Written by Andrew Chorley
The Fraser Coast has a picturesque stretch of beaches rife with angling opportunities and is certainly famous for it. Hervey Bay and its neighbour Fraser Island are nothing short of a fishing haven thanks to the diversity of its waters and fish species.
Thanks to some awesome rainfall recently we should see some great fishing over the next few months.
Both inshore and on the offshore grounds should see some top action, so get out the bait and tackle and head out on the beautiful waters we are lucky to have here on our doorstep.
With plenty of different species on the bite, here’s where you might find a feed:
Burrum
Grunter, whiting and flathead have made up the main catches in the Burrum River lately.
A few small jew can be found around Buxton Hole along with moses perch, trevally and a few tarpon.
The upper reaches have produced barra but they will taper off soon as we move closer to winter. Out the front sweetlip,cod and blackall have been reported on the Burrum 8-Mile along with Mac tuna.
Sandy Strait
The Strait can see some excellent lure fishing with soft plastics this time of year.
Trevally, blue and thredfin salmon, grunter and flathead respond well to soft plastics and can be found in the holes, drains and deep snags in the creek systems in the Sandy Strait. If you are looking for a feed of whiting, walking the flats with live yabbies should produce a few sand whiting. In the town reaches of the Mary River, barramundi have been reported along with threadfin salmon.
Local Reefs
The local reefs have been producing some coral trout,sweetlip,blackall and squire of late. Live baits have been working well on the trout with water temps still up we should be catching trout until at least June. Diver whiting should begin to show up once we get our first round of south westerly winds.
Early reports have not been good with water temps so high they may be late this year.
Wide Grounds
On the wide grounds, sharks have been frustrating anglers as they lose good fish to the tax man.
Moving along after landing a fish or two seems the only way to have some chance of getting a feed.
Reports from the gutters have included coral trout, grass sweetlip, parrot,hussar and mixed trevally.
Over Break Sea Spit, coronation trout, red throats, parrot, hussar, reef jacks and red emperor have all been reported. Down over the Wide Bay Bar Spanish mackerel, cod, sweetlip and snapper have been in the mix.
Urangan Pier
Off the Urangan Pier Spanish mackerel, school mackerel, broad bar mackerel and queenfish have been reported. In the first channel whiting, bream, squid and flathead have been keeping anglers busy. Live baits have been working best with whole pike for flathead, small herring for bream and live yabbies on the whiting.