This week’s Gold Coast and Tweed estuary Big Hit fishing report
Tweed:
Brad has been putting his guests onto some solid whiting, bream, trevally, queenfish, and flathead using surface lures, with the MMD splash prawns continuing to produce great results. These little lures have an amazing action and realistic look, and have been catching their fair share of mangrove jacks.
The Bassday Sugapens are the other gun surface lure essential for a successful session in shallow water.
The Tweed continues to produce the odd big flathead too in the deeper holes where it’s a bit cooler in this hot weather.
February is Brad’s favourite month for big mangrove jacks, get in touch to book your charter to lock horns with these estuary thugs, there is nothing like them for an adrenalin rush.
Gold Coast:
Early starts have been a must with the holiday water traffic, there are some good fish around though and lots of variety.
Clint has been getting between 20 and 70 fish a day on Ecogear ZX 40 lures covered in Sax Scent in Goldprawn and Crab flavours. Zerek fishtraps are also a lethal weapon in the broadwater.
Species caught this week included snapper, bream, tarwhine, trumpeter, dusky flathead, bartail flathead, sand whiting, winter whiting, goldline whiting, spangled emperor, grassy emperor, estuary cod, tealeaf trevally, barracuda, pike, whiptail, tuskfish, and still lots of squid.
Best fishing areas in the broadwater have been Lands end, Carters bank, the seaway area South East of Wavebreak island north wall, and the northern end of Crab island. In the Nerang river there are some big fish in the council chambers to Cascade gardens area. Stick to any discoloured or dirtier water like glue, it will hold fish.
We are building up to some massive king tides the next few days, which can make fishing difficult due to strong tidal flow and clear water near river mouths. Try up the canals and lakes, and on top of sandbanks not normally covered by water. For mangrove jacks try the bridges further upstream at night around the tide changes.
Lovely Estuary Cod caught and released by Eden on a midweek charter with Clint at Nerang river:
Tips:
How to use Ecogear ZX40 lures, by Clint.
I have been using these versatile and extremely effective lures for a while now.
Brad not as much yet but I’m going to give him some of my favourite colours to start using at Tweed. He does already get great results there on Strike Pro cyber vibes, Zerek fishtraps and Atomic semi hardz.
To start off with you’ll need a 2-4kg rod and 1000 or 2500 size reel, or similar. The Shimano range does the job just fine, I really enjoy using a Shimano raider rod paired with a Shimano sienna 1000 reel, spooled with 6 lb braid, and 10 lb FC Rock fluorocarbon leader.
We can show you the exact method that slays big numbers of fish and squid on a charter with us, but basically you want to fish when the tide is running, find a sandy area between 2 and 8 metres deep, and look for evidence of bait fish on the fish finder.
Try to do long drifts of up to 2kms in a straight line, this is key to success as fish will follow for a while before deciding to strike. In the deeper holes try closer to the tide changes for slower drifts to ensure you reach the bottom.
Teabagging these lures involves dropping them straight to the bottom and keeping them there, keeping the line at a 45 degree angle, and doing short, sharp, continuous lift and drops. Keep it in their face and the bites will come!
Try it, it’s a shit load of fun, catching everything from little whiting up to big flathead and mulloway.
We have been very busy fishing but as as soon as I get a chance I’ll be doing another order of Ecogear blades and Sax scent, and will have some packs of my five favourite colour lures available for sale. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll some spare ones for you, to be mailed or pick up in Bundall.
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Get in touch to book your private charter soon, there will be some big fish around in February! SMS 0432 990 302.
Cheers and chat next week 🙂
Smithy & Clinto
