As the weather continues to heat up, local rivers and lakes are proving to be fishing hotspots with summer species responding well to the warmer days.
Inshore / Offshore
Our local inshore reefs have been swarmed with bait over the last couple of weeks.
Yakka has been the bait most common baitfish and a lot of our pelagic fish have been feeding hard whilst the bait is around.
Watching for birds working is a dead giveaway of a bait ball being harassed by predators and is definitely worth a few casts.
As well as the pelagic action happening all along our coastline our bottom fish have been on the chew.
Some solid snapper and grunter have been caught on our inshore reefs with early mornings having the best bite times.
Using a light fluorocarbon leader has definitely helped anglers get more bites.
Further offshore has seen plenty of coral trout, sweetlip, tusk fish and red emperor caught.
These fish have preferred large flesh baits when rigged on the new Buku Bait Rigs.
The cobia are still here and are more commonly found around heavy structure like artificial reefs, wrecks or deep ledges with big bommies.
Large flesh baits work best for these fish like whole squid, cuttlefish or fish fillets.
Kolan River
This river has started to see some great fishing over the last few weeks with its summer species responding well to the warmer weather we have had.
Mangrove jacks and barra have been caught along rock walls and deep banks with the late afternoon run out tides firing these fish up.
If you are using bait, live poddy mullet, whole prawns, or mullet fillet are all worth a try to see what the fish will bite.
Towards the mouth has seen plenty of flathead caught on lures with smaller fish hanging around shallow flats and the larger fish along deep banks and drop offs.
Samaki Vibelicious soft vibes have been slaying the flathead when hopped along the bottom. Some solid grunter have still been caught and are a common by-catch when chasing flathead.
Fresh yabbies are one of the best baits for grunter so pumping a few yabbies at low tide is worth the effort.
Local beaches
With school holidays upon us fishos that have put in the extra effort to get to more remote locations have been experiencing some cracking fishing.
Rules Beach and Norval Park Beach are two beaches that have been fishing well and are away from the crowds.
Fresh bait like yabbies and beach worms have been most effective. Using a running ball sinker rig is one of the easiest ways to present your bait in a really natural way.
Some huge whiting have been caught along our local beaches this week with the warmer weather definitely helping these fish bite.
Finding gutters that are close to the shore with a clear entry/exit is a sure place that will hold fish.
These entries/exits act like highways for the fish as they enter the gutter through this deeper channel.
Throwing your baits into this channel if you can, will help put your bait right in front of their face as they swim in or out of the gutter.
Lake Monduran
This week has certainly got Lake Monduran's water temp on the rise which has resulted in more barra being caught.
The last few weeks at mondy has seen conditions getting better and better each week and everything looks absolutely perfect for the summer season ahead.
Finding bays where the warmer water is has been crucial, a few degrees increase in water temp is all the barra need to feel more comfortable and start feeding.
Once again, the lures doing the damage on these fish have been soft plastics.
Berkley's Shimma Pro-Rigs have been tempting some huge barra to bite over the past couple of weeks.
Straight out of the packet these lures swim perfectly and are built to handle huge barra. Pushing right into the back of bays is worth the time to get there whilst a lot of fish are currently sitting around shallow points or flats in search for that slightly warmer water.
Having an electric motor is so handy as these barra are still spooking easily so stealth is also very important.
Pulling up a few hundred meters away from your spot and using your electric to take you in is a sure way to not spook any fish.
With the Tackle World Bundaberg Lake Monduran Family Fishing Classic coming up on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd of October, it is great to see the dam firing up.
If you are fishing this comp you should be looking forward to the warmer weather as this will get the barra chewing even more.
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Yes it’s improving. Had a great session in the Elliot river on Wednesday, flathead and grunter all good sizes, and lots of undersized juveniles. So should see a good few bigger ones coming on the chew in the coming weeks, all caught on yabbies cheers