Fishing Report 01-03-2013

LAKES AND DAMS UPDATE

 

This information was current at 9am 01-03-2013 and I will endeavour to do updates as they come through.

 

Toowoomba Regional Council's three storage dams (Cressbrook, Perseverance and Cooby) remain closed to all recreational activities until further notice.

Given the forecast for more rain in coming days, it was highly unlikely the dams would open in the near future.
Council is assessing the situation at each dam daily and will notify the public when access is possible.
Water is spilling over by more than a metre at Cressbrook Dam and is spilling at the other two as well.
As the ground is saturated, it takes very little rain across the dams' catchments to result in more inflows to the dams.
Somerset Dam is closed, until further notice. Moogerah Dam is still very dirty and has been quiet, while the Bass are firing on surface lures, early morning and late afternoon at Maroon Dam.
If you’re looking for somewhere to go fishing, Glenlyon, Leslie, Connelly and Coolmunda Dams are open and accessible.
Glenlyon has produced small numbers of Yellowbelly on live bait, a few Cod between 60 and 70cm have been landed in the deeper water, on deeper diving lures.

Connelly Dam is producing plenty of Yellowbelly at the moment, with green and black coloured hard bodies, live shrimp and worms proving to be effective. In Warwick itself, even though the Condamine is a bit dirty, it has produced a few yellowbelly on bait and there was a 66cm Cod caught on a live shrimp and worm cocktail.

 

 

 

 

 

FISHING REPORT   – 21-02-2013

CRESSBROOK DAM REOPENS

Cressbrook Dam reopened last Friday afternoon for all recreational use, following its closure due to ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald on the Australia Day long weekend. Boating, day use and camping and land-based fishing are now permitted at the dam. The dam was closed to boating when water flowed over the spillway making it unsafe for this pursuit.

However, dam users are advised that any significant rainfall in the catchment area may result in the dam being closed under Council's Emergency Action Plan.

Access to the dam is from the Esk-Hampton Road, via Mount Jockey Road as Perseverance Dam Road is still closed approx 1km from Grape Tree Road intersection. 

Cooby Dam has again produced some decent catches of Yellowbelly, there are a few scattered schools throughout the dam, these fish have been hitting a bit of everything, including dark coloured blades and Jackalls, as well as frozen saltwater yabbies. There was also the odd fish landed off the banks, with frozen saltwater yabbies proving to be effective for that as well.

Since reopening, Cressbrook has produced a few fish off the edges, with bait and reaction type lures proving to be successful; Somerset has seen a few Bass and Yellowbelly taking Mask Vibes and blades worked close to the bottom, the start of the timber at Kirkleigh has been very productive. Bjelke Peterson and Boondooma are still fairly dirty and fairly quiet, with not a lot to report from either of these dams. Boondooma camping areas have been reopened, however camping near the water’s edge is still not happening, due to the ground being extremely wet.

Glenlyon Dam has produced plenty of Yellowbelly over the past week, and also quite a few undersize to just legal Cod, live worms and shrimp have worked well, but spinnerbaits and hard bodies have picked up the most fish. Not a lot different at Leslie Dam this week, the Yellowbelly are still biting, trolled hard bodies and bait are working at the moment, with live Shrimp and frozen Saltwater Yabbies working well throughout the dam, worms have again produced some decent catches for the land based anglers and Coolmunda picked up this week, with plenty of Yellowbelly hitting trolled hard bodies, the old creek bed and the wall have been the pick of the spots.

As far as the rivers go, the Dumeresq River is producing a few Yellowbelly in the town reaches of Texas, lures and bait have both been successful. The Macintyre River at Goondiwindi has really livened up this week as the water clears a little, live shrimp and crays, as well as frozen saltwater yabbies have picked up the majority of the fish.

GOLD COAST AND TWEED

Offshore fishing this week, produced a few smaller Marlin on the closer bait reefs, a few Spanish Mackerel at 9 Mile Reef and out from Mermaid and Palm Beach, while trolled lures have again been effective for Wahoo and Dolphin Fish on the 50’s. The Seaway has seen Mulloway around the end of the North wall on the tide change, also a few smaller Snapper off the southern rock wall, the pumping jetty and the beach either side has seen big numbers of Whiting and Dart landed, Flathead around Kalinga Bank, a few Jacks are getting about Sovereign Island and the bridges in the Tweed River and plenty of Muddies at the mouths of most of the creeks and rivers on the Gold Coast and the Tweed.

