Big flush brings muddies
Heavy rainfall continued to hit the Gold and Tweed Coasts again the past week inundating the rivers with a large amount of run-off making fishing very difficult inshore throughout the local waterways.
Even heading offshore was also difficult to work around a weather window.
I always recommend having the most up to date weather forecast before heading out.
Looking towards the weekend at the time of writing my report, the wind is tipped to pick up from the southeast to be quite strong bringing with it a large swell for offshore waters and also rain.
If you are keen to get out, sheltered waters will be your best bet. Let’s check out what’s been happening this week.
Due to another week of intense rainfall, fishing options have been very limited in our local waterways as the rivers are trying to cope with a massive amount of freshwater runoff.
If you are keen to get out, chasing a feed of mud crabs will be one of the best options due to current conditions.
The Coomera River is still experiencing a huge amount of run-off around the weir with a large amount of fresh water running over the spillway so mud crabs will be well and truly on the move throughout the local system.
Try setting your pots around the channel entrances where the rivers meet the main waterways.
A few good spots to look will be around The Aldershots, Brown Island, Tipplers Passage, The Never Fails, Jacobs Well, Cabbage Tree Point, Tiger Mullet Channel, Whalleys Gutter, Canaipa Passage, Russell Island and also Karragarra Island.
Try to set your pots in a few different areas not too close together as this will give you a good indication of how many crabs are in the area and will help you find better numbers. Fresh bait is always the best option.
Make sure to check your pots and change your baits regularly. Try mullet, fish frames and raw chicken. Always
make sure you are up to date with all the current rules before heading out: https:// www.qld.gov.au/recreation/activities/boating-fishing/recfishing/rules/equipment
Fishing has been pretty hard due the amount of fresh water in the system. A couple of species that love the fresh water are bream and also spotted grunter.
They just seem to school-up and bite well as all the food is flushed out of the rivers.
Dirty water doesn’t seem to bother them too much at all.
You can try fishing off you local pontoon, jetties, rock walls, around bridges and around any fallen trees. Any structure will hold bream. They are also not very fussy when it comes to bait.
Try white pillys, WA pilly, mullet fillet, mullet gut, prawns and also yabbies.
Some good areas to look are Tweed River, Nerang River, Labrador Rock Walls along Marine Parade Labrador, Wave Break Island, Seaway, Paradise Point, Runaway Bay Canals, Jacobs Well, Cabbage
Tree Point, Crusoe Island and Kalinga Bank.
The Gold Cost Seaway has been fishing pretty well on the run-in tide as it is receiving a good flush out of clean saltwater making it a good place to have a look.
The bait has been washed out of the rivers into the main system and it also tends to head for water that is a bit saltier.
The Seaway has produced some good catches this week including some great sized jewfish and Mangrove Jack, which tend to school-up around the
end of the North Wall and also on the pipeline.
The tide runs very hard in the Seaway making it difficult to fish at times.
Try to time you trip around a tide change as I find it fishes best an hour or two before and after a tide change.
This also coincides with a natural bite time for the fish.
Fishos have also been catching a few nice tailor, bream, squire, trevally along with some smaller spangled emperor and grassy sweetlip just to name a few.