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Bundaberg Sportfishing Club Inc.
Archives
 Josh's
Fish Tails - 25th September
Josh's
Fish Tails - 1st October
Josh's
Fish Tails - 18th October
Summer
State Titles this weekend
Tagalong
trip
Bradley
and the barra
The Burnett River has been
fishing relatively well lately with good numbers of Flathead,
Bream, Cod and a few Whiting being caught. Soft plastics along
the moored trawlers have been getting smashed by 30cm+ Bream,
which will start to become less common with winter behind us and
starting to head into summer. Fishing bait in the deep rocky
holes has also been working well for Bream, Cod and the
occasional Trumpeter. For the Flatties use soft plastics, and
various dead and live baits, along the mud banks on the north
side of the river just down stream of the town ramp. They have
also been schooling up around the mouth of the river as well as
the mouth of small feeder creeks. There have been reports of
Longtail and Mac Tuna finally making the long trip north. The
Mackerel are also starting to move in with Schoolies and
Spotties coming onboard. These fish are succumbing to trolled
lures and floating fresh live and dead baits.
Elle Hodge with a Golden Trevally caught off a
Wreck On the inshore reefs there
have been a few nice sized Squire and the occasional big Knobbie
being pulled in. Using soft plastics such as the Gulp 5” Jerk
Shad in Nuclear Chicken and the 5” Paddle Tail in Lime Tiger,
and also the Tropic Angler SWIK in the Chartreuse Live bait and
Beer Pearl, have been producing the best results for the Snapper
and other reef fish. Using metal lures such as the River 2 Sea
Searock in 20-40gm and the Gillies Pilchard in 25gm has been
catching many of the Pelagics. All of these lures can be
purchased at BCF along with all your other Boating Camping and
Fishing requirements. I’m there every Thursday night from 5pm
til 9pm and if you require any more advice or just want to have
a chat, feel free to do so. The local wrecks
have also been fishing quite well with good catches of Trevally,
Cobia and mixed reefies coming off them. When you’re fishing for
Trevally I have found that a quickly retrieved metal lure or a
slowly hopped soft plastic works well. When using a plastic
there is a variety of other species that will chomp them if
fished on the bottom. You can also get some nice Barred Grunter
and Nannygai off these wrecks but usually it is a struggle to
get your plastic or bait through the schools of Golden and Long
Nose Trevally! When fishing for Cobia use big slabs of Squire or
whole live bait, I have found that fishing around dawn and dusk
are the best time to hook these hard fighting fish. Also fishing
the slack tide and half moon as Cobia don’t like too much tidal
flow.
There will be a good chance to get offshore with the 10-15 knot
winds forecast for Sunday 28th and Monday 29th of September. On
the outer reefs there have been good numbers of quality reef
fish such as Red Emperors, Coral Trout, Parrot and big Lippas
starting to show. Using Squid, live Yakka and Whiptails should
get you in to some of these fish. The Trigger fish are still
hanging around with an average of about 10-15 of them per trip
around the reef country. A good way to prevent some of the
Trigger fish is to up the size of your baits to try and deter
these bandits.
Tunaboiling: A sight that gets any fisherman's
blood pumping. The Bundaberg
Sportfishing Club is having its next monthly meeting in
conjunction with the Queensland State Titles on Sunday the 5th
of October and the weigh in will commence at 2:00pm. Visitors
are welcome and for information ring either Geoff Hodge on 4159
9303 or Kevin Charteris on 4151 3947.
Josh Hodge
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Fishing
starts to fire with Summer on its way
Estuaries
Fishing in the rivers has been good with some big fish including
Flathead up to and over the legal 70cm mark, large bream and
whiting over 30cm. Crabs should start to get on the move coming
into summer. All we need now is some rain and they will become a
good prospect for boaties wanting to get a feed. Using soft
plastics or hard bodied lures around any sort of structure
underwater, or just submerged, should get hits from a few of the
feisty Jacks that are starting to show up. These will start to
become more common with the summer months fast approaching.
Fishing bait along some of the rock bars in the Baffle and Kolan
Rivers has been working well for Bream, Cod, and the occasional
Trumpeter and small Barra. For the Flatties in the Burnett and
Baffle rivers use soft plastics like the 3” Atomic Prong in
Pearl Core Shot, and dead baits such as cooked prawns and
herring (when using herring make a slice from the anal fin to
the top of the pectoral fin so that the bait is releasing scent)
also using live baits such as Herring and small Winter Whiting,
along the sand banks and weed beds should catch some big ones.
The Longtail and Mac Tuna are well and truly moving north with
schools of fish showing up just outside the mouth of the
Burnett. The Yellowfin Tuna have also started moving through on
the wider grounds. Yellowfin are the best eating of all the Tuna
and I have found that thinly slicing the flesh and dipping it in
wasabi mixed with good soya sauce then cooking it very quickly
on a hot barbeque plate tastes excellent. The Mackerel are being
caught just offshore of the river mouth and from what I have
heard there are Schoolies, Spotties, and some Greys being
caught. These fish are being caught by trolling lures and
casting spoons and metal slugs.
