Well, it has been a treat to see some rain, and most of the local areas around Bundaberg received some well-deserved down falls.
The tops of the Kolan River and Baffle Creek are running fresh so the fishing in these areas can be hard, but heading down river should see the salt water and the fish, such as jacks, trevally and queenfish. The fresh has also pushed the mud crabs out and down to the salt, so drag out the pots.
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 festive season is over for another year, and as this time last year, the weather around the Bundaberg area has let many keen anglers down. All the new fishing goodies that you snagged from Santa shall await the water with great anticipation.
On the bright side of things, the rain has stirred up the local estuary systems and it is well worth it to throw the crab pots in when you get a chance. Because of the rain many of the small creeks have been running quite fresh and this has pushed the fish out into the main arms of the rivers.
This week has seen the local rivers fire from the mouth to the upper reaches, with the mouth of the Burnett producing some great mackerel fishing – mainly school mackerel, but some are snodgers!
High tides early in the morning have produced best results and trolling lures has been the way to go. Four to six inch diving Minnows in blue or red heads with a white body has been the choice colours. The schoolies have also been caught by anchoring up and floating out pilchards or spinning with chrome lures.
The weekend just gone saw another run of good weather in the Bundaberg area. This allowed the offshore anglers to head out, with only 10-15knots of wind. This made for a good comfortable ride out - we were blessed.
Well the start of the hot weather is upon us in the Bundaberg area, with some scorcher hot days mid week putting the jacks on the bite. Using live baits along the rocky banks and deeper holes of the local rivers and fishing them hard on the bottom has been producing results. Prawns, mullet and gar are the favored live baits. Using these methods other species such as cod, finger mark, big flathead and barra have been caught.
Well, the warm weather has brought on the summer species in the Bundaberg area, with mangrove jack being a hot target.
Most of the holes and rockbars have produced some big jacks on live baits. Big prawns and poddy mullet have been the gun baits and the lure fisherman hasn’t missed out either. Prawnstars and 4-5 inch divers have been favourites. Other species caught using these methods have been cod, fingermark and the odd barra, but please be aware – we are now in closed season for barra, so any saltwater barra you catch must be released.
Well, the weather around the Bundaberg area hasn’t been overly kind to us again, so offshore fishing was near non-existent.
A couple of days earlier in the week allowed a few anglers to get out onto some of the inshore grounds, with a few snapper/squire, sweetlip, stripeys and school mackerel being caught.
The local river mouths are producing some fantastic light tackle fun using small lures and poppers with queenfish, pike, trevally and small school mackerel all being caught.
Well, the last month was a fairly ordinary one for good weather in the Bundaberg area, but on the few good days that we did have, the offshore fishing was great.
We’re just coming off the end of the snapper run and the snapper were big - some to 80cm. Other species were parrot, sweetlip, hussar and some big coral trout. For those who like to put down a live bait, there are still a few pelagics about. Spanish mackerel, cobia and dolphin fish just to name a few.
Due to some ordinary weather, reef fishing in the Bundaberg area has taken a back seat with most people confined to the rivers and dams.
The local river mouths have produced some small tailor and school mackerel, and trolling small lures and floating pilchards have been their downfall.
The flathead have been on the chew and most have been caught on soft plastics. Using larger (4-5 inch) softies has been the trick on the bigger flathead, with pink plastics rigged on slightly heavier heads fished on the bottom.
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