RAIN HAS MUDDIES ON MOVE
I HOPE you’ve all had a great week. A bit of rain is a welcome surprise on the Tweed and Gold Coast.
Falls have varied depending on location but any rain is good for fishing and well overdue for our dam levels.
Some nice mud crabs have been stirred up so now is a great time to get those pots in the water. Let’s have a look at some options this weekend.
Rain gets a bit of fresh water into the system and gets the muddies on the move and into feed mode. Locals have done well this week in the Coomera, Pimpama and Logan rivers, with Neverfails, Tiger Mullet Channel and Canapia Passage producing a great feed of quality crabs.
Whole mullet and fresh fish frames make great bait. Here is the link to the rules for anyone new to crabbing in Queensland waters: https:// www.daf.qld.gov.au/businesspriorities/fisheries/ recreational/recreationalfishing-rules/crabs-lobsters
Mangrove jack have been liking the hot weather lately with plenty of good sized fish hitting a mixture of lures and baits on the Gold Coast and Tweed.
Locals have been doing well landing some fantastic jacks using live mullet, herring, pike and garfish or mullet fillet is also a great option if live bait is hard to get.
When bait fishing it pays to have a fairly heavy drag set as they will hit like a freight train and try to drag you back into any nearby structure in the blink of an eye. Good fish have been showing up in the Coomera, Nerang and Logan rivers, Jabiru Island, Sovereign Island, Ephraim Island and the Tweed River.
We have seen plenty of bull shark action again this week in the canals and rivers with a variety of sizes of sharks being landed. I use a trace size of around 1 to 1.5m of either 50 to 90 pound nylon coated leader crimped to a suitable sized swivel on one end, then matched with either a size 6 to 8 circle or octopus hook.
Mullet have been great bait and also pike or fresh water eel are a great option, especially if there are a few mud crabs around munching on the baits.
The Coomera, Pimpama, Nerang and Logan rivers and the Neverfails and all good spots to try your luck.
Jumpinpin has also seen quite a few baby hammer head and small black tip sharks being caught around the Bar entrance and Tiger Mullet Channel.
Smithy from Brad Smith Fishing Charters reports the middle to upper reaches of the Tweed River continue to be the best for fish.
With the prospect of some rain in the coming weeks, we should see the mangrove jack and whiting fishing improve, and the mud crabs will get moving. Jacks caught on our charters this season are averaging over 50cm in size.
Whiting are still taking well-presented surface lures over the shallow sand banks, with MMD splash prawns one of our favourite lures.
Clint says to head over to Brad Smith Fishing Charters Facebook page for a bushfire fundraising relief auction.
The Broadwater has fired up with a few nice flathead, lots of squid, squire, tarwhine, and whiting. We have been boating 10-15 squid a day and these tasty critters are absolute suckers for Ecogear ZX40 and Samaki Vibelicious lures. Smear some Sax scent gold prawn on the lures and lift and drop them in water 4-8m deep.