Westerly winds have fired up a sensational run of mulloway in all estuary waters and in the surf. The most productive locations for fish have been in the Logan River and deeper holes throughout Jumpinpin and the Broadwater.
Live mullet is catching, the bigger fish are over a metre long, but many school size fish about 80cm have been caught on pilchards, squid and fish fillets. Flathead have also been in excellent numbers again this week.
We are at the start of their breeding season, so there are quite a few oversized females which need to be released carefully. Smaller legal fish have been caught by anglers casting lures into draining sand flats, bays and smaller creek mouths.
Trolling lures has been best on the edge of channels using deep diving hard bodies that reach the bottom. Whiting catches are improving every week, the bigger fish have been caught on the run out tide at night but even those fishing during the day are catching a feed. Look for sandbanks in rivers and fish the edges of them.
There have been a few school mackerel caught in the Shark Spit area and in the top end of the Rainbow Channel. Anglers trolling deep using paravanes or downriggers have had the best success.
There’s been good numbers of smaller chopper tailor in estuaries and surf beaches. They are turning up on the Gold Coast around sunset and into the evening at Philip Park, Pumping Jetty, Narrowneck and Tallebudgera.
There’s been plenty of small snapper caught in Moreton Bay but you need to put some extra effort in to catch any quality. Top spot again this week was the Spoil Ground north of Harrys, the artificial reefs are producing a few keepers but lots of undersize fish.
Offshore there’s been some decent pearl perch in 90 - 100m and quality trag on Square Patch and Deep Tempest. There’s also been trag in 45 metres of water off the Gold Coast but less than half those caught have been over the minimum legal size. There’s still tuna around the shallows off Point Lookout and the odd Spanish mackerel on Seven Reef.
