should see some salt starting to push back up the rivers underneath the fresh.
The fishing has been improving and will only get better if we don’t get any more rain. The rocky areas around the local river mouths have been producing some good quality fish including big bream, cod and the odd jew, by fishing with mullet fillets as bait.
The beaches are also fishing well for whiting and flathead. Worms have been the best for the whiting, and whitebait for the flathead.
Further up the Burnett River there has been the odd jack but the catfish seem to be giving most a hard time.
The inshore reefs have been producing some excellent fishing for snapper, sweetlip, grunter and spanish mackerel.
Lately the weather around our local area, and indeed over most of Queensland, has been extraordinary with most of the state receiving more rain in the past few weeks than they have in the last ten years.
The Burnett River alone has flooded twice since Christmas, and is up again this week because of rain received way up in the catchment area. As a result, all of the river systems and dams are either full or over-flowing. This has meant that most of our local salt water rivers and creeks are running very fresh.
The only fishing options have been around the river mouths, especially on the bigger tides, as this will push a bit of salt back up into the rivers.
From those anglers who have managed to throw in a line, the main catches that have been reported are flathead, bream and the odd grunter. It is also worth putting in some crab pots, as this is the time the mud crabs will be heading back upstream.
Well, we have seen our fair share of rain around the Bundaberg area over the past few weeks and this has slowed the fishing right down. There was still a truckload of fresh coming down the rivers and creeks, and the water has been dirty up to a couple of miles out to sea.
If the forecasts are correct, it’s likely to be like this for a couple of months. This will mean your only option of catching a fish will be around the river mouths.
While it is good to see all the dam levels rising after being so low for so long, it does make the fishing a little bit harder for a time until things settle down again.
So, this will be a good time to do a bit of maintenance of all your fishing gear as well as on the boat and trailer, making sure it’s all ready to go when the weather is in our favour once again.
When the weather has allowed us to get out the front, the offshore fishing has been great. The gutters have been producing some sweetlip, parrot and the odd trout.
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.
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