SUNSHINE COAST

Offshore fishing has seen a few Snapper and Sweetlip on the closer reefs, a few Marlin getting about out wide and as far as inshore fishing goes, the Boardwalk at Caloundra has again produced big some big Flathead and the odd Bream, Jack’s in the Pelican Waters canals, Whiting around the bar entrance and the Power Boat Club and some nice Muddies are showing up in Bells Creek, while the Noosa River has produced heaps of Bream in the dirtier water and good numbers of Whiting, Jacks and Trevally at Noosa Sound.

 

 

 

 

FISHING REPORT   – 16-02-2013

CRESSBROOK DAM REOPENS

Cressbrook Dam was reopened yesterday for all recreational use, following its closure due to ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald on the Australia Day long weekend. Boating, day use and camping and land-based fishing are now permitted at the dam. The dam was closed to boating when water flowed over the spillway making it unsafe for this pursuit.

However, dam users are advised that any significant rainfall in the catchment area may result in the dam being closed under Council's Emergency Action Plan.

Access to the dam is from the Esk-Hampton Road, via Mount Jockey Road as Perseverance Dam Road is still closed approx 1km from Grape Tree Road intersection. 

Since reopening last Friday, Cooby Dam has produced some decent catches of Yellowbelly, there are a few scattered schools not far from the Loveday Cove boat ramp, these fish have been hitting vertically worked soft plastics and blades, as well as live shrimp. There was also the odd fish landed off the banks, with live worms proving to be effective.

According to the SEQ Water website, all SEQ dams have been reopened. There have been a couple of reports of a few Bass and Yellowbelly being caught in Somerset Dam.

Bjelke Peterson Dam is fairly quiet as far as the fishing goes. Boondooma Dam is very much the same; although there has been a couple of fish caught, but it will be a while before the dam settles and starts to fish well again. The camp grounds have been closed due to some infrastructure damage from the floods, but they are hopeful to reopen them in the next few days.

Glenlyon Dam has produced some decent numbers of Yellowbelly, and also quite a few undersize to just legal Cod, mainly on trolled lures. It’s certainly not easy, but if you put the time in, you should get the rewards. As a matter of interest, this dam has had 150,000 Yellowbelly fingerlings released onto it, since the start of the year, again, well done to all people involved. Not a lot different at Leslie Dam this week, the Yellowbelly are still biting, trolled hard bodies and bait are working at the moment, with live Shrimp and frozen Saltwater Yabbies working well throughout the dam, worms have again produced some decent catches for the land based anglers.

As far as the rivers go, the Dumeresq River is still running, but there has been a few Jewies and a couple of smaller Cod caught downstream of Texas. The Macintyre River at Goondiwindi has seen a few Yellowbelly taking live Yabbies just downstream of the Boggabilla Weir and the Ballone River at St.George is dropping after peaking earlier in the week, targeting the back eddies with live bait has produced a few Yellowbelly and Cod.  

GOLD COAST AND TWEED

Offshore fishing has produced Trag Jew on the 18’s and 24’s, a few Spotty Mackerel are starting to show up out from Mermaid and Palm Beach, while trolled lures have been effective for Wahoo and Dolphin Fish on the 50’s. The Seaway has seen Mulloway around the end of the North wall on the tide change, also Trevelly and Kingies on the morning run in tide, Flathead around Kalinga and Gold Bank’s, Whiting and Dart off the beaches, a few Sand Crabs are starting to show up throughout the Broadwater and plenty of Muddies at the mouths of most of the creeks and rivers.

SUNSHINE COAST

Offshore fishing has seen a few Coral Trout and Sweetlip starting to fire, as the water clears on the closer reefs, however there are a lot of Sharks about, which is making it hard to get the fish to the boat, as far as inshore fishing goes, the Boardwalk at Caloundra has produced big Flathead and the odd Queenfish, Jack’s in the Pelican Waters canals, Whiting around the bar entrance and the Power Boat Club and some nice Muddies are showing up in Bells Creek, while the Noosa River has produced some Trevelly in Woods Bay and plenty of big Whiting from Noosaville to the river mouth.

