Off to Harvey bay this weekend. Tips anyone?

[prawned]

Im on holidays next week, so decided it was time to go camping and hopefully fishing too.. Will be land based for this trip i would say, so i thought i would jump on here and see if anyone can give me some good spots to check out while im there.. Ive never been there before but i have been told there is a really long jetty, so will be giving that a go. Would like to try more than just the one spot though. Any info on camping grounds would be good too. cheers, Ricky

[Travis]

if the water is dirty stay in the pub, its crap fishing if the water is ugly

[planetfonz]

nooo if the waters crappy then go bream fishing at night in the gatakers bay boat ramp canal at Pt Vernon

[uglyfish]

Travis wrote:

if the water is dirty stay in the pub, its crap fishing if the water is ugly

yeah i totally agree...id be staying home with this weather around!

[rayke1938]

Have you checked Fishntales of hervey bay website?

Lots of good info and weekly fishing report update.Let them know that you are coming and you will receive warm welcome and lots of good advice.

Cheers

Ray

ps here is copy of latest ( 12th) fishing report.

Courtesy of Tackleworld Hervey Bay

Fraser Island Fishing report courtesy of Sailfish Apartments, Happy Valley: Ph (07) 4127 9494

This weekend will see the start of the final Toyota Fraser Island Fishing Expo which runs from the 16th-22nd May. Although we can’t get an official report from the island due to the wind over the last week, this time of year you can expect to catch the following: Good whiting, bream and dart; flathead, the odd jewfish, tarwhine, chopper tailor as well as the odd larger tailor. Good luck from the boys at Tackleworld Hervey Bay to any anglers competing in the competition.

Hervey Bay

Throughout the Straits, there has been some good quality summer whiting caught over the past few weeks. Fresh bait has been producing the best results with live yabbies and bloodworms proving hard to beat. If you can’t access live bait, cured sand worms or prawns will be the go. Quite a few anglers are also targeting summeries on surface poppers and lightly weighted soft plastics. The new Instinct Sprog popper in the clear colour has been producing good results as it mimics a panic stricken prawn; other popular lures being the Stiffy poppers and Ecogear PX45’s. For those using soft plastics, Gulp 2 inch Shrimp and Squidgy Critters have been producing the goods when sight casting to individual or small schools of fish. For these types of presentations you’ll need a rod with a relatively light tip and small spinning reel spooled with 2-6lb line to maximize casting distances, as most of these lures only way 2-4grams.

Winter whiting have been reported in small numbers around Big Woody, with the bigger schools hanging further down the Straits. Over the next month we anticipate numbers to increase around Big Woody as well as Gataker’s Bay and Dundowran. When fishing for winter whiting it often pays to have a variety of baits on board, as they can be quite fussy at times. Sandworms, yabbies, squid and prawn tails are all gun baits, with Berkley Gulp worms being the lure of choice. Just remember that winter whiting now have a possession limit of 50 per person that is being enforced.

Bream are being caught around the upper reaches of the creek systems as well as the rocky outcrops. The best baits have been yabbies, strips of herring and mullet, gut and pilchards fished lightly or unweighted to make the bait look more natural and keep them away from the snags. Soft plastic Wrigglers and Flickbaits have also been working as they imitate a prawn/yabbie or injured baitfish. Surface poppers can also be effective when worked above shallow banks, weed beds and around mangroves and rocky areas. There should also be a few grunter getting around and will respond well to similar baits and soft plastic presentations.

Smaller tides over the next few days should provide good tides for flathead fishing, especially around the Urangan Pier, rocky outcrops and the creek mouths on the western side of Fraser. Live baiting will be an effective technique with herring, pike and mullet working best. Catching flathead on soft plastics is also one of the easiest ways to catch them with most shapes and styles working. Some of the better plastics have been 80-100mm Squidgy Fish, Ecogear BTS Shads and various Berkley Gulps and Powerbaits. These are then rigged on a jigheads (different sizes for different conditions) and when used with a simple hopping action along the bottom prove deadly on flathead. If you want to learn more about soft plastics for flathead drop in and see the boys at Tackleworld Hervey Bay and we’ll set you up with the right gear.

Prawns will still be found around the various creek systems including the Mary and Burrum systems. Mud crabs should also be on the move after the last flush or fresh through the rivers. Fresh mullet (either whole or frames) will be a good start for bait and are readily available. Just remember to label your pots and check them regularly to avoid them being raided.

Some quality squid have been caught over the last week around the rocky outcrops/shallow reef and the Urangan Pier. Concentrate around areas with clean water and baitfish, as the squid won’t be far away. The best jigs have been the Yamas**ta and Yoshikawa’s as they have a very natural action and extra sharp barbs.

Over the past week there have been good numbers of trevally and mackerel caught. Areas like the Fairway Buoy, NU2, Outer Banks and the Arch Cliffs Six Mile will be worth a try. When fishing these areas you’re mostly likely to encounter golden, tea leaf and giant trevally as well as school, broad barred and spanish mackerel. Live baits and metal spoons will produce the goods as well as trolled hardbodies.

