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Sunshine Coast - Caloundra Land Based Shark Fishing


Zakko29

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Hey guys,

Me and a couple of friends have recently been trying to target small shark in the Sunshine Coast area. I live in Caloundra and have tried the pumestone passage numerous times, as well as moorochy River, and Mooloolaba River. 

My set up is simple, 30lb braid, wire trace, circle hook. Bait we try to switch up, mullet trunks, eel and when we have time live bait (poddie mullet). 

Over the past 6 weekends of fishing we have only been successfull once, catching a small bull shark in moorochy river. 

So my questions are;

Does anyone know of the best place in Caloundra for catching small shark?

Does anyone know of the best bait to use?

Does anyone know the best location to catch mullet using a cast net in Caloundra?

I would appreciate any help, and I thank you in advance. 

Zak.

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2 hours ago, Zakko29 said:

Hey guys,

Me and a couple of friends have recently been trying to target small shark in the Sunshine Coast area. I live in Caloundra and have tried the pumestone passage numerous times, as well as moorochy River, and Mooloolaba River. 

My set up is simple, 30lb braid, wire trace, circle hook. Bait we try to switch up, mullet trunks, eel and when we have time live bait (poddie mullet). 

Over the past 6 weekends of fishing we have only been successfull once, catching a small bull shark in moorochy river. 

So my questions are;

Does anyone know of the best place in Caloundra for catching small shark?

Does anyone know of the best bait to use?

Does anyone know the best location to catch mullet using a cast net in Caloundra?

I would appreciate any help, and I thank you in advance. 

Zak.

hey Zak,

 

 But it seems like you're on the right track so far. Keep record of your fishing trips, and see what works and what doesn't work. Dead chunks of mullet have never really been the best in my experience. You are better off spending time trying to get live bait, much more likely to hook something. Or, just use small pieces of freshwater eel, hands down the best bait you can use. Id focus on smaller river systems, you'd be surprised how shallow the small bullies will hunt in. I know for a fact that Twin Waters has a healthy population of bull sharks (some relatively large too about 4ft plus) and im planning to go there in the next 2-3 weeks for an evening fish.

Do yourself a favour, go either buy or catch a few freshwater eels, use about 10cm pieces. One eel should last you about 3-4 fishing trips. a hell of alot easier than cast netting bait every time lol

What size wire are you using? 

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Hi Zakko,

Welcome to the forum, look forward to reading some reports soon.

Bull sharks are a potential catch in any of the sunshine coast rivers and creeks.  during the early summer months, big females move into the rivers/creeks/estuaries to birth their pups, after which the pups stay in the system feeding on small prey (prawns, crabs, mullet etc) without worrying about predators until the reach about 4ft long (~6 months old) when they will move out.  Some river systems attract more sharks than others - the maroochy and noosa rivers and coochin or bells creek would be the better options.  so take from this that numbers will increase over summer.

 

remember that bull sharks can happily live in fresh or salt water so they can be anywhere in a river, so often around the mouth of the river is not the best option.  I would suggest having a look up around or even above bli bli in the maroochy river as a starting point.

 

live bait will by far get better results overall than dead bait.  it will be well worth spending the time to find them. any of the foreshores can hold mullet schools but like everything they can be hit and miss.  Live bait constantly send out distress signals that sharks hone in on using electro sensors so a live bait will trump a dead bait.  herring will also work well if you find them, they are also a great dead bait.  a good fall back is a big chunk of a mullet but you will catch them on pretty much anything if they are hungry, even pilchards, chunks of mullet fillet, whatever.  burley certainly helps as well.

 

Good luck!

Cheers

Benno

 

 

 

 

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Hi first of all thank you so much for the advice, and I’ll be sure to post any catches/information when I head out on Saturday. 

I think I’ll head up to Bli Bli with some live bait and some fresh water eel also. Does anyone know the closest shop to caloundra I can purchase fresh water eel from if I don’t catch any myself?

I use 12” pre-made trace from BCF, although I’ve often wondered if this is too short? 

Do you guys chum the water when you fish for shark? I saw a few anglers using BCF chum “blocks” at the rock wall in Mooloolaba on my last trip. Is this effective for bull shark in the rivers?

Thanks again.

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I've never found need for chum mate. I think you'd find most shark fish don't bother with chum, sure it might work....but its extra things to take out fishing, more stuff to buy etc If the sharks are around, they will find your bait. Given that sharks don't stop swimming, they cover alot of distance in a short amount of time.

12 inch trace is fine, i use the halco 60-100lb (depending on what im chasing) wire and clip on a circle hook. the wire is really only there to prevent bite offs. from the wire trace i run 40-80lb mono for about 1m with a small sinker running up and down the mono then tie that off to the main line. That rig hasn't failed me yet (once when a big bull tail whipped my mono...must have been a big shark)

Live bait is great if you an get it, as is dead mullet etc....but in my experience, it wont last 10 minutes in the water before catfish, small bream, crabs, toad fish etc pick it to pieces...very frustrating. Especially when you dont even feel the tiny bites and you could have no bait on the hook without you even knowing! Slabs of eel on the other hand will last a very long time. Ive once caught 3 bull sharks in one morning on the same piece of eel haha. 

do you loosen the drag right off when waiting for a strike?

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We find the biggest problem is rebaiting mullet in Maroochy river, the crabs are onto it within no time. I’ll definitely get my hands on some eel. 

