Recent catches at Woodgate have included many large hauls of winter whiting, and there have also been good numbers of school mackerel caught near the boat ramp opposite the hotel. Caution must be taken on the boat ramp it is of wooden construction and can be perilous at times.

The artificial reef, located approximately 1.5km off Woodgate Beach, has been firing well of late, with many grassy sweetlip caught. Small squire are also available in numbers right now. By the time this magazine hits the shelves there should also be tailor for the taking.

The Eight Mile has had good catches of small to medium size snapper and large grassy sweetlip. There aren’t many Spanish mackerel, but there are quite a few good size school macks. There have been no tuna catches of late but there have been reports of large schools of Watson’s leaping bonito further up the coast. Fingers crossed that they come on down to Woodgate!

Last month plenty of good size flathead where boated. These fish were caught on a large variety of baits, indicating that at times they can be caught on almost anything. Hopefully they’ll stick around just a bit longer.

A few trumpeter of modest size, 2kg-plus, have been caught of late. Anglers have also reported large schools of chopper tailor in the river, with the occasional greenback thrown in for good measure. This year looks to be a big one for tailor in the Burrum River.

There have also been many catches of big bream and large schools of winter whiting, with some whiting in excess of 300g.

Only a few queenfish have been caught of late. The GT action has also slowed somewhat, although there are still a few around.

There have been plenty of reports of kilo-plus bream available at the boat ramp. I recently went down to see for myself and caught two good fish – 33cm and 34cm, the latter of which went 605g. I also caught two 380g specimens and released many more legal fish.

As I write, due to the heavy rains earlier this year, the prawns are back. Hopefully by time of print they will be available in numbers. Terry and Yvonne, the local Buxton store owners, have just bought a new freezer and now stock a large range of frozen bait.

Lots of very large bream have been caught of late, and this should continue during July. Last year’s bream were a disappointment, but this year has already made up for that with the number and quality of the fish. Many of the fish caught recently have been in roe, so please limit your catch.

Tailor can be found near the mouth of the Gregory River, especially on the latter part of the run-out tide. One recent capture went 1.5kg, which is not too bad for so early in the year.

As I write there aren’t too many whiting, but that will change. There have been just a few trumpeter reported, but surprisingly quite a lot of mangrove jacks have been caught of late. Hopefully there will soon be a few prawns available.

Reports from the Isis are pretty much the same as the Gregory River, with maybe just a few more winter whiting and a lot more smaller bream.

1) These bream were caught from the Buxton boat ramp, with the best fish going 605g.