Steve Cheng with a Barra from Monduran
caught on TA Floater in Pearl colour
Dams
The local dams are starting to fire with Barra coming from
Monduran, and Bass from Gregory. The Barra are taking lures
trolled at the 12’-15’ mark, or cast lures like the Tropic
Angler Swiks and Floaters. When throwing plastics for Barra cast
along side a weed bed and slowly wind it back to the boat as
they find this technique hard to resist. There have been some
big Bass pulled out of Lake Gregory-well in to the 40 and 50
centimetre range. Using a popper such as the River 2 Sea 65
Bubble Pop in black in the early morning or late afternoon while
fishing along the weed banks, using a slow, blooping retrieve,
should see some spectacular surface strikes.
Inshore Reefs
On the inshore reefs the Snapper have started to slow down but
some fish are still being pulled. Reefies are starting to fire
and using soft plastics such as the Gulp 5” Jerk Shad in any of
there “Chicken” range, have been producing some good results for
these reef fish. Using metal lures is always worth a go when
anchored up or drifting over structure as you never know what
pelagics will be hanging around.
Wrecks
The local wrecks are still fishing well with the usual Trevally
and other pelagics being caught. When fishing for Trevally, or
any Pelagic fish, a quickly retrieved metal lure or a slowly
hopped soft plastic works well. I have discovered winding a
plastic in at a quick pace will sometimes catch the faster
moving fish. You can also get some nice Cod, Trout, Barred
Grunter and Nannygai when these wrecks are really firing. When
fishing for Cobia, a good bait is Sand Crabs with an 8/0 hook
super glued to their back. The soft plastics to use for these
fish are the Berkley Gulp 7” in Nuclear Chicken and also the
Tropic Angler SWIKS 6” in any of the colours.
Josh Hodge with a beautiful Bar cheeked Trout
Offshore
There will be a good chance to get offshore with the NE/E 10-15
knot winds forecast for this weekend the 4th and 5th of October.
On the outer reefs like the Warregoes and the Heralds there have
been some nice sized Trout and Cod pulled and also some good Red
Throat Emperor. Using Squid, live Yakka and 7” plastics have
been the demise of most of these fish. The Trigger fish are
still hanging around but not in as many numbers. Using plastics
in the 5-7” range usually get rid of the problem but also when
bait fishing use bigger baits and this should stop them for a
little while.
The Marlin have started to arrive off 1770 and off the top of
Fraser. Using lures such as the Tropic Angler Offshore Trolling
skirts have seen anglers hooked up to these hard fighters. The
flying fish have also moved in and this means that there should
be some Dolphinfish and Sailfish moving up.
That’s all from me this week so until next time tight lines and
big fish.
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My Dad and I have
come up from Victoria to fish Monduran Dam and catch a barra.
I've never caught one before, but my Dad has. We spent over one
week camped at the caravan park and caught nothing. We went into
Bundaberg one day to try and get some hints. Dad and I went into
Rehbeins Fishing and Ben there told us that your Tropic Angler
lures were the ones to use.
We got six Floater’s in different colours and
went back to try our luck again. On my third cast I caught a
115cm barra on the Gold Tiger colour. It fought really hard and
jumped around a lot. Dad also caught a 98cm barra on a TA
Floater Pearl. Thanks for making a great lure that caught my
first ever barra and my best ever fish.
Bradley Beaver
Stratford, Victoria
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A recent Tagalong trip by a
couple of Bundaberg Sportfishing Club Inc. boats to one of the
local wrecks off Bundaberg saw a large number of very big
Trevally's caught and released.
These fish fight hard and are great fun on light (2-3kg)
breakaway mono line with braid backing and soft plastics. One of
the Trophy size fish for the day was taken by "Bodo" from DJ's
Fishing and Camping and was the largest Golden Trevally I've
seen. An absolute monster at 15.95 kg's!
"Bodo" and his Golden Trevally
Another of the DJ's boys "Gazza" took an Australian Record on
2kg flyfishing gear of an 11.5 kg Golden Trevally, while young
gun Josh Hodge from BCF also picked up 3 Australian Records on
his second Flyfishing trip, as well as a number of big fish on
heavier (8kg) gear after he'd finally broken all his fly loops!
"Gazza" with his record breaking Golden
Trevally.
Elle Hodge picked up a Gamefishing Record for a Golden Trevally
on 3kg line, and Skipper Me picked up a couple of Queensland
Breakaway Trace Records just to finish the day off. The other
Trevally around included some good size Long Nose, Blue Spot,
Bludger, and a few smaller Gold Spot Trev's.
All in all, between the 2 boats there were well over a hundred
fish landed, with nearly all released, on the light gear, and a
lot of sore shoulders and arms captured as well the next day!
Not a bad Trev, if I say so myself
There will be plenty of Tagalong information posted to this page
from now on, as well as Tips and Tricks from Josh, and
information about the Bundaberg Sportfishing Club Inc. and ANSA
(Australian National Sportfishing Association), so please check
us out on regular basis. You can contact either Kev Charteris on
0408 848 564, or myself on 4159 9303 for further info.