I recently bought a shimano bait runner which has the quick strike feature if you’re familiar with the reel. It’s worked perfectly so far, and allowed me to hook my small bullie with ease. I leave almost no resistance when the line is in free spool mode. 

Is twin waters your regular bull shark spot? 

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I've caught bullies in the pumistone at Bribe in the canals. Also in maroochydore up near Bli Bli in the river where it has a T junction near the servo heading out from Maroochy to Bli Bli.

AS everyone says Freshwater Eel is great or fresh poddy mullet works a treat live baited. i also find cat fish live are great bait! 

 

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14 hours ago, Zakko29 said:

We find the biggest problem is rebaiting mullet in Maroochy river, the crabs are onto it within no time. I’ll definitely get my hands on some eel. 

I recently bought a shimano bait runner which has the quick strike feature if you’re familiar with the reel. It’s worked perfectly so far, and allowed me to hook my small bullie with ease. I leave almost no resistance when the line is in free spool mode. 

Is twin waters your regular bull shark spot? 

Perfect setup then. Leave that bully take the bait and swallow it a bit before clicking that drag into strike. Sounds like you’ve experienced the problem with crabs. Mullet does work...just so long as crabs don’t steal it first...which will happen 99% of the time

nah I’ve never fished twin waters before, but a work mate lives up there and always talks about locals catching them...I’ve seen pics of 5ft bulls caught there. 

 

If if you can’t catch any eel (or find where to buy) I’ve got a good collection at home, would be happy to give you some 🙂

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Great thread thanks everyone. Very enjoyable read. 

Fres water eel is pretty easy to catch anywhere there is  freshwater creek. baits like chicken hearts are terrific as they are tough and stay on the hook.

Cut up your baits before you freeze them and it makes life easy. 

Good luck. I'd love to see some pics if you get amongst them. 

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As always such a bunch of knowledgable blokes on here. If you do a search for Bull shark fishing as well there used to be a guy on here a few years ago who did loads of it in the Logan river I can't remember his username..... HE suggested instead of crumbing the fish crush up our favourite bag of Salt and Vinegar chips and use that as the crumbs. I tried it with Whting and was bloody awesome! 

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2 hours ago, natang said:

As always such a bunch of knowledgable blokes on here. If you do a search for Bull shark fishing as well there used to be a guy on here a few years ago who did loads of it in the Logan river I can't remember his username..... HE suggested instead of crumbing the fish crush up our favourite bag of Salt and Vinegar chips and use that as the crumbs. I tried it with Whting and was bloody awesome! 

Yep that is a great little tip. I have done that a few times but not for a while. Yum. Thanks for reminding me about it 🙂

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11 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

done that a few times but not for a while. Yum. Thanks

this works even better with salt and vinegar pringles.  just blitz them in a food processor, mix up with a bit of panko... 😋

@Zakko29 a mate of mine was fishing in the mid reaches of coochin creek yesterday and he saw quite a few small bullies cruising around in there chasing after mullet in the shallows.  could be well worth a visit to some of the banks near the boat ramp just down from the camping area in coming weekends.

also - re keeping the bait away from crabs, if you sit your bait off the bottom using a float or similar this removes the problem.  sharks will happily feed mid or high in the water column.

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All I can say is what everyone else is saying. Eel! 

I caught a 1.1 meter at the mouth of Brisbane River not long ago and I've still got it in my freezer. I will probably aim for them in a month or so when I run out. 

I've had an experience with sharks before when I didn't want to target them. I chummed up with 2 cans of cat food which I had left over from crab pot. All I was catching was sharks about 50cm and became a pest because I was after snapper. 

Still was great fun on light gear and recommend one circle hook in about 6cm of eel flesh just towards the top. Let it run on slack drag for 10 seconds or so depending on the area and tighten the drag. Once on board cut the tail bleed it out but my friends recommend cutting the head off too. I'm unsure how this goes with Queensland rules as I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to fillet fish while fishing. 

Good luck and I would have mono line attached to your braid then go the trace

 

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  • 1 month later...

UPDATE;

I tried Bli Bli quite a few times before and over the Christmas period with no luck, using all the tips from the thread. 

Yesterday a friend and I decided to drive to pine river as I’ve heard it has a reputation for small bull sharks,  and we weren’t disappointed. We only caught one small shark but it gave a great run on our light gear. 

Location; Deep water bend - Pine river 

Bait; Fresh water eel 

Had great fun and we’ll surely be back soon, perhaps a bit higher in the system. Thanks for all the advice guys!!

(photo attached)

A7D9E66F-64C2-4DE9-884D-8EB5DA80FE3B.png

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Seems your runs are few and far between so I would suggest better presented bait to attract more customers. I suggest live mullet hooked in the lip on a circle hook on as long a leader as you can still cast - like a metre at least so the mullet swims around a lot. Also just use 30lb flourocarbon for leader instead of wire - you will get far more bites and not that many bite offs with the circle hooks as they generally hook in the corner of the mouth. Without the wire you are also opening up options for other fish species that would normally never touch a bait on wire trace; anybody would rather get a jew or big flattie than a shark. This is coming from the far north where sharks are a plague and vermin rather than a targeted species; I rarely get bitten off on this type of rig by the smaller ones, just the really big ones that would spool me anyway.  

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