The fishing is so good in Hervey Bay lately it’s like Christmas has arrived early!

The Gutters and Rooneys are fishing well for cod, trout, cobia, sweetlip and scarlets on the bottom. Mackerel, tuna and marlin on live bait and pillies on gangs fished mid water.

Local reefs have had juvenile snapper, cod, blackall, trout and some big blue parrotfish keeping anglers honest.

The pelagic species are busting up everywhere along the island and out in Platypus Bay. Mac tuna, billfish, mackerel and longtails to 20kg are all working the bait north of Arch to Wathumba and out wide to Rooneys Point.

Some big whiting are being caught in the Mary and Susan rivers and in the Turkey Straits. Good numbers of fish in the 30-35cm range are taking yabbies and prawns on the bigger tides.

There have been some massive threadfin and a few jacks being caught in both rivers on livebait, plastics and hardbodies.

Flathead are keeping anglers busy in the lower reaches.

The run of black marlin the Fraser Coast is experiencing at the moment is truly amazing. Game fishers have had some huge days recording almost 50 strikes and one day in October a collective total of 43 marlin were tagged between local boats.

With stats like that it didn’t take long for the word to get around and gun charter operators have made their way from as far as Cairns and the Gold Coast to get amongst this world class fishery. With an Australian record of 32 billfish tagged in one day a real possibility, there will be plenty of interest from anglers around the country and overseas.

A first of any species is special, but your first marlin stays with you for life.

Local angler Matt Kerslake was fishing for mackerel at the outer banks recently when something different took a pillie on gangs. A big dead weight and a few head shakes was all that he had to go by. It was three-quarters to the boat when a black marlin burst out the water and all hell broke loose as the reality of what Matt had hooked set in.

There were a few tense moments but it all worked out okay and Matt got a few pictures and released his first marlin in good condition to live another day. Congratulations Matt now you’ve got the bug I’m sure it won’t be your last.