17 May 2019 fishing report

THIS WEEK’S GOLD COAST AND TWEED ESTUARY FISHING REPORT

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TWEED RIVER by Smithy

I will be fishing the deep holes in the middle reaches of the river this week targeting some flathead and jewies. 

Fishing around the tide changes will give you the best chance at hooking a jewie as they spike in their feeding pattern at this time. 


Hopefully it won’t be long before some schools of tailor and big sea bream start to enter the river now that we are pushing more into winter.

Ray with a flattie caught while on a Tweed river charter with Smithy
Smithy nailed this school Jewfish on a vibe lure

GOLD COAST by Clinto

The winter species are starting to come through, with legal size flathead spreading around to feed after dispersing from their summer breeding grounds.

Squid are becoming more common too, I catch them all on Ecogear ZX40 vibes on my charters. These lures work well day time and draw the squid out of weed beds.

Fresh arrow squid from the Gold Coast broadwater

Flounder this time of year are a lovely eating size, we catch dinner plate size ones often on vibes. 

Tuskfish are plentiful this month too, plus there are tons of winter whiting around the broadwater anywhere between Southport and Sovereign island.

During the neap tides we had some good fun near the seaway over the reefy patch east of wavebreak island, and in 6-10m depth just South of Crab island. There was also fish in 4-6m of water on the western side of the channel opposite Marina Mirage.

Young Maclay was on a private charter with Dad Duane and caught and released his first Tarpon on 6 lb line. Good size too and on a live yabbie in 10 m deep water too!

He also caught a hard fighting morwong and a variety of species. The boys took home a bunch of squid and whiting for dinner, and we caught 17 species in total.

Maclay with his first Tarpon caught near the Gold Coast seaway
Maclay caught this hard fighting Morwong on a yabbie in 7 metre deep water
There are a few 50cm plus flathead around, this one grabbed an Ecogear ZX40 blade near Marina Mirage

There wasn’t much tidal run being neaps but the Westerly winds were up early, so to fish the deeper water with light sinkers and lures it was very important to reverse the motor into the wind to slow the drift, and ensure the yabbies and lures found the estuary floor where the fish feed.

It was then a matter of staying ahead of the clear water pushing in with the run in tide, and finding the bait on the fish finder and dropping straight on it to get bites.

Duane came for a fish again on Monday and we caught a 74cm Jewfish and a number of flathead around the 50cm mark.

Duane with a river Jewfish which fell for an Ecogear ZX40 vibe
Duane with a nice flathead he kept for dinner

Full moon is this Sunday, with the bigger tides at night. The day time tides will be suitable to fish the broadwater and the mid sections of the rivers.

Just a reminder I’ll be away until 20 June, but will still post updates and reports, plus reply to any booking enquiries for myself or Brad.

Book a private charter with us soon, we’d love to be your guide for the day. 

When I get back from holiday I’ll also have a limited number of Ecogear packs available again. 

Let me know if you’d like me to hold one for you.

Cheers and happy fishing,

Clinto

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