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13 December 2019 fishing report

THIS WEEK’S GOLD COAST AND TWEED ESTUARY FISHING REPORT

13 December 2019

TWEED RIVER by Smithy

Hi everyone this week’s report is much the same as last weeks with the highly visual surface fishing producing the results. 

Flathead ,bream and whiting as we know are all predominant bottom feeders but by choosing the right lures that skip along the surface like MMD Splash Prawns and Bassday Suga pens these fish will readily rise and explode from the bottom to devour them. 

Koby with a thumper Tarpon caught trolling a pontoon 21 crackjack

It is also important to choose the correct areas to use this technique which are the shallows that contain a mixture of sea grass and yabbie banks and the Tweed River has plenty of these types of grounds. This is the right time of the year to try this fun technique with the surface fishing being at its absolute best from now right through to April.    

Mark with a flathead caught on the surface with a splash prawn

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Whiting are great fun to catch on surface lures

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GOLD COAST RIVERS by Clinto

Two weeks until Christmas and the summer fishing is in full swing. We have caught ten mangrove jacks so far this season in twelve night trips.

Brad and Terry with two big mangrove jacks
Big jacks about to be released

Mangrove jacks have been feeding aggressively at times, and we have been doing well on our evening charters with some big fish boated and released. Most are over 50cm and up to 58cm with bigger fish out there that are hard to stop.

Brad with a 58cm jack
Big jacks love live baits

Live whiting is quickly becoming the bait of choice as the season goes on. Winter whiting are best as they have no size limit and are easily caught on Ecogear ZX40 blades and Samaki Vibelicious in the Gold Coast broadwater.

Ben and Fred caught heaps of fish in the broadwater

In the broadwater there is variety on offer but not much size out there at the moment, Ben and his nine year old son Fred enjoyed the calm weather on Monday morning. We caught over 30 fish and 14 species, including Winter whiting, Dusky flathead, Flagtail flathead, Tarwine, Squid, Tuskfish, Snapper, Grassy emperor, Spangled emperor, Soldierfish, Blue spotted Stingray, Fantail leatherjacket, Flounder.

Freddy caught 17 fish himself, not bad for a six year old!

We have been running night charters for mangrove jacks in the mid to lower reaches of the river, timing the tides is crucial to get the bites. No run no fun but too much run no fun either.

There are that many big bream in Nerang river at the moment it is insane. The biggest ones of 40cm and over come out at night and are very hungry and in huge numbers.

Stick to the shallower banks at night with bloodworms and yabbies if you want a feed of big sand whiting. Be prepared to move several times between Budds Beach and Capri to find the feeding schools.

This coming week features the back of the full moon, with big tides in the mornings and smaller tides at night. The mornings will be good for fishing upstream and the nights are good for jacks around Surfers Paradise.

SMS 0432 990 302 to book your private charter.

Useful links:

Check out our sponsor Big Hit Fishing’s website for great quality, made to last fishing apparel. 

Exclusive deal for our followers: Use the discount code “smithys” at checkout to get 20% off!

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Fishing tips and secrets:

https://goldcoastrivercharters.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/THE-ULTIMATE-ESTUARY-FISHING-GUIDE-4.pdf

Finally a huge shout out and thanks to our sponsors, preferred brands and suppliers:

Big Hit Fishing

Ecogear

Pontoon 21

Samaki

MMD splashprawns

Sax scent

Strike Pro

Atomic

Stones Corner marine

Sporty’s fishing

Gillz Australia

The Bait Shop at Arundel

Cheers

Smithy & Clinto

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