FLUSHOUT TRIGGERS A VARIETY
HI everyone, hope you have all had a good week. It was nice to see a bit of sunshine on the Tweed and Gold Coast over the weekend. We had a few showers still hanging around and a decent storm, but the worst of the weather looks like it has passed just in time for Christmas thankfully. Let’s check out a few options for catching a feed over the Christmas break.
Christmas is traditionally a very busy time on the water. We hope everyone heading out enjoys a well-earned break with family and friends. Just because there will be a bit more boat traffic around it does not mean the fishing will be quiet. The fish on the Gold Coast are used to lots of boat and jet ski traffic and it’s always worth wetting a line and trying you luck.
After the latest flushout, the southern Broadwater has been producing a great variety of species.
The big swell and tides have really stirred up the feed. It’s great to see plenty of juvenile snapper and some bigger models along with spangled emperor, grassy sweetlip, tuskfish and moses perch hanging around the gravel and coffee rock areas.
The Gold Coast Seaway, Wavebreak Island, the main channel from the Seaway north to Currigee, Sovereign Island and Ephraim Island all offer great structure to target these fish. Drifting with prawns, white pilchards and yabbies works well. For the lure fishos, try working TT Switch Blades, Zerek Fish Trap soft vibes or Zman Soft Plastics. No matter what size fish you catch they certainly will put up a great fight, just be aware of the legal size limit if you want to keep a feed.
Mudcrabs have been on the move as predicted around the Tweed and Gold Coast waterways after all the rain.
Anglers lucky enough to get out last weekend and put in the effort and were rewarded with some quality mudcrabs like Brett Doolan (see photo in report) boating a great haul just in time for Christmas.
The big tides also help giving all the feeder creeks up the river a big flush. Now the weather has settled it’s just a matter of hunting around until you find an area and depth of water that is productive. The Tweed River, Tallebudgera Creek, Nerang River, Coomera River, Pimpama River, Jacobs Well, Tiger Mullet Channel, Cobby passage and Logan River will be prime areas to soak the pots.
Sand Crabs have also been around in fairly good numbers.
Bread and butter species like bream and whiting have been actively feeding after the rain. Bream tend to love a good flushout and are very tolerant of fresh water being able to happily feed in close to brackish water and have been around in good numbers and will pretty much have a crack at any bait thrown at them.
Whiting were pushed out of the rivers last week but should slowly be making their way back upriver this week. Most yabbie banks have produced some quality whiting in the Broadwater and around Jumpinpin.
Anglers have reported a bit more bull shark activity this week in the Coomera River, the Broadwater Main Channels, Logan River and Nerang River systems. Hot, humid days after all the rain tends to stir the sharks up as they search for a feed of bait fish that have been flushed out from upstream.