 

 

 

 

 

FISHING REPORT   – 07-02-2013

 

DAM  INFORMATION UPDATE

 

The below information was current as of Wednesday 6^th February 2013.

Cooby and Cressbrook Dams are currently closed to all activities; there is still no access to Cressbrook Dam from the New England Highway, but Mount Jockey Road has been re-opened.

 

Somerset and Moogerah Dams are still closed, due to debris throughout the dam, the picnic area at Somerset is open, Wivenhoe and Maroon are open to all water based activities.

 

Bjelke Peterson Dam is currently about 400mm over the spillway, but is still open and with the water being dirty, it is fairly quiet as far as the fishing goes. Boondooma Dam is about 100mm over the spillway and is currently open to water based activities, however there is a lot of debris in the dam and the camping areas are closed due to flood damage and like Bjelke Peterson the inflow of water has shut the fishing down.

 

As far as the Barra impoundments go, Awoonga Dam is 500mm over the spillway and Monduran is still 1.5m over the spillway.

 

Glenlyon, Leslie and Coolmunda Dams are open and accessible, and are your best bet, if you want to wet a line this weekend.

 

Yellowbelly have been a bit harder to catch at Glenlyon this week, there are still a few around, with bait bringing in the most fish. Cod are still reasonably active, and again bait has attracted the most fish, however there was a nice 17kg fish hooked on a trolled Oar-Gee lure last weekend.

 

At Leslie Dam, the Yellowbelly are still biting, bait seems to be the go at the moment, with live Shrimp and frozen Saltwater Yabbies working well throughout the dam, while worms have produced some decent catches for the land based anglers.

 

As far as the rivers go, the Dumeresq, Macintyre and Condamine have still got a run in them, as well as being pretty dirty. The Ballone at St.George has risen to a minor flood level, but there are still a few Yellowbelly being caught on bait.  

 

GOLD COAST AND TWEED

 

Offshore fishing has been very quiet since the extreme weather event last week, while inshore, the estuary system has a lot of debris through it at the moment, so you need to be careful when boating, from the Pin right through to the Nerang River. As far as the fishing goes, Bream are about in good numbers, a few Jacks are showing up around the bridges, the odd Whiting on the sand flats and there are plenty of Muddies at the mouth of the Coomera River.

 

SUNSHINE COAST

 

Offshore fishing has seen good numbers of Black Marlin, Wahoo and Dolphin Fish out wide and the water is still a bit dirty around the inner reefs, which has kept them fairly quiet, while inshore fishing on the southern end of the coast has been restricted to Kawana Lake, where there has been a few Trevelly and Jacks about, and the Noosa River has produced some decent Bream, Flathead and Trevelly on the incoming tide. Again all the estuaries are still fairly dirty, so the fishing isn’t easy and care needs to be taken when boating in these areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report 31/01/2013

FISHING REPORT   – 31-01-2013

 

Due to the weather system last weekend, reports have been few and far between, this week I thought information regarding the situation with our surrounding dams would be appropriate.

 

This information was current at 1pm 31-01-2013 and I will endeavour to do updates as they come through.

 

Cooby and Cressbrook Dams are currently closed to all activities, due to the Dam’s spilling. There is also no access to Cressbrook Dam from the New England Highway, or Mount Jockey Road, if you try to access it from the Esk/Hampton Road.

 

Somerset, Wivenhoe, Maroon and Moogerah Dams are all closed, until further notice.

 

Bjelke Peterson Dam has reached 100%, but is still open, Boondooma Dam is about 5-6m over the spillway and is currently closed and authorities are saying it could be closed for up to 2 weeks.

 

If the fishing bug has really got you, Glenlyon, Leslie and Coolmunda Dams are open and accessible, inflows into these dams have been minimal.

 

Glenlyon is producing good numbers of quality Yellowbelly, with a few Cod between 60 and 70cm, late afternoon has produced the most fish, while trolled hard bodies and spinnerbaits have been the pick of the lures.

 

Leslie Dam is also producing plenty of Yellowbelly, trolled hard bodies, in darker colours have been effective, and as far as bait goes, live worms are barely getting to the bottom before being hit by the fish and like Glenlyon, there have been a few Cod between 60 and 70cm getting about.