By Andrew Chorley – Hervey Bay Sportfishing
With winter approaching, we are looking forward to the clear, sunny days typical of the season. After several months of challenging windy conditions, let’s hope for a cracking winter ahead.
Burrum River
Whiting, bream, and flathead have made up the main catches at the Burrum River. A few snapper are being caught at the wider reefs, and numbers should improve throughout the winter.
Wide Grounds
Out at the 25-fathom hole, some anglers have reported snapper. Please remember the snapper size limit is 35 cm, with only one fish allowed over 70 cm. The possession limit is 4 per person, and the boat limit is 8, with a maximum of 2 over 70 cm allowed in the total boat limit. At the southern gutters, snapper have been very active alongside coral trout, parrotfish, hussar, nannygai, cod, and sweetlip.
Platypus Bay
In the Rooneys and Platypus Bay area, snapper and grunter are the main targets. Fishing around the tide change with soft plastics has been most effective. Other species, including nannygai and sweetlip, have kept anglers busy, especially after dark. Golden trevally and other trevally species are also appearing on the reefs along the island, providing great sport while waiting for the snapper. For sportfishos, mac tuna schools are in the central bay; they are feeding on very small bait, so 20g slugs and soft plastics are recommended.
Urangan Pier & Local Beaches
The team at Anglers Den reports big longtail tuna up to 16kg coming off the Urangan Pier, along with mac tuna, flathead, bream, and barramundi. The tuna are taking surface baits drifted with the tide. On the local beaches, summer whiting are being caught at night during bigger tides. Bream are also a great land-based option around rock groins, points, and jetties.
Local Grounds and Sandy Straits
Winter whiting are being caught off Shelly Beach, Gatakers, and the grounds inside Big Woody Island. The artificial reefs are also worth a look for snapper using live baits, soft plastics, or well-presented cut baits.
Down the Straits, salmon are becoming more elusive. Grunter, flathead, bream, trevally, tailor, and whiting remain the likely targets, with some large flathead starting to appear. Small soft plastics cast around deep holes, rock bars, drains, and mangrove fringes are yielding the best results.
