The reports this week have been encouraging across the board with improved and more consistent catches being recorded in a few of our Sunshine Coast Dams despite the continued interference of rain. So far we have been lucky that the rain we have had has not been major and the dams have continued to settle down to something resembling normality.

SOMERSET DAM – The pleasing result of the last fortnight is that the fish are now being located and caught in a few key areas of the dam.  Bay 13 has been the pick of the areas with one large school being located with little patches of fish in the same area all in about 12 – 13 m of water. These fish can be quite fussy but patience and trial and error will see you catch a few.  A recent trip before the Easter weekend yielded 6 bass for about 4 hours work.  This doesn’t sound like much but with the dam still settling it has been more common to come home not seeing a scale. I used blades, jackals and MF 40 to get most hits and hook-ups. A very slow roll so the lure is just ticking over was the most successful strategy on the day.  Another area that saw some fish landed is the point off Kirkleagh.  There is a tiny island there with a large black stump at the end of it. Head out from it in about 4-5 m of water and you will find small patches of fish.  These fish have been responding to trolled lures more than casting but we were able to get some interest using blades and soft jackals.

BORUMBA DAM – The reports out of Borumba before the easter weekend have been excellent will good catches of good fish being recorded.  The junction of the 2 creeks in the timber has been the pick of the spots with many bass being extracted using blades, paddletail or t-tail plastics and spinnerbaits.  At present there are more than one school in this area so it is a matter of finding them on the sounder and casting to or through them.  One report over the past fortnight had a bait fisho catch 80 fish and others catching 20 or more on lures.  In some sessions some have landed more than one 50cm fish which is always pleasing.  The first yellow marker buoy is also hosting some schooled fish but not of the same quantity or quality.

Apart from that Lake MacDonald and Ewen Maddock have been quiet with only the odd session here or there reaping any reward.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

OFFSHORE – Pearl perch, snapper on the 12 mile. sweetlip and snapper on the 9 mile. spotty and spanish mackeral on the inner gneerings and also on the reef good sweetlip, pearl perch, moses perch and cod.  snapper, sweetlip, parrot and coral trout on murphys reef. out on the banks there was sweetlip both red throat and grassys, squirey snapper, cobia and the odd amberjack. good longtails in laguna bay but would only take plastics. the boys ended up with about 10 fish around 10kg. the fish would not take any slugs but a slowly retrieved pink snap back and any blue 5” gulp.

ESTUARY – Some bigger bream are showing up in the estuaries which has been good this week. mainly sitting in the deeper holes and will take a bigger plastic than usual.  few flathead and whiting off picnic point and in the cod hole on prawns and worms. some tailor and trevally on the top of the tide at marrochy river. few flathead, bream and trevally along la balsa park stretch.

dont forget our sale is on today and tomorrow. some excellent bargains on the tables up the front and big savings store wide

SOMERSET DAM – The water is still dirty but it is recovering slowly and as a result the fishing is slowly getting more consistent.  The dam is not firing by any means but more fish are being caught more often.  Of late the best report has been 11 fish in a days session off Pelican Point using blades in about 20 feet of water and also trolling along the drop offs in this area. As always other points of interest are the Spit, Poly Point and Queen Street is still producing some fish. If you do head out to Somerset it is important to be smart about your fishing and not just toss a lure around and hope for the best.  Use your sounder and work through your techniques. I know that when the fish are there but not biting I will try different lures until I get a positive result and then experiment with weights and colours in that lure to find the optimum lure for those fish on that particular day.  The red claw are prolific at present so if you don’t catch any fish bring the opera house pots along and try your luck.

