Despite mixed weather conditions during the past week there have been a number of fish on the chew throughout the region's fishing hotspots.
Bundaberg Inshore
Last weekend and this week has seen some great numbers of mackerel caught in close on a range of different lures and bait.
Trolling large garfish, pike or tailor has been the best way to target the bigger fish with the old saying “big bait big fish” working a treat.
Trolling deep diving lures like the Samaki Redic DS80 or casting metal spoons has been super effective on the smaller schoolie mackerel as well.
With all these mackerel around it's a great time to go out and get a feed whilst they are here and willing to eat most trolled lures and baits.
Bundaberg Offshore
Last weekend’s average weather certainly wasn't ideal especially with all the big trout, reds, nannygai and emperors that have been on the chew.
Those that did manage to sneak out over the weekend and earlier this week found a few solid fish with the bottom fish loving big flesh baits.
Pilchards and mullet fillet have been working best this week. Coral trout was definitely the standout fish with a few really big models being caught.
Burnett River
The Burnett has had another week of great fishing with plenty of quality bream, flathead, grunter, and the odd blue salmon being caught.
The bream have been found at Burnett Heads on the rock walls and have loved baits like pilchard, mullet fillet or mullet gut.
The flathead haven't been far away with plenty being caught at the base of the rock walls, using a heavier sinker and a slightly larger flesh bait has worked best to get your bait right in front of their face.
The grunter this week have been scattered but a few are getting caught further up the river around town.
Big curl tail soft plastics or vibes have been most effective on these fish because you are able to cover ground quickly.
Elliott River
The Elliott River has started to produce some cracking dusky flathead that have been up in the shallow water trying to warm up throughout the day.
These fish have been really aggressive, loving hardbodies slow wound or twitched along the flats and yabbie beds.
A lot of smaller flathead have been close to these big breeders so if you are catching a few smaller fish keep casting because these big flatties haven't been far away.
Further up the river has seen some massive grunter being caught, small vibes like the Samaki Vibelicious has worked best.
Baffle Creek
Last weekend’s big wind and swell really pushed a lot of murky water into the Baffle which made for some pretty hard fishing conditions.
This didn't stop the fish from biting though with lots of solid flathead and grunter being caught in deeper water.
Using larger lures and bait was the go whilst the water was really dirty.
Fishing the run-out tide worked best with anchoring at the mouth of small creeks.
Casting lures up current and working them back to the boat worked well. Otherwise, flicking some live baits like garfish or sprat out the back of the boat in the current was just as effective.
Kolan River
The Kolan is still a little murky from the flooding we had recently and last weekends big swell definitely didn't do the water clarity any favours.
With the two mouths leading into the river most of the fishing was done further up the river away from the wind and swell.
This found anglers using larger baits to get the bite and fishing heavy structure like rock bars and deep banks.
The flathead have been getting caught in most stretches of the river with pilchards, mullet fillet and sprat working best.
The grunter have been scattered but a few solid ones are getting caught whilst using baits in deeper holes of the river towards the mouth.
Lake Gregory
This week has seen some bass on the move with the weather warming up which is a great sign.
These fish have been caught in shallow water with small paddle tail soft plastics getting the bite.
With a few more weeks of warmer weather, we should start to see more fish getting up into the shallows and feeding ready to smack a lure!
A lot of fish have still been caught in schools hanging off points in deeper water for now.
Small vibes like the Ecogear ZX40 have been deadly at tempting a bite from the bass when they aren't aggressively hunting.
If you would like your catch photos published to be in the running for a $50 gift card every week, please email your details and photos (of local catches only) to: accounts@tackleworldbundy.com.au.
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