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A tough one to call
  |  First Published: December 2010



Lake Monduran is usually going off at this time of year, but so far the fishing is still pretty average.

I must confess each month I have made predictions in my reports based on previous years’ fishing, and while in previous years my predictions have been pretty good, it seems this year the fish are yet to really fire up, so I’m sorry if I have misinformed people.

But Lake Monduran has really suffered from changes in climate this year with higher than average rainfalls the dam is higher and the water is colder due to ongoing overcast and cooler southern winds.

We have just returned from the ABT BARRA Tour. While it was a great event, the rain was constant and we only fished one day of the tournament series without.

We fished Teemburra in monsoonal conditions and with the dam going over, fishing was tough. The weather was tough again at Peter Faust Dam at Proserpine but the fishing was good. Lake Awoonga turned on the best fishing but the strongest winds making conditions tough for anglers. Lake Monduran, in a league of its own, only produced 12 fish for two days fishing, tough to say the least.

The months ahead, if you can believe me, will be great. With consistent warm weather the water temperatures should warm up creating ideal conditions for a great bite.

We have seen plenty of fish moving through on side scan sonars so the fish are there, they just aren’t biting.

There have been a couple of good days with warm weather pushing temperatures up around 28ºC and the trollers revelled in great catches around the main basin for a short period of time. It won’t take much to reproduce these conditions; we are definitely on the cusp of a great bite so watch this space.

The lures to use at the moment are definitely the hardbodies, when the fishing gets tough I go for the Rapala X-Raps, my favourite of which is the ghost colour. It’s really important to get these lures to suspend right, and the upgraded hooks can make all the difference.

The most productive soft plastic on Lake Monduran is the slick rig but try breaking it up with some of the Storm range of lures as I have caught most of my bigger fish on the storm lures.

On the offshore scene things are looking up compared to last year with good numbers of light tackle marlin and sailfish around and heavy tackle marlin in good numbers over 200m.

Unlike last year the fish have turned up in droves, but weather conditions have prevented most anglers from accessing such fishing.

The local Hervey Bay game fishing tournament had limited catches this year mainly due to strong southeasterlies arriving in the second day of the tournament. They had 18 boats and 65 anglers this year with only four billfish caught, one black, one blue, one stripe and one sailfish representing most of the billfish available along our east coast.

The months ahead with the game fishing can only improve as some of the small black and sailfish will move in to the inside shore of Fraser Island creating some great angling opportunities for small boat anglers. This also represents some great opportunities for flyfishing as golden trevally, wahoo, mackerel, most tuna species, permit and bonefish are all available along with the billfish.

The reef fishing this time of year is a great. But be aware of bag limits, fish closures and green zones; it’s a good idea to pop in to your local tackle store to grab the right info, as ignorance is no excuse.

If you need some guidance around these areas you can always call me or pop into the Gin Gin hotel to say hello.

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