HEAD OUT TO CHASE SNAPPER

HI everyone, winter has definitely made itself at home on the Gold Coast. The past week has seen night time temps dropping and milder days giving us some classic winter weather for fishing. Let’s have a look at what’s been biting.

A couple of nice days gave our customers a chance to head out offshore and chase some snapper on the close reefs, winter will see a drop in water temperatures and larger numbers of bigger snapper showing up during the next few months.

Robert James and Mark (last name not provided) scored a couple of trophy snapper measuring in at 82cm and 93cm last week.

Try targeting the 18 and 24 fathom reefs off the Gold Coast Seaway and 36 fathom reefs off Jumpinpin for a feed. Float lining is my preferred method to target quality reef fish, I normally use a set of three ganged 5/0 Mustad Tarpon hooks and run a ball sinker straight to the hooks, then slowly feed out your bait to make its presentation look more natural.

A good mixed bag should be on offer including pearl perch, moses, tusk fish, trag jew, jewfish and also cobia. Best baits are whole WA pilchards, whole large squid, mullet fillet, garfish, or if you catch a bonito they also make great fresh bait. A good burley trail is a must to attract fish and keep them feeding. I will normally use a cube trail of WA pilchards or Stimulate pellets.

Nice whiting in the rivers, local fisherman Wayne Young caught a quality 40cm whiting and plenty of other fish around the 30 to 35cm size range on a houseboat holiday in the Coomera River at night, on worms.

During the winter targeting whiting is a good option, some spots are the Coomera River, Pimpama River, Logan River and the Nerang River. Best baits are worms and yabbies, use a long 6lb fluoro carbon leader, size 6 short bait holder hook and at least a 4 ball sinker to keep your bait on the bottom.

Good news for bream fishos as winter sets in, some great quality fish have been caught, be prepared to rug up when spending those cool winter nights on the water.

There have been good catches around the Jumpinpin area, and some good spots have been the Huts at Short Island, Eden Island, Tiger Mullet Channel, Cobby Passage and Marks Rocks in the Logan River.

In the Broadwater Dux, oyster leases in the Aldershots, Wave Break Island, the Gold Coast Seaway, Runaway Bay canal entrances, Land's End and Southport Bridge are worth a go.

Mullet fillet, mullet gut, prawns, white pilchards and yabbies are always a good bait.

Again, a burley trail is a good idea, I use either Stimulate or Wilson pellets. Don’t feed them too much, just a small amount, but it should keep the bream interested.

At the time of writing my report the forecast looks like we will see a good weekend on the way. Friday and Saturday should see light SE to S winds before tending more SW direction on Sunday and increasing as the day goes on.

Saturday will be the pick of the days to get on the water and have some fun.

Hope you all have a good weekend and get out for a fish.