HEAVENS HELP THE ANGLERS

RECENT strong winds and heavy rain has made for terrible fishing conditions but there is a blessing in disguise for Gold Coast anglers.

Fish react differently after heavy rain – you can use that to your advantage this week when chasing certain species.

Firstly, with up to 200mm of rain in just over 24 hours in places like Springbrook, rivers will flow with fresh water.

This fresh water will push all sorts of food into the ecosystem and invigorate fish with delights they never could have had without the help of rain.

This is an injection for every fish and crustacean in our rivers and ocean. However, it also means in rivers like the Nerang and the Coomera the salinity level will have dropped.

But this actually makes fishing in Rivers an easier proposition after heavy rain.

Firstly, fresh water sits on top of salt water. If you ever scuba dive after heavy rain you will see while visibility looks terrible on the surface down below it can be crystal clear.

So after the rain fish will school in any deep holes in the rivers where the salt levels are more to their liking.

Species like bream, whiting and flathead rely on a certain level of salinity in the water. If the level drops too drastically they will head downstream.

So when fishing rivers after rain, head downstream not up and look for deep holes. River mouths and bar entrances should be the first option.

If you fish in our dams for freshwater fish there is also and advantage to the rain. Rain aerates the water and this helps activate fish. As well as this it flushes out insects into the water and creates almost a smorgasbord for captive fish.

Heavy rain also creates an easy option for beach fishos.

If the water is dirty it can make catching a fish from the surf beaches almost impossible, however if you find some clean water you find fish.

If ever you are going to catch a big snapper from the rocks off the Southport seaway now is the time.

So no need to curse the rain, rather say thanks to Mother Nature as Gold Coast fishing is about to get even hotter.

Nathan Wolhuter caught this massive snapper using a Shads lure flicktail soft plastic. It went 97cm on the brag mat.