OLD
Watching it all unfold TOOWOOMBA
Jason Ehrlich fishability1@bigpond.com
It will be interesting to see how things unfold in freshwater locations this year. For the last 12 months, it has been up and down due to continuous rain events and resulting inflows that have made the fishing more difficult. The good news is the lakes and waterways are now topped up and set to produce some exceptional fishing over the coming years. If it continues to rain, we will see more of what last year delivered. The biggest negative is some of the barra lakes are full and fish could escape over the summer months if spillways go over. If big rains hold off, expect some exceptional fishing this year. Summer is a great time for trolling and topwater fishing. The warmer water in the lakes sees
the fish scatter more to find comfortable levels in the water column to suspend in. This makes them easier targets for trolled offerings. When we think trolling, it doesn’t need to be based around convention hard bodied lures. Barra are suckers for trolled soft plastics, bass love a trolled tail spinner or Spectre Vibration Jig, and Murray cod love big spinnerbaits. If you are prepared to experiment, you will find you can troll a range of offerings and the more thought and effort you put in, the more you will be rewarded. Some presentations work best trolled from a rod holder while others perform better with a bit of rod work. Bass are very keen on drop backs so don’t be afraid to free spool to the bottom and then wind in some line before repeating this while the boat moves along slowly. Topwater fishing seems to work in some locations better than others. Surface
lures come into their own in low light periods and will be most effective when the fish are prepared to rise to the top. Early mornings until the sun rises and late afternoons once it sets are the prime times to try your luck. Bass fishers will find success in the rivers and creeks and on lakes like Hinze, Maroon, Borumba and Isis Balancing Storage. While it is closed season in the salt, our impoundment barra are keen on surface presentations too and given the right conditions they will eat off the top during the day as well. Kinchant and Teemburra are great surface lakes in the Mackay region. The southern lakes are a lot tougher on surface and this is most likely due to the abundant bait supply and such big fat healthy fish not needing to expend too much energy to chase a feed. Awoonga is probably the choice of them for surface luring and you will pick up the occasional barra on topwater early in the day, at night or on
Topwater cod are great targets this month before the sun is high in the sky. Rivers will be best but you’ll get a short window at first light in the lakes. weedless plastics during the daylight hours. Murray cod will be feeling the heat and the window for surface fishing will be in the cooler morning hours between darkness and first light. In the creeks and
rivers this bite will extend and you can use shade lines and structure to your advantage and stretch out the morning and afternoon bite times. It’s been flat out in my world. Between lure
SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND CRESSBROOK CLOSEST TOWN: CROWS NEST The Cressbrook bass have been very hard to find and tempt. The warmer water temperature should see them move out into more open water and suspend. These fish may hold around the lake’s edges in 5-9m of water or venture out into deeper areas in the middle of the dam and find a comfortable spot to hold up. Either way, trolling will be a good option to cover heaps of water and try to find a hungry fish. Medium to deep diving hardbodies are perfect for Cressbrook fish and you will need to mix it up to find where they are sitting and what they prefer. Lure casters should be able to tempt a few fish by casting spinnerbaits
and Spectre Vibration Jigs around the lake’s edges. These lures can be used to explore a lot of water when you keep moving along the shoreline on the electric motor. The best depth to present these in will be 4-8m of water. Any schooling fish in deeper water can be fooled with a spoon or a soft plastic presentation. Golden perch numbers have been surprisingly good. You will score a few of these while targeting bass but some anglers have chosen to work ZX40 blades vertically for them with good success. The main lake points and up the backs of the creeks are always good spots to try your luck when chasing goldens. Redclaw crayfish numbers should be pretty good for those wanting
Somerset has started to produce some quality bass around Pelican Point flats. The Spectre Vibration Jig in 5/8oz and darker colours seem to perform best. a feed. Traps dropped in 6-10m of water should draw them in. • Fish’n’Bits in Toowoomba has all the gear and tips on how to chase the Cressy
Gary’s Marine Centre
3201 6232
217 Pine Mountain Road, BRASSALL 48
JANUARY 2023
fish. They are an excellent store specialising in all freshwater lures and tackle. The access gates to the ramp and day use area will be open from 6am to 8pm. SOMERSET CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, KILCOY Somerset Dam has started to return to its old self. A gap in heavy rain has allowed the water to clear up enough for the fish to move out into schools on the flats. These numbers will only increase with the extra heat pushing them off of the edges. The quality of these fish has been exceptional with plenty of big 50cm long models mixed in with the smaller ones. The Pelican Point area has been one of the main fish holding locations with bunches of fish moving around on the southern side.
You will also find scattering of fish around the Kirkleigh flats and wide of Queen Street on the flats and humps. Last month, the fish were still a bit fussy about lure presentations. Spectre vibration jigs seem to work best on most days. The fish are often close to the bottom and these lures can be fished to suit by casting, wind drifting or trolling. If they lift off the bottom or suspend out in deeper water, trolling hard bodies and tail spinners will sort them out. Spoons were still accounting for a few last month but they might get a bit tougher on them as it heats up more. It’s hard to be sure though as conditions are not the same as they were over the previous drier years from which I gauge my assumption. There’s only one real way to tell and that’s to give it a go.
making, filling orders, setting up a new boat and work it’s hard to find a time to wet a line. I’m sure I’ll be making up for this very soon. Until next time, buckled rods from the Colonel. MAROON CLOSEST TOWNS: BOONAH, RATHDOWNEY Very early mornings and late afternoons into the night will be the times to try surface lures on the lake’s bass. These fish will be up feeding around the weed beds during the low light periods. Smaller topwater offerings from 55-75mm will get the bites. The best spots to try are usually out of the wind where the fish can hone in on the subtle movements of the lure. If there is surface wind disturbance, you can let then fish know your lure is there with a slightly noisier, splashier retrieve. Most of the weedy edges should hold fish. The better numbers will be found on raised humps and points just outside the weed during the day. These fish will be keen on reaction style lures. Spinnerbaits and Spectre Vibration Jigs are perfect at this time of year. When fishing into the weed earlier in the day, I’d also consider using a beetle spin rigged soft plastic. My choice is a 3” Slider Grub on a 3/8oz jighead and beetle spin frame with a small silver blade. These lures are great for ripping out of weed beds and triggering strikes as they pull free. • The lads at Charltons Fishing at Redbank are all over the fish activity at Maroon and Moogerah. Call in and grab your supplies and hit them up for tips on where the fish are biting.
