FISHING REPORT   – 10-09-2015

CHANGE TO OPENING HOURS FOR TOOWOOMBA DAMS

A good example of a quality Somerset Bass. These bigger
fish generally come out to play in the early stages of spring.

I forgot to mention this last week, so for those of you who don’t already know, our local Toowoomba dams have a change to their opening hours from 1^st September to 30^th April. The hours at Cooby Dam are; Loveday Cove from 7am to 8 pm, the Dam Wall Picnic Area is open 7am to 7.30pm and Cressbrook Dam is open from 6am to 8.00pm, water based activities are not permitted on the dams outside of these times. For more information regarding the dams and all other recreational facilities go to the TRC website, which is; www.toowoombarc.qld.gov.au

BASS

Bass fishing has been pretty good again this week, with Cressbrook Dam producing some decent fish; looking in the usual haunts, such as The Eagles Nest, out from the boat ramp, Deer Island and the points in the Bull creek arm are all good options, while soft plastics, blades and live shrimp have been effective. Somerset has produced some quality fish this week, with Pelican Point through to Kirkleigh being the best area of the dam to target, soft plastics, tailspinners and blades have all worked well, but trolling crank baits tight to the bottom picked up the better quality fish. It was a bit tougher at Boondooma this week, but for those that know their way around the dam, picked up some quality fish up to 50cm; plastics, blades and trolled hard bodies worked well, while the Stuart arm, from the Junction through to the timber has been a fairly productive area. Bjelke Peterson ramped up this week, with plenty of Bass hitting blades and hard bodies, worked in 15-20ft of water throughout the dam and Moogerah has been a little slow, with most of the fish hanging around the timber,  soft plastics and live shrimp have accounted for the majority of these fish.

YELLOWBELLY AND COD

Cooby Dam has produced decent numbers of Yellowbelly, the fish seem to be hanging just out from the weed edges and trolling shallow diving hard bodies or casting spinnerbaits in tight to the weed has been effective, while using bait or jigging blades in the deeper parts has produced a few fish as well. Glenlyon is a bit quiet at the moment, but there have been a few Yellowbelly taken on live shrimp, frozen saltwater yabbies and hard bodies in about 12-15ft of water, Cod have proven to be little bit harder to catch, although this should improve over the coming weeks, providing the weather stays kind to us. The fishing is still good at Coolmunda; if your targeting Yellowbelly, jigging blades and trolling hard bodies in the deeper water has been good, while working Jakall Transams around the timber has picked up the better quality fish and green coloured hard bodies have gone well for Cod. Leslie Dam saw a few Yellowbelly and Silver perch landed on worms, in about 10 foot of water, in front of the Washpool Reserve, there have also been some nice Yellowbelly caught, working the banks with Jackals, while opposite the dam wall in about 30 foot of water, has been a pretty good spot for the bait anglers. As for the rivers, the Macintyre at Goondiwindi has produced good sized Yellowbelly on bait and hard bodies, the Balonne at St.George is fishing well, with brighter coloured lures working the best, and the Condamine River continues to fish well, with most of the weirs and popular holes, throughout the system proving to be quite productive.

COASTAL FISHING

Offshore fishing has been a bit quiet at the Gold Coast, but the36’s and 50’s have produced some quality Pearl Perch, Kingies and Amberjack, while the close artificial reefs have been good for Snapper. Inshore fishing has seen Jew, Tailor and Trevally in the Seaway on the run in tide, good numbers of Flathead on soft plastics and trolled lures throughout the Broadwater and also at the Pin, quality Whiting at the Council Chambers in the Nerang River, Tailor off the beaches and a few Sand Crabs have started to show up in the southern end of the Broadwater. At the Sunny Coast, offshore fishing has produced some big Snapper on North Reef, as well as the Barwon Banks and The Hards when the weather permits a trip, some large schools of longtail tuna are getting about North Reef as well, with some yellowfin amongst them and some Parrot and Pearlies are coming from the reefs Northeast of Double Island point. Inshore fishing has seen plenty of big Whiting around the Power Boat Club, quality Flathead on soft plastics at the bar entrance, small Trevally in the Pelican Waters canals, some decent Bass in the upper reaches of the Mooloolah River; and in the Noosa River, Tailor are hitting surface poppers in Woods Bay, big Flathead and Whiting throughout, some nice Jewies to 80cm in the deeper holes and the upper reaches have seen some nice Mangrove Jack getting about.

FRASER ISLAND

Good numbers of Tailor, Whiting and Dart getting about the exposed beaches, with some good quality Tailor starting to show up.