BORUMBA DAM – The fishing at Borumba is continuing to improve week by week.  Having said that it must be remembered that conditions change day to day and therefore so does the fishing.  Reports are that some Saratoga have been showing up on warmer days in the shallows at the back of the dam.  Use beetle imitations (River 2 Sea and Arbagast Jitterbugs), Sammy 65’s, as well as lightly weighted soft plastics for best results.  These fish are great fun on light gear and their presence will become more frequent in the coming weeks and months as the hot weather sets in.  The bass are beginning to move from the dam wall, boat ramp area to further up the dam towards to timber. Schools have been located at the fork of Junction and Kingham arms of the dam.  Use blades, spinnerbaits and jackals.  As the water is warming up there is also yellowbelly to chase in Borumba.  The large rock wall to the left of the boat ramp will be a productive area in the coming months using deep diving lures such as Bommerang 65’s, and Smak Brolgas.

LAKE MACDONALD – The fishing has been productive over the past week, however, there are no reports of huge fish being landed.  Using Jackals in the 3 ways area should see you pick up a few bass.

SOMERSET DAM – Somerset has been fishing consistently for bass of late and this week has been no different with fish still being landed at the spit and off pelican point.  Slow hopping blades and slow rolling soft mask vibe jackals through the schools have produced some good catches.  Somerset bass can be on fire one minute or day and then frustratingly shut down the next.   Try different techniques and lures as well as distances from the fish as sounders can shut down the school.  Also this month there has been some good reports of Yellowbelly being taken and some good ones at that.  Look for rocky banks that have sharp/steep drops to them and if you can find this, with some structure such as timber nearby then you are in with a red hot chance of snagging some fish.  Places like Brads Banks and and Wyangy creek have been productive areas of late.  Troll deep diving lures close to the drop offs or timber and this should produce.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

OFFSHORE – snapper have showed up this week scattered around a few closer reefs with some good reports of quality fish coming from caloundra 9 and 12 mile reefs, murphys reef and up on the top end of north reef. yellowtail kings around the blinker and out on caloundra 9 mile. school mackeral around old woman on small slugs. pearl perch, squire, parrot and sweetlip on the northern end of the banks.

ESTUARY – Trevally early moring down at la balsa park stretch. chopper tailor on slugs off the rocks at pt cartwright. flathead, bream and a few whiting at the mouth of marrochy and bream and tailor again early morning at the motorway bridge. whiting at the mouth of noosa river on live worms. flathead also in the stretch from t boat hire to the mouth. some good tailor were caught at night over the weekend on the beaches. some from marrochy north shore and a few from noosa north shore. pilchards and bonito fillets the bait of choice.

barra jacks is having a sale starting on friday this week so ill be flat out, so ill report to you early next week with the weekend catches. till then…………… ben

BORUMBA DAM – The change of season and temperature has seen Borumba begin to fire in the river systems and the manin basin of the dam.  The water temp at the moment is around the 23 degree mark which is getting the bass more active.  During the week, one angler caught 9 bass on surface lures (river to sea cicadas and bettles) during a morning session.  The fish were not huge but it is a good sign for the next few months.  Larger fish to 50cm have been snared in the main basin with massive schools being located.  These fish have been responding to blades, ice jigs, soft plastics and spinner baits worked through the schools.  At times these fish can be hot and cold to the point where if you catch one it is difficult to catch another.  Try different lures, weights, speeds and techniques until you find a winning formula.  Sartoga have started to become active on the edges and around the weeds at the back of the dam, use surface lures and lightly weighted soft plastics for best results. It looks as though in a few weeks this dam will be firing on all fronts as the water temp rises.

LAKE MACDONALD – The fishing has been tough at times on this dam, however, the main concentration of fish has been near the 3 ways where they have started to school up and become fairly active.  The botanical gardens banks is still producing fish but not with the same regularity as has been the case in previous weeks.  Use TN50 jackals, vibes and spinnerbaits for best results.  There have been no reports of any huge fish at the moment, however if you’re patient you should catch a few.

SOMERSET – Pelican Point is still the main producing section of this dam using blades and jigs in deeper water (10 – 12m).  The spit has large schools but the fish here are still finnicky with results largely dependent on the day, time, lure and technique of the day.

