Seaway delivering the goods
having a good week. It was nice to see some good weather last weekend, the wind strength was out a bit but fishos made the most of the better conditions getting out and catching some nice fish.
Unfortunately as we look towards the weekend, At the time of writing my report, the good run of weather was short lived with the wind tipped to increase from the southeast and the swell also to increase offshore. Inshore sheltered waters will be the best pick if you are keen to venture out between the showers of rain.
I always recommend having the most up to date weather forecast before heading out. Let’s see what’s been biting this week.
The Gold Coast Seaway has seen a bit of action the past week with some good quality Mangrove Jack and Jewfish being the main target species caught.
The Seaway has also been holding some big schools of bait, again making it a great place to target a mixture of hungry predators.
Mangrove Jack and Jew have again been schooling up in pretty good numbers mainly of the north wall and also the pipeline.
As mentioned in past reports, if you are targeting bigger, hard fighting fish it will be worth upsizing your gear to try to land the fish before the Sharks swoop in for a free feed.
Other species you may find in the area include queenfish, tailor, trevally, spangled emperor, grassy sweetlip, bream, tarwhine and flathead.
Best to plan your trip to fish the first couple of hours before and after a tide change to avoid the strong current. Also keep an eye on the swell in you are looking at trying your luck over the weekend.
With the water quality on the improve in the Broadwater and around Jumpinpin there has been some nice hauls of sand crabs taken along the edges of the main channels in both areas.
In the Broadwater try around Wave Break Island, Crab Island and the Aldershots. Around Jumpinpin try the Neverfails,
Bedrooms, Canaipa and the mouth of Tiger Mullet Channel.
Mud crabs are still about in good numbers also. Try the Coomera River, Pimpama River, Brown Island, Tipplers Passage, Jacobs Well, Cabbage Tree Point, Logan River, Russell Island and Karragarra Island. Best bait are mullet, fish frames and also raw chicken pieces for the mud crabs.
Once the wind and swell settles down fishos will be keen to venture back offshore for a look.
Keep in mind if you are heading offshore that the first Spanish mackerel closure for southeast waters commenced on February 1 and will run until February 21 followed by a second closure from March 1 to March 21.
Before the SE wind kicked in fishos managed to catch a few good feeds. For those heading wider there have been a few marlin caught trolling lures from the 50 to 100 fathom line. In closer the little black marlin have been a bit hit and miss.
If you are lucky to find a good bait school from 36 to 50 fathom line it will be worth working the bait with skirted lures. If that is quiet and you can see some larger predators on the sounder try to jig some live bait and drop it back down to tempt a bite.
Current dependant there has been some good mixed feeds of snapper, pearl perch, jobfish, yellow tail kingfish and amberjack landed on the 50 fathom reefs and some nice dolphin fish hanging around the fads. The 36s have also produced a feed of snapper, pearl perch, tuskfish, trag Jew and dolphin fish from the fads.
In closer the combination of wind, swell and current has made fishing a bit challenging at times.
The forecast for last Saturday was meant to be light winds and a small swell it was more like 15 knots of SE, a mixture of swell turning it into a bit of a washing machine and a fair bit of current making conditions a bit more average than expected. Both the 18 and 24 fathom reefs have still produced a mixed bag of Snapper, Moses Perch, Tusk Fish, Trag Jew, Maori Cod and some nice big Sliver Jew.