The shallow reefs have been fishing well for grass and painted sweetlip, cod, the odd trout and some snapper. The snapper have been of good size, up to 6kg however aren’t in big numbers yet. Over the next few weeks we should see larger schools moving down onto the inshore reefs. Baits of pilchard, yakka and squid have been working on average sized fish, with the bigger ones being targeted on soft plastics like Berley Gulps.

This time of year provides good fishing around the Northern, Southern and African Gutters. You can expect to catch coral trout, red emperor, snapper, hussar and grass sweetlip amongst other various reefies and pelagics. Live bait is the go with pike and yakkas making excellent baits. Large soft plastics like 7 inch Berkley Gulps and Squidgy flickbaits will also be worth a try.

Rainbow Beach Report courtesy Rainbow Beach Fishing Charters - www.rainbowbeachfishing.com.au Ph: 07 54868666

Well here's this weeks fishing report from Rainbow Beach where the weather has gone from one extreme to the other. Last weekend our charters experienced quite choppy conditions where only 2 out of 5 bookings got offshore. Even though the weather was against travelling too far good catches were made on both days, with both groups going home very pleased with their haul.

The Narangba Fishing Club on Saturday caught a good bin of snapper, sweetlip, moses & pearl perch, parrot, cobia and an 18kg spanish mackerel. On Sunday the Loganholme Fishing club caught much of the same but with a gold spot cod of 18kgs and maori cod for a bit of variety. Some monsters managed to get away so I guess there are some big spaniards out there waiting to be landed.

With the water temp now starting to drop (24deg) it looks like a good snapper season ahead by the catches so far. On the beach scene reports of good whiting and flathead coming from the gutters along the front beach and with the westerlies starting a good season looks assured. Mud crabs continue to be caught throughout the creeks running off the Straits.

Good Fishing till next week, Tony Stewart.

Freshwater Report.

Lake Lenthalls Report

Barra fishing at Lenthall’s has been very productive over the last few weeks with plenty of 60-75cm fish boated. Both top water and sub surface lures have been effective as well as soft plastics. Surface lures like Tango Prop’s have been successful as they make a great fizzing noise and have strong owner trebles. Sub surface lures that imitate boney bream, garfish and perch have been working a treat with some of the favourites being Instinct Twitch and Twilight’s, mini Bombers and Tilsan Barras. If your after a decent soft plastic for barra it’s hard to go past Berkley Hollowbellies and Squidgy Slick rigs as they have great in built actions and can be worked dead slow. Bass fishing has been a bit slow however the odd fish is being pinned on Instinct Switchblades, Gobo poppers and live shrimp.

Lake Monduran Report: Courtesy of Rob at Lake Monduran Holiday Park Ph 1800 228 754

Late afternoon and night have been the best periods using soft plastics like Squidgy Slick rigs, Berkley Hollowbellies, suspending hard body lures and the occasional fish on poppers. Water temps have been topping out at around 23-24C.

Lake Awoonga Report

No Report this week

Fishing Report from Local Guide, Mark “Bargy†Bargenquast.

After fishing from the 530 polycraft for the past year I decided to upgrade to a faster, more comfortable boat. After plenty of testing I finally decided on a galeforce 5.5 centre console powered by a 115 Suzuki fourstroke. This is the first picture of the new rig anchored in Wathumba Creek on the western side of Fraser Island. The boat is equipped with the latest Lowrance HDS sonar and GPS units and a marine stereo for the long run home.

[prawned]

so i will pretty much be wasting time if i go up there this weekend for a fish?

[rayke1938]

You need to check on local weather conditions as the weather there is quite different to Brisbane.

Looking at Elders extended forecast it doesnt look too bad.

Wednesday Rain Rain

15 / 23°C 70%, 10-20mm Nil SSE 6km/h 94% S 15km/h 82%

Thursday Rain Rain

13 / 24°C 70%, < 1mm Nil NW 7km/h 86% WNW 9km/h 71%

Friday Possible shower Possible shower

12 / 24°C 95%, 1-5mm Nil E 1km/h 85% WSW 8km/h 72%

Saturday Windy with rain Windy with rain

12 / 24°C 95%, 1-5mm Nil SSW 10km/h 77% WSW 5km/h 64%

Sunday Showers Showers

16 / 24°C 95%, 1-5mm Nil S 15km/h 85% SSW 24km/h 74%

Monday Showers Showers

17 / 25°C 80%, 1-5mm Nil S 34km/h 76% ESE 36km/h 68%

Tuesday Showers Showers

16 / 25°C 80%, 1-5mm Nil S 23km/h 77% ESE 30km/h 72%

The jetty at urangan is always worth a fish even though the end of ist is currently closed for repairs.

Cheers

Ray