KEEP BAIT DEEP FOR WHITING

HI everyone, hope you’ve all had a great week, a bit of wind and rain hasn’t dampened the sprits of everyone getting out and about to enjoy some fishing so far during the school holidays on the Gold Coast.

Let’s have look at what might be biting for the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend.

Good luck to all the teams fishing the Gold Coast Sport Fish Club Flathead Classic that kicked off on Wednesday and finishes today. Flathead have been around in good numbers this week with Coomera Houseboat Holiday customers finding some nice fish so far during school holidays. Flathead are a great option for the kids to target, they tend to lay in wait and ambush bait that swims past.

Kids usually do well as they love to wind their rod in and out a lot and that’s great to get a flathead to bite. If you’re fishing land-based I recommend you move around a bit if you’re fishing off the beach or a rock wall so you are targeting a different patch of water, as flathead will tend to lay in wait.

Drift fishing in the boat is a very effective method to keep the bait or lure on the move until you can find where the fish are sitting. My favourite methods for catching flathead are throwing Zman 4-inch StreakZ curl tails and 3-inch MinnowZ rigged on 3/8 or 1/4 ounce 3/0 jig heads and also tea bagging Zerek Fish Trap soft vibes in the deeper water.

Some good bait to try is prawns, white pilchards, blue bait and yabbies.

Some great catches of whiting have been reported by Coomera Bait and Tackle customers again this week, as we transition into the warmer months the fishing will just get better and better. Whiting can be targeted during the day or night time and we have quite a few land-based options as well as spots to try in the boat. Worms or yabbies are the best bait to try, I recommend using a long trace of 6lb fluorocarbon leader matched with a size 6 bait holder hook for worms or size 4 hook for yabbies. Sinker choice is very important, if you go too light all you will catch is bream.

I recommend either a 4 or 5 ball sinker to keep your bait on the bottom where the whiting feed. Tidal flow is also a big factor, as the old saying goes “no run, no fun” and this is very true when targeting a feed of whiting. Some good land-based spots are Paradise Point foreshore, Runaway Bay, Labrador, Marine Stadium, Nerang River and Jacobs Well. In the boat try Coomera River, Logan River, Pimpama River, Wave Break Island or Nerang River.

Brad Smith Fishing Charters has had a good week finding customers a nice mixed bag of bream, flathead, flounder, whiting and tusk fish just to name a few species.

Last Sunday morning we had a nice window of weather to head offshore, Coomera Bait and Tackle customers reported some nice snapper, tusk fish, trag jew and moses perch showing up on the 36, 24 and 18 fathom reefs. The weather has been a bit hit and miss with the wind but if you can get out for fish it’s well worth it.

Hope you all have a good weekend and get out for a fish, if you have any great catches or photos you would like to share, please email us and let us know how you went.