RIVERS – A report through the week was that 8 bass were taken in the Stanley River using black and gold bassmann spinnerbaits.  The largest was 45cm but was fairly fat. The water is clearing up nicely in the river with the flow being minimal, so it is much easier to fish at present.  The same angler spotted some very large Yellowbellow but he was unable to tempt these fish into taking his offering.  Walking the bank on this river can be hazardous at times so if you’re going out alone make sure you let someone know where you are.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

OFFSHORE – the barwon banks this week has been producing some quality cobia to 21kg along with amberjack, pearl perch, snapper and red throat emperor. the hards seem to be the place if you want to bag out everytime on snapper but long way to go if you dont know where your going. murphys reef squire, parrot and cobia also. the inner gneerings held some good size parrot, moses perch, pearl perch and maori cod. top catch charters reports good pearl perch, snapper and yellow tail kingfish this week on caloundra 9 mile while out fishing on the 12 mile reef got some great catches of pearl perch. local gun fisho adrian lindsay fished yesterday just out from noosa ( he didnt want me to say which spot ) and caught pearlies, parrot, squire, school mackeral. seems like he just wanted a mention but not helping us fishos out to where he went. ha ha. lots of squid too out around old woman island. 3.0 squid jigs the best results.

ESTUARY – trevally early morning at la balsa park on limited edition stiffy poppers then as the day progresses there getting the odd one along with the flatties on D.O.A prawns. Good size trevally and queenfish in pelican waters canals. busting up the surface early mornings this week. defiantly try poppers. Chopper tailor off mudjimba with the odd dart in there too. Up in noosa river i got a report today of a mangrove jack being caught at munna pt bridge. the jacks are certainly making a bit more headlines as the warmer days are now with us. also bream up weyba creek and flathead from harbour town to the river mouth.

till next week……..   ben

SOMERESET DAM – There were still plenty of fish being caught in the dam on the weekend with some big specimens being landed.  Pelican Point is still producing fish but they’re a little more scattered with only small schools being located.  The size of the schools and the number found can depend on the day, time of day and  weather, so sound around until you find some arches.  The fish in these schools were hugging the bottom with ice jigs (nilsmaster and strikepro) proving to be the most successful as these lures will get right in the fishes face and will annoy them until they strike.   Start with a larger ice jig (red, green or silver) then shift to a smaller profile if they are not biting.  Barra Jacks at Kawana stock smaller sized Nilsmater Ice jigs that worked well.  The spit has some very big schools located directly off the point in about 11m of water these fish are not moving around but they can be fussy.  Ice jigs and blades scored some fish in this location (44cm to the fork) working the bottom.

BORUMBA DAM – Fish still being located in the main basin, work the points with blades, jackals and MF50’s this should bring some success, however, the size of the fish is a little hit and miss.  The edge of the sticks at the end of the dam and across from the boat ramp are holding fish, use ice jigs and blades work the bottom and this will get you a fish or two.

LAKE MacDONALD – Fish up to 43cm to the fork have been caught up in the 3 ways with fishing overall being ok.  The water temperature has dropped a little of late so the fish have gone into winter mode and are little more difficult to tempt.  If the temperature rises and the water reaches between 18 and 19 degrees this should fire the fish up a little more.  Blades, slider grubs and jackals worked through and near the weed edges have been producing at the moment.  Some schools have been located near the dam wall.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

OFFSHORE – School mackeral and the odd spotty around old woman island and further north around coolum. Snapper to 5kg and good size pearlies around caloundra 12 mile. Snapper, cobia and amberjack from caloundra wide. Pearl perch and sweetlip from murphys.

ESTUARY – Still the chopper tailor are active at the mouth of marrochy river. Flathead and bream from cotton tree. Bream from eudlo creek bridge. Trevally around the parrearra weir. Fklathead on the run out tide at the mouth of mooloolah river.  Trevally in pelican waters canals. Bream, flathead and whiting from the mouth of bells creek.

till next week ben

SOMERSET DAM – Fishing it still good at Somerset with some 3kg fish still being landed from Pelican Point and the Spit. Blades are still the main weapon of choice, just hopping them off the bottom or slow rolling through the suspened fish.  Use lighter weight lures to begin with such as 1/4oz and then 1/2oz if the fish are hugging the bottom.  The extra weight will allow you to keep close to the bottom where the bigger fish are at this time of year.  Start in 6 – 8 m of water earlier in the morning and then drift back out to 10 -12m later in the day.  You will find the fish schooling on the drop offs. You may only catch 5 fish during a session but they will most likely be quality.

RIVERS – Some bass being caught in Mooloolah river down stream from the weir using spinnerbaits, sx 40′s and blades.

There are also some reports of consistent catches of 30cm plus bass from Ewen Maddock Dam.  This dam has many restrictions but if you have a canoe/kayak get in their and have a go as some of these fish are absolute monsters and they fight dirty.

Hope this helps,

Brendan