This weeks tips & Gold Coast/ Northern NSW estuary fishing report:
Some tips on how to use blades and vibe lures.
On our charters blades and vibes have completely replaced soft plastics, apart from Gulp 2 inch shrimps which still have their moments, especially in banana prawn and peppered prawn colours.
Metal blades and small vibes both have tight vibrations which call in fish, and their streamlined, compact shape means they sink fast, making them versatile lures in shallow and deep water.
Our favourite blades are Ecogear ZX40 and Strike Pro cyber vibes, and Zerek fishtraps are great vibes.
A really affective way of using them is on the drift. Drop the lure straight to the bottom or cast out in shallow water, hold the rod at a 45 degree angle, then twitch your wrist up and down. Remember to keep the lift and drops short and sharp and continuous with a very short pause.
This is usually what gets the most bites but at times it pays it slow down the action slightly, and if there is not much tidal run the old cast and retrive with one hop at a time works well.
The fish will most often grab the lure on the drop so be ready to lift and set the hook. Assist hooks have the best hook up rate, are more snag resistant, and fish stay hooked more than trebles.
Gold Coast:
A mix of weather and fishing over the past week. Clint has been finding a nice variety for his guests. Some days the Northerlies have made for slow sessions, with only about 15 fish some days, and 40 plus on others.
Good eating size flathead of 40-50cm have been hitting the Ecogear ZX40 blades in the paler and more natural looking colours. We find smearing Sax scent all over the lures entices the fish to strike more aggressively and when they hooks they will often return and attack several times until hooked. Well worth doing!
Other species we caught this week on lures were flounder, heaps of winter whiting, sand whiting, cuttlefish, squid, squire, trevally, bream, tarwine, pike, queenfish, tuskfish.
The best areas to fish have been adjacent to the broadwater parklands, the mouth of Bums Bay, and along the drop off next to Pelican beach.
This weekend and coming week we have good tides and we’ll be looking for bigger tuskfish around Crab island, and for flathead and whiting between Budds Beach and Benowa in the Nerang river.
Tweed river:
Brad has been concentrating on the Fingal to Chinderah area for school flathead, mulloway, and sand whiting. The water has still been quite muddy due to the heavy rain that fell in the Tweed catchment. Bright and metallic colour lures have been most successful.
This week as the water clears the surface fishing for whiting should be good, and the mangrove jacks will continue to become more active.
Cheers
Smithy & Clinto
