QUEENSLAND Gold Coast

Uncertain times for everyone

GOLD COAST David Green

As I write this all of South East Queensland has been placed into lockdown, and working in the public hospital space and seeing the cases of the Delta Strain I feel this may be a prolonged situation until we achieve our vaccination targets.

As such it is a bit hard to predict what the fishing will be like this month, and there is also the real possibility that the upcoming Gold Coast Flathead Classic may have to be cancelled. Hopefully the lockdown will end and we can resume our normal fishing. September is always a difficult month to predict from a fishing point of view.

On the wider offshore grounds target species include striped marlin and blue marlin and big yellowfin tuna on the wider grounds. There are often schools of sauris around at this time of year, and if you find good bait stay in the vicinity. While trolled skirted lures are the commonest method used, switchbaiting using hookless lures with a belly strip from a tuna sewn in generally gives a much better percentage of bites to successful hook-ups when chasing striped marlin. These fish can be notoriously hard to hook on lures as they tend to swipe the lure with their bill a lot.

Out wider, there can be good yellowfin tuna action beyond the 1000m line, roughly 80km east of the Gold Coast Seaway. Most of these fish fall to trolled lures but casting large stick baits can also be effective. Most of these yellowfin are between 35-60kg and it is quite common to have multiple hook-ups. For those interested in chasing broadbill swordfish, September is a good month to try as the current is generally fairly minimal.

This month should also be a good one for deep dropping chasing flame snapper, bar cod and big pearl perch. A lot of anglers are investing in electric reels to chase these fish in 200-400m of water. Local charter boat, Lucky Strike, has refined this method during the closed snapper season with great results. Just about everything caught in these depths is great eating.

In closer to shore the 50 Franco Martinese with a pretty tailor. Zali Boyd with a nice flathead.

Manning River Marine www.tournamentboats.com.au Regal Marine

fathom line should produce snapper and pearl perch with yellowtail kingfish, amberjack and samsonfish have spawned by this time and feed aggressively as they try to put on condition. Pilchards, tuna strips, soft reefs should produce plenty of mulloway in the 90-120cm range this month. Live baits, such as pike and slimy mackerel are generally the most effective option. Jerk bait soft plastics are also effective at times in daylight hours. The fish are generally at their most active in the hour after dark and it is usually not too hard to catch your two mulloway fairly quickly when conditions are good. ESTUARIES AND RIVERS

This month is a great time to chase flathead as the bigger fish move towards the mouths of the estuaries. The flathead generally begin spawning in late August through to October, and this month should see plenty of large female fish move into the deeper water around Jumpinpin and the Gold Coast Seaway. These big fish are generally surrounded by large numbers of smaller males that often follow a hooked female right to the boat. Fishing large soft vibes, big soft plastics and live baits is usually very effective in the deep water. The last half of the run in tide generally has the best fishing and it is more productive if the water is clean.

On the flats trolling small hard bodied lures like the famous Lively Lures Micro mullet, the Zerek Tango shad and small Strads and Pig lures is a very reliable way to catch a feed of flathead. Work weed edges, mangrove fringes and mud beds for best results. When you find a productive area stop and cast.

This season we have had excellent results on Gulp Nemesis, ZMann and the Zerek Absolute Shrimp. Use brown, black or white when the water is clean and brighter colours when it is turbid or muddy. Water quality is the key to flathead fishing in September. When the wind blows hard from the northwest it tends to shut the fishing down and creates blooms of mid water weed that can make trolling almost impossible. The ‘snot weed’ has turned up early this year and makes trolling difficult.

September sees the mulloway numbers drop off a bit as the run of mullet comes to a close. There should still be a few fish in the deep water on a change of tide and deep live baits and soft plastics can be effective. Some really big mulloway do turn up in September but it can be a long while between bites. I tend to find that when the flathead are in good numbers in the deep water there are few mulloway. There have been a lot of good-sized tailor around in the Broadwater at the time of writing with some fish over

A good 80cm flatty caught from Jumpinpin.

as well. Deep paternoster rigs, jigs, soft plastics and deep-fished live baits are all very effective. The 36 Fathom Reef, particularly at the northern end, should fish well for snapper this month. A lot of the fish plastics and jigs are all effective. Slow jigging is also a very effective method. On the inshore grounds the westerly winds make for good fishing conditions. It has been a good year for mulloway, and the inshore 60cm long.

As conditions warm up a bit the mangrove jack make an appearance, and September is the first good month after winter to deliberately target mangrove jack around the floating pontoons and canals using soft plastics and hardbodied lures. There seem to be more and more jacks every season, and with most anglers practicing catch and release it is a fishery with a good future.

Hopefully we will get out of lockdown quickly and I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Flathead Classic but it remains a time of great uncertainty. Stay well and stay safe.

This Bass groper was lifted from 300m.