Written by Andrew Chorley
Will we see the much-needed rain this month? It has been a dry start to 2021, certainly the worst that I can remember.
So why do we need a good drop of H2O? Because the rain will help our rivers get a push of fresh water, which will trigger the estuary species to do their thing and hopefully find our bait, hook, line, and sinker!
In the meantime, here’s where you can head to try your luck.
Burrum
The hot muggy weather has been great for barra and jacks, with lure anglers doing well in the mid-reaches. Offshore, the Burrum 8-Mile has produced a few good sweetlip. School and spotted mackerel are also coming off the reef, with pilchards working well.
Mac and longtail tuna can be found on the Four-Mile. Try casting a line out the front using small slugs.
Wide Grounds
The Wide Grounds have fished well for big coral trout, sweetlip, cod, hussar, moses perch, cobia and mixed trevally.
Areas to have a look for a tasty feed are the southern and northern gutters and the 25-Fathom hole. Over break sea spit, if the weather allows over the coming weeks, will also be worth a look.
With less chance of coming across the tax man (sharks), it’s worth the journey. Crews have reported Spanish mackerel, wahoo and mixed reef fish from out there.
Local Reefs
The local shallow reefs are still fishing well for coral trout and sweetlip. Using a range of techniques has been successful from trolling, casting lures and fresh and live baits all working well.
Golden trevally, blackall, sweetlip, cod and trout have also been reported on the deeper reefs. It’s been a great year for larger coral trout with specimens to 6kg reported from some local grounds.
Urangan Pier
Spanish mackerel have been taken off the Urangan Pier with some big fish being reported. Queenfish, golden trevally and grey mackerel have also been caught in the second channel.
Whiting will be a good target on the bigger tides this week with live yabbies working well. Bream, flathead and gar have also been caught in the shallows off the pier.
Platypus Bay
Tuna have been the focus in Platypus Bay with longtail and mac tuna schools present. School mackerel, queenfish and the odd spotted mackerel can be found around the schools with metals and soft plastics spun up from the bottom getting results. Scarletts, sweetlip and blackall have been reported on the reefs.
Sandy Straits
Mangrove jacks have been fishing well in the strait, with the creeks on the island, and down Poona and Maroom way also fishing well.
Prawn imitations and live baits work best on the jacks with the last of the runout tide fishing the best.
Whiting, grunter, flathead and bream have been caught around the flats of Frasers west coast and with the new moon tides, the flats should fish well.
In the Mary River, salmon have been scattered some bigger rain events should help congregate them on the drains on the runout tide. Barra have been caught in the upper reaches of the Mary with trolling hardbodies a deadly technique when exploring new ground. Other catches in the Mary have been blue salmon, pikey bream, cod, flathead and grunter.