Gold Coast

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | December 2022

Boat Test: Merry Fisher Sport 795

Offshore fishing heats up

GOLD COAST David Green

The water should warm up to around 25ºC on the inshore grounds this month as the East Australian Current moves in close to the coast. There have been plenty of juvenile black marlin in Hervey Bay in October and by December these fish should have moved south to Gold Coast waters.

As well as black marlin, this month should see mahimahi and hopefully wahoo. It is a good month to troll on the inshore grounds. The bottom end of North Stradbroke Island, the Cotton Reef and Sullies are good places to start. I prefer to troll skirted lures but dead baits, such as gar and mullet, are also very effective. If there are big bait schools of slimy mackerel and pilchards around, drifting live baits is often a better option. Most of the inshore run of juvenile black marlin are small fish between 10-25kg, which makes them manageable on light tackle. Occasionally bigger fish up to 80kg are encountered but I think this season will see a lot of small marlin being caught quite close to shore.

Out wider there should be an increase in blue marlin action this month. The bite slowed a bit in October but there were still a few shots most days and most of the bites were on tide changes. December is generally one of the best months of the year to catch a blue marlin off the Gold Coast and there should still be a few striped marlin around as well. It pays to look at the sea surface temperature charts and work areas where there is a temperature break or an eddy. In general, the best depth to troll is between 200-400m.

Out beyond the thousand metre line there may still be a few yellowfin tuna. Some big ones were caught throughout spring and fish over 50kg were common. Other by-catch on the wider grounds includes big mahimahi and the occasional wahoo.

In closer to shore, the first run of spotted and Spanish mackerel should turn up on Palm Beach Reef in mid- December. The recent completely flawed study on Spanish mackerel numbers has lead to seasonal closures that will start on the first of February. The bag limit is now one Spanish mackerel per person and a maximum of two fish per recreational vessel. This is despite record catches over the past few seasons. The best approach in December is to berley and fish with pilchards, concentrating on the smaller spotted mackerel. Mackerel tuna and the odd cobia should also show up on both Palm Beach and Mermaid Reef.

As the current starts to run and the water warms up bottom fishing activity slows down a lot on the wider grounds. There should still be a few kingfish, snapper and pearl perch around and deep water jigging in up to 300m has produced a surprising number of kingfish in late October. Jigs can still get down even in heavy current but when it runs at over 2 knots things can get a bit difficult.

RIVERS

AND ESTUARIES

The recent heavy rains throughout spring have left the rivers and the main body of the Broadwater in good condition with plenty of baitfish. This month the flathead drop off in numbers but there will still be a few big fish present on the top of the flats at high tide. Casting big soft plastics, shallow running hardbodied minnows and swim baits can still be effective this month, particularly if there is a high tide peaking around 7-9am. Bigger tides tend to fish better.

As the water warms up, whiting become a lot more active and casting unweighted yabbies to them on the first of a rising tide can produce excellent results. The flats around Wavebreak Island are a good place to try, but any flat that has yabby holes will hold whiting on a high tide. Fish over 40cm long are relatively common at times. Another method is to cast small clear poppers and work them back quite quickly. This is a fun way to fish and whiting can be surprisingly aggressive, particularly when they are chasing small jelly prawns. Other good baits, include small soldier crabs, blood worms, beach worms and small jelly prawns. Jelly prawns can be found around mangrove fringes at high tide and can be caught with a fine mesh net. Three hooked onto a number 6 Aberdeen hook work well on whiting.

Mangrove jack will be active this month in most canal systems. Poppers work well early in the morning and small white paddle tail soft plastics are effective when cast alongside floating pontoons. They also respond well to live baits and strip baits. Big ones are quite challenging to land as they crash into any nearby structures and bust ups are common. The Nerang River system fishes very well for jacks in December and they are at their most active early in the morning or at night.

There are mulloway in the seaway and around Jumpinpin in December. Live pike are probably the most effective bait but yellowtail and slimy mackerel also work well. In recent times there have been plenty of yellowtail in the seaway area, which makes catching live bait a lot more convenient. White 7” jerk shads are a good alternative to live bait and need to be fished on or close to the bottom. As well as mulloway, these methods produce a few big flathead, giant trevally and tailor. The best tide to fish is the last two hours of the run in. Lately there have also been a few hairtail in the seaway area, even when the water is quite dirty.

Overall, December is a great month to fish the Gold Coast. The offshore action hots up and I think there will be plenty of black marlin on the inshore grounds this season.

There should be plenty of juvenile black marlin in the Gold Coast waters by December.