Reef dishing up big macs
Great catches of Spanish mackerel in the last week as schools move close to shore
Hi everyone, hope you are all having a good week.
It was great to finally see a few days in a row of light winds and sunshine on the Gold and Tweed Coasts giving fishos who were able to sneak out midweek a great opportunity to catch a feed.
As we look forward to the weekend it looks like the weather gods have thrown us another curve ball with the winds tipped to increase from the north on Saturday before a small weather window on Sunday morning.
The past week has seen some great catches coming in from the reefs off the Gold Coast, there has been a large number of bait schools moving through the area attracting a large range of predators from tuna, spotted mackerel, Spanish mackerel and sharks.
We have been blessed the past week with some great weather windows consisting of light winds and a small swell making for perfect conditions. Unfortunately, the great run of weather is due to come to an end.
From Monday onwards we are expecting a strong southerly wind change and a big increase in swell to go with it making offshore a no go until conditions improve.
During the week we have seen some great catches of Spanish mackerel since the season reopened.
Dave McDonald landed a cracking quality Spanish on a solo trip off the Seaway. With the large amount of bait schools moving in fairly close to shore you haven’t had to venture out too far to find quality fish.
When targeting Spanish mackerel, you can try a few different options until you find what is working best on the day, trolling a range of metal head skirts and diving lures is a great way to cover ground and fish the bait schools to locate your target.
The bottom fishing has been pretty good with some nice feeds of snapper, trag jew, Maori cod, moses perch, tuskies and big silver jew being caught on the 18 and 24 fathom reefs. Out wider, current permitting the 36 and 50 fathom lines have seen some good hauls of dolphin fish from the fads, also snapper, pearl perch, trag jew, tusk fish, yellow-tail kingfish and amberjack.
Once again quality whiting have been caught in good numbers around the Gold Coast and Tweed waterways, it may be a good option next week to find a sheltered bend in a river and chase a tasty feed.
Fishing at night is still producing better numbers of quality fish, in saying that the fishing has also been getting better for the daytime sessions and we transition into Autumn. Some good spots to have a look are the Tweed River, Currumbin Creek, Tallebudgera Creek, Nerang River, Wave Break Island, Crab Island, Paradise Point, Coomera both South and North Arms, Pimpama River, Jacobs Well, Bedrooms, Tiger Mullet Channel, Cabbage Tree Point and the Logan River.
Live bait is the best option, so try bloodworms, beach worms and yabbies. Fish as light as possible but try to use a sinker that is big enough to keep your bait on the bottom depending on tidal flow. The more the water flows the better the fishing should be when it comes to Whiting. The recent hot humid weather has been great for chasing Mangrove Jack.
The canal systems that feed off the Nerang River and also Runaway Bay and Paradise Point have all been producing some good size fish this time of year. It will also be worth having a look around the Tweed River, Tallebudgera Creek, Currumbin Creek, Coomera River, Jacobs Well and the Logan River.
If you are keen to put in the time and effort hopefully you will be rewarded with a trophy fish. Casting a mixture of diving and surface lures or soft plastics at the many pontoons, jetties, moored boats, bridges and rock walls is a great way to find fish. I prefer using either live or dead baits: it’s a bit less effort and will temp any fish in the area.