A day on the Broadwater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Clint Ansell

A nice flathead ready to be released on a charter with Brad Smith in the Tweed River.

Hi everyone, our hearts go out to the poor people who have suffered terrible hardships during the floods in the Gympie region, southeast Queensland and NSW.

Nature can be cruel at times, but we know one thing – bad times don’t last forever.

For anglers, the cooler months from April to November usually mean drier weather, and if La Niña weakens, we should be in for some better fishing conditions on the water.

April represents a crossover of seasons as far as species go.

We can still catch some of the summer quarry such mangrove jack, trevally and sand whiting, but also notice more flathead, squid, tuskfish, mulloway, tailor and winter whiting showing up in our local estuary systems.

It is a little early for big numbers of these species to show up, but it’s still worth targeting a variety with a mix of lures and bait.

I’ll run you through exactly what I do on a typical day on the Gold Coast Broadwater.

Ideal conditions are low tide in the morning to pump yabbies, with light wind and not too big or small a tide range – about a 1m change is good.

Kieran caught a heap of fish trolling Pontoon 21 Crackjack lures with Brad Smith in the Tweed River.

We’ll pump yabbies and arm ourselves with a range of lures including all our favourites – Ecogear ZX40 blades, Samaki Vibelicious 70mm Fork Tail vibes, Ecogear Marukyu Isome worms in XL size and red colour, and some soft plastics such as Damiki Armor Shad 4” paddle tail, Marker 54 Mullet Run, plus Pro Lure Clone Prawn in 72mm and 92mm sizes.

Lure colour choice varies daily depending on whether the sky is cloudy or sunny, if it’s windy or calm, and whether the water is clear or dirty.

Generally, the calmer and clearer everything is, the more we’ll use plain, neutral and transparent lures.

Choppy, cloudy and dirty water conditions require flashy, darker and ultraviolet enabled lures.

For in-between conditions, you’ll need lures in the middle colour ranges.

A feature of many of our favourites lures is an orange or red coloured belly, as well as olive coloured backs, specks of gold glitter or flashy paint, and black eyes.

These all provide different contrasts on lures – one or more of these are likely to be spotted easily by fish.

Another trick is pimping your lures by using paint, nail polish or Spike-It Scented Markers.

As an example, you can draw orange or red chins or bellies, black eyes, stripes on flanks, or chartreuse tails.

It is very satisfying when you catch fish on your own marked lures and soft plastics.

Be prepared to change tactics too as the day goes on and switch colours to find what is working.

This can vary often with conditions – such as when the sun is higher in the sky.

So, when heading out and fishing, we’ll mix up using live yabbies and Ecogear Marukyu Isome worms on traces with a number 2 or 3 ball sinker above a small swivel, and then 1m of 10lb fluorocarbon leader.

I prefer to cut the worms in half per bait and thread the piece onto a number 4 sized baitholder hook, then slide it up over the hook eye and up the leader a little so it stays on longer and sits straight to look natural.

My bait fishing reels are spooled with 10lb monofilament line.

On the lure fishing outfits we spool reels with polyethylene 0.6 8-strand braid, then 10lb fluorocarbon leader joined with an Albright knot.

We’ll drop the vibes and blades straight to the bottom and ‘teabag’ them while drifting.

Soft plastics can also be teabagged as well as cast in different directions, especially near edges of drop-offs and structure.

Let them sink, then a short double hop, pause, wind in the slack, and repeat.

This tactic also works well over the top of sand banks at high tide.

When the tide and wind are running too hard to drift at a speed of around 0.8 knots, we’ll fish shallow edges of channels and the southern side of the Broadwater, which doesn’t flow as hard.

Slacker periods close to tide changes are good times to drift deeper channels from the Seaway to Sovereign Islands.

In cooler months it pays to throw a squid jig out while drifting and place the rod in a holder until a squid hooks itself.

Using all of these techniques will often result in a large variety of fish being caught in a session – including flathead, tuskfish, squid, whiting and many more surprises.

If you don’t find feeding fish early, don’t panic and go rushing all over the waterway.

Keep moving a few hundred metres at a time with an eye on the fish finder for signs of bait and fish schools.

To book on a charter with myself or Brad, or if you have any fishing related questions, visit goldcoastrivercharters. com, SMS 0432 990 302, email fishingwith clint@gmail.com or find us on Facebook at Brad Smith Fishing Charters.

Caitlin and Adrian enjoyed a successful mangrove jack trip with the author. www.bnbfishing.com.au

The author caught this slatey bream on a Samaki Vibelicious.

Romi did battle with this hard fighting slatey bream, taken on an Ecogear Marukyu Isome worm.

Adam landed a nice slatey bream on a yabby.

A nice arrow squid for Patrick caught on a Broadwater charter with the author.