Cool wet and windy has been the story so far this winter but hopefully this trend will end this month giving us a chance to get out and wet a line. July around Bundaberg is usually cool with westerly winds that clean up the water and make lure fishing a little slower.

The Burnett is a very popular river in our area and I am still amazed at how many good fish come from out of it.

Over winter the species change a little and the techniques change a bit, but there is still plenty of fish to catch. I find over winter the river fishes much better in the morning and if you can time that with the last of the run out tide you should get into some good fishing. Tailor, bream and whiting are the main target and the low light of the morning seems to see these species hunting more freely before sulking to the deeper holes when the sun comes up and the boat traffic starts.

If you like to target these fish on lures you will need to get out early despite the cooler conditions. Casting lightly weighted soft plastics, blades and small hardbodied lures will get you started and targeting the few flats and shallows around the middle of the river will be a great place to start.

For the bait fisher those deeper holes will be well worth fishing with fresh bait and you should expect bream, grunter and the odd school jew to turn up.

The cool weather does see fewer boats on the water as the gentlemen’s hours creep in and we start to find excuses not to be on the water in the cold.

The mighty Baffle has been fishing well leading into the cooler months and this should continue with the lower reaches around the mouth being a great place to start.

Last winter the flathead were thick and trolling small lures around the edge of the weed beds and drop offs produced plenty of quality fish for me and my kids. My sons favourite lure is the Frenzy Flicker Shad in an orange colour with a fish scale pattern and he caught some great fish on it, not just flathead. I have been using the Halco Hamma to good effect on the flathead and I troll it with the 1m bib in it across shallows. The Hamma is starting to force its way into my go-to lure tray.

The mouth will also start producing some tailor this month and floating pilchards or sprat around the deeper holes should see you get into a few of these fish. If you want to target them on lures they pretty much will eat most lures that are flashy – you just need to keep the lure moving quickly and erratically to fire them up.

Roger at Baffle Creek Caravan Park reports there has been some flathead coming in and even the odd mangrove jack. He also said there has been a few threadfin salmon making their presents felt with a few visitors being busted off by some big fish.

I recommend a trip up the Baffle over winter as the rock bars are a bit easier to see in the clearer water so you can commit them to memory for when the water dirties up a bit in the warmer months.