A lot of wind and rain caused by a large high pressure systems in our southern states has limited our offshore fishing.
It has been our longest run of bad weather all year limiting offshore trips to the close reefs where the fishing has proved good anyway.
Cod, scarlet perch, pearl perch, snapper and parrot were all biting well. That is the beauty at this time of year when you don’t need to travel too far to gather a great feed.
When fishing close reefs in shallow water, berleying is the key. Close fish respond exceptionally well to this trick. Old pilchards and chook pellets make a great berley and will get the fish interested in what you’re offering.
Fishing as light as possible also helps. And make sure you have some bait jigs onboard as livebait is almost always the icing on the cake.
The least affected by weather, the Great Sandy Straits played host to a fair bit of fishing action. Raincoats were an essential part of the day out though.
Once again flathead have been an easy target around all creek mouths and at the bottom end of Fraser Island. Soft plastic lures and drifted cut baits have been working well and I’d expect this to continue into August.
Good catches of bream were taken, mainly at night, around Inskip Point on live yabbies and mullet flesh. Summer whiting have slowed down, but good quality ones are still being caught by those taking the time to get fresh bait. We should see plenty of their smaller cousins, the winter whiting, turn up as the water cools down some more, so there should still be plenty of tasty whiting fillets being cooked for dinner.
Squid are getting thicker with some whoppers coming out of Kauri Creek and good numbers around the Carlo area.
There are also some big sea mullet accumulating in most calm inlets and, although they are quite difficult to catch on a line, a cast net will get you all you need. I recently purchased a draw string cast net and although I am no expert at casting it, I managed to fill a 20L bucket with big sea mullet in two casts.
Mullet are a bit underrated as a table fish. They’re not as impressive as a fillet of pearl perch but the health benefits to you are greater. Just be careful as size limits do apply on some species of mullet.
Chopper tailor are being caught near The Oaks and are still biting better early morning when a southwest wind is present.
Bream, dart and whiting have been caught along the entire stretch of Rainbow Beach. It has just been a bit tough in the unfavourable weather of late.
I am really looking forward to the coming months as the offshore fishing should kick into overdrive and some exceptional catches are expected.
If you would like to have a fish off Rainbow Beach with Ed Falconer on his charter boat Keely Rose, give him a call on 0407 146 151.
Reads: 1022