Written by Andrew Chorley
@herveybaysportfishing

Burrum
Out at Burrum there have been some nice bream coming from black bank and off the ramps along with some nice flathead. Summer whiting will also be worth a look with either yabbies or blood worms doing the trick. Around the corner at Woodgate it still might be worth a look for some prawns, catches have been a little hit and miss but if you work hard and watch the sounder you should find a feed. Out from Toogoom reports of good catches of winter whiting have been coming in with most of the fish being of good quality, drifting and locating schools then anchoring on the thicker patches will help you land some extra fish.

Out wider the Burrum 8mile, 25 fathom and the southern gutters all produced some snapper catches before the bad weather, with the gutters also producing coral trout, cod, sweetlip, parrot, moses and railway perch.

Point Vernon Inshore
Out off Gatakers some parrot, coral trout, sweetlip and blackall have been taken on the shallow reefs, soft plastics have been working well, allowing anglers to cover plenty of ground finding a good range of different species. Winter whiting should be still fishing well with shelly beach, gatakers and around the NU2 beacon being popular areas the last few weeks.

Platypus Bay
Up the Island around Rooneys and Platypus Bay snapper will be on the bucket list for many anglers. Finding the yakka schools is the key to success up there and fishing with soft plastics, soft vibes and blades around the bait is a deadly technique. If lure fishing for snapper isn’t your thing fishing with lightly rigged baits around the bait schools will also get plenty of attention. Also on the reefs around 6 mile and arch cliffs good catches of school mackerel had been reported.

Local Reefs
On the Arty some snapper had been reported with a few anglers braving the cold conditions and having a go, fishing a few hours either side of the tide change has been the best time to land a few with baits and lures getting fish. On the western side of Fraser Island some big flathead have started to appear, this fish have generally been fat and are putting on condition getting ready to spawn in the coming months. Soft plastics are the go to lure for flathead but hardbodies and blades are also very effective.

In the creeks of the Straits the great light tackle sportfishing action continues with plenty of small trevally, queenfish, tailor, big flathead, grunter and salmon being landed. Small soft plastics have been getting plenty of attention with small hardbodies and blades also worth a try.

Urangan Pier
Bream whiting and flathead will be the main targets off the pier with reports of some good bream already coming in. Out in the second channel longtail tuna on live baits have been taken along with school mackerel and golden trevally.