Geoff Hodge
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Elle Hodge with a nice tasting Nannygai
The ANSA Queensland Summer State Titles
are on this weekend 4th and 5th October along the entire
Queensland coast and inland freshwater systems and run from
midnight Friday until 12:00pm Sunday.
The Bundaberg Sportfishing Club Inc. will be holding their Weigh
In at 43 Payne Street Milbank and anyone interested in coming
along can just show up on the day, or give Kev Charteris a call
on 0408848564, or myself on 4159 9303.
Each angler has the opportunity of weighing in in a few
different ways. The normal is, unfortunately, still the old Gut
and Gill, but there is also the option of Tagging only, or using
the Associations Length to Weight Ratio Chart and supplying
digital photo's of caught and released fish. In the G & G and
Length ones each angler can catch a maximum of 5 fish with a
maximum of 2 fish per species, and can enter either Senior,
Junior, Sub Junior, or Family, in Light Tackle (3kg and under
line class) or Standard Tackle (4kg and over line class)
You must be a member of ANSA Qld to weigh in but there is
usually some pretty high class fish caught and everyone is happy
to pass on some of their techniques, especially to new and
prospective members. The Weigh-In is followed by our monthly
meeting at 4pm and BYO bbq straight after, with everyone
bringing their own meat, drinks, desert, and chairs, but the
host supplying the salads and rolls etc.
Cheers and tight lines
Geoff
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Geoff Hodge with a 30kg Cobia
Monduran Classic washed
out
The Monduran Family Fishing Classic was held last weekend. The
fishing was dismal to say the least! It rained for most of the
weekend and the Barra weren’t on the bite. The Bass at least
were, with over 35 fish caught for the comp. As always the
Catties were being caught but there weren’t as many as previous
years.
Estuaries
The fishing in the estuaries has been relatively good with all
of the bread and butter species being caught. The Flathead are
taking live baits such as yabbies, worms and small soldier
crabs. The dead baits that are being used for these fish are
herring and prawns. The Bream are taking yabbies and crabs
fished in the deep holes and worms up on the sand flats. The
whiting are being taken on yabbies and worms fished over the
flats and also attacking small poppers fished relatively fast
over sand flats, while flathead and trevally are also succumbing
to this style of fishing. Mud Crabs should be on the move as it
was a full moon last Tuesday night and the recent rain would
have flushed some of them out. Grab a set of pots and some
floats from BCF and head down to your local river and try to get
feed of muddies. Make sure you only take the male Mud crabs or
Bucks that are over 15 cm from point to point. The Female crabs
or Jennies are off limits as they are our breeding stock for the
future. When the wind changes back to the North and the water
warms up the Jack and Barra will fire again. There are some
Barra being pulled from the hot water outlet on live poddy
mullet fished with a running size 0 sinker. These fish will also
take a slowly twitched Tropic Angler Floater or Tropic Angler
Prawn. Fishing bait along some of the rocky holes in the Baffle
and Burnett Rivers has been working well for Cod, Jack and if
your presentation is appealing enough a Barra might even have a
go. If you want to fish for Jack on light line, I recommend
fishing the Baffle at night and drifting live sprat or prawns
over the sand flats up near the old ferry crossing.
Dams
The local dams are starting to fire with Barra coming from
before last week’s cold snap, and Bass from Lake Gregory have
fired up because of the same colder weather. The Barra are
taking lures trolled at the 12’-15’ mark, or cast lures like the
Tropic Angler Swiks and Floaters. When throwing plastics for
Barra, cast alongside a weed bed and slowly wind it back to the
boat, as they find this technique hard to resist. There have
been some big Bass pulled out of Lake Gregory - well in to the
40 and 50 centimetre range. When fishing for these fish blooping
a popper on the surface or slowly winding a spinnerbait along
the weed beds should do the trick.
Elle Hodge with a Blue Spot Trevally
Inshore/Offshore
The Tuna are now outside the mouth of Baffle and also
right in the Burnett River so when the big winds we are having
stop, they should be chewing their heads off and you should have
no problem casting a metal slug of fly in the middle of a
feeding school and get a hook up. The winds look like they are
easing around Monday-Thursday and this will be a good chance to
get offshore and hit up some of these hard fighting fish. The
Spanish Mackerel are being caught on the wider grounds to around
15kg and in the river there has been Schoolies, Spotties, and
some Greys to around 4-5kg. These fish are being caught on
trolled lures and quickly retrieved metal slugs. Also floating
live yakka and dead pilchards down a berley trail has worked
well. The Trevally have still been hanging around if you want
some sport on light line. I find using 3-4kg line is loads of
fun when playing with these hard fighting fish. If you are into
bottom bashing, there has been a lot of reefies pulled from the
15 mile area. When fishing these areas a paternoster rig with
two hooks is my favourite when chasing the smaller fish like
Hussar, Lippas and Spanish Flag. When chasing Trout and Reds I
like to use a running size 10 Ball sinker on top of an 8/0 hook
with a large bit of Hussar flesh or head used as bait.
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