Winter tactics for Broadwater
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I everyone, I must say I am loving the cold of winter and the westerly wind that’s typical for this time of year. It hasn’t been all dry so far, but we’ll take what we can get. This month is one of my favourites and I’ve been mixing it up a lot for customers on my local daily estuary fishing charters. We are spoilt with some wonderful varieties, including flathead, squid, flounder, tailor, winter whiting and more. These are all very tasty critters, plus you don’t need a lot of rods on the boat to target them all. For starters, when squid are on, I’ll take three or four rods rigged
Broadwater Guide by CLINT ANSELL
with squid jigs attached by Mustad Fastach clips, so colours and sizes can be quickly changed if the squid need tempting. Another essential combination is light 2-4kg Samaki and Tackle Tactics rods about 7’ in length, matched with 2500 size Okuma Ceymar HD reels for jigging vibe lures, including Ecogear ZX40, TT Fishing SwitchPrawn+, Samaki Vibelicious 70mm fork tail and 65mm Nomad Squidtrex. Spool the reels with PE 0.6 YGK Pentagram line and 10lb fluorocarbon leader and
Knobbies and pearlies fire up * from P50
water is a huge advantage, as time of day isn’t a big factor. Squid jigs 2.5-3.5 in size have been popular, with the colour being dependent on the day. Jewfish are starting to show up more in the canals and in the slightly deeper sections ranging from 3m and over. This is awesome because they’re starting to push up to about 60cm plus – great fun on light tackle. With storage fishing, we’re starting to see bass captures more frequently in Hinze, Maroon and Wyaralong dams. Quite a few bass have been found in the tree lines and people were targeting them with small jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. www.bnbfishing.com.au
Be mindful, in our dams there are a lot of invasive species that are no-return fish, such as barred grunter, tilapia and carp. If they’re caught, they are to be humanly disposed of – these are often signed at the ramps. Also remember to obtain a stocked impoundment permit when fishing these storages because non-compliance can result in a fine. These can be purchased online and the funds go towards the restocking of our dams. I can’t wait to see everyone’s captures this July and I also hope for more consistent weather, so people can get out and enjoy what this month has to offer. Bye for now.
you’re good to go. I’ll then have a couple of slightly heavier 3-6kg 7’ rods with 2500 or 3000 size reels spooled with PE 0.8 Platypus Pulse X8 braid and 12lb leader. These double as flathead soft plastic and tailor slug combos. From there it’s a matter of finding the baitfish to find the predators on the day. Generally, I will work deeper channels on a run-in tide and shallow bank edges on a runout. Squid love to hunt in clear water, which happens during runin tides, with the blue ocean water pushing in through the Seaway. Arrow squid can be found in sandy channels of about 4-6m depth. I’ll cast the squid jigs out about 10m and place the rods in holders, with the slow rocking of the * continued P52
Hard fighting giant trevally are always a welcome catch in the Nerang River.
Mark was stoked to boat a big arrow squid in the Broadwater using a Fish Inc squid jig.
The author boated a 65cm flathead using a 1-2kg Insalt rod and 6lb leader. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, July 2024 – Page 51