BORUMBA DAM – Borumba has begun to show more signs of life since the last report with some schools and active fish located throughout the dam.  The size of the Bass are nothing fantastic but at least they are willing to play the game.  The second yellow marker bouy has seen some schooling fish with the biggest being around the 40cm mark but most of them are between 30 and 40 cm. Bigger models have been taken targeting the weed edges and close to the bank where grass  meets the water line and there is some cover submerged on the edge. Spinnerbaits and blades have been most productive but lipless crankbaits such as mask vibes are terrific searching lures in the shallows so give them a go as well.  Further up the dam in the creeks there have been some good reports of some very nice Saratoga being landed in very shallow water. White and yellow spinnerbaits have been the pick, cast to very shallow water (1 – 2 feet) near some cover like lily pads and you are in with a hope.  A few blokes went up the Yabba on quite a warm day last week and landed 55 and 72 cm Togas casting to and through the lily pads.  The red claw are also on fire in this dam so get the pots and put them in while you chase a scale.

LAKE MacDONALD – On the weekend this dam hosted over 50 competitors for a couple of ABT events so the dam has been hammered. Over 30 fish were landed with the largest being around the 1.25kg mark.  The go to technique was to cast to and through the weed, ripping the lure clear and letting it sink a little before retrieving. The areas of interest were Bass Bay and the Three ways.  I went up there the week previous and caught 8 Bass in a couple of hours off the Runway using blades and plastics, casting to the weed edges and bouncing the lure through a small school of fish.  Many of the fish were hitting the lure clear of the weed, following it and giving it a nudge every so often before hitting not far from the boat. There are reports that the Botanical gardens are hosting a school of fish but there is not much reward for the effort.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

Interest in stocking Baroon Pocket Dam:

With the success of restocking Ewen Maddock Dam with fingerlings after some time in the group’s inaugural year, discussions at this month’s meeting were had in regards to gathering interest in Ewen Maddock Fish Management Inc. restocking Baroon Pocket Dam as well, like the groups predecessor.

I have been in contact with Steve Brooks and it looks like it can be an achievable project with some minor adjustments with our Management Plan and applying for a permit to stock Baroon Pocket Dam.

It will be on our agenda at our AGM next month to be voted on and passed as a motion for EMFMI to undertake this project as well if members are in favour, however this project would be more successful if we had more support from new prospective ACTIVE members within the catchment of Baroon Pocket Dam and surrounding areas. If you are interested in becoming a member of EMFMI to restock Ewen Maddock Dam and Baroon Pocket Dam could you please express your interest by emailing me at president@ewenmaddock.com.au

Kind regards

David Brace

President EMFMI

OFFSHORE – Conditions not ideal for offshore this week so no reports sorry. looks like monday through next week lookin good.

ESTUARY – Few mixed reports of a few fish being caught but no big hauls. theres been trevally, jacks and jew in the cod hole. bream around chambers island. flathead on soft plastics at the mouth of mooloola river. few trevally around kawana canals and bream, tailor and trevally in pelican waters canals. whiting in currimundi lake on worms. also bream and whiting on baits at the mouth of noosa. few muddies in middle reaches. also lots of fresh in the system after more rain so best bet is to fish in the lower reaches.

ben

OFFSHORE – good sweetlip on most close reefs, sunshine, coolum, inner gneerings. Spotty and spanish mackeral out on murphys and outer gneerings. still some good trout being caught on murphys and sunshine.only a few reports from last weekend but not too many have ventured out this week and next week looking hopeless. just when we are allowed to go get some snapper and pearlies in our bellys. lets hope the weather comes good soon.

ESTUARY – Flathead and whiting at noosa river mouth. trevally and tailor early in woods bays.  trevally, bream, jacks and jew in the cod hole. jacks and jew on live bait. bream and trevas on plastics. picnic point always seems to draw the fishos with some good flathead and whiting being caught this week. Bream on plastics and surface around sunshine plaza. bream and small tailor off pt cartwright. lots of muddies in the middle reaches but lots of undersize crabs too. few trevally and flatties in currimundi lake.

till next week…………  ben

SOMERSET DAM – Very few reports from people heading out to Somerset over the last fortnight so there is little information to go on.  The 3 areas that have had reports of some fish being landed are; down at the spit on the flats in about 15 – 20 feet, along Pelican point in 15 to 30 feet and along the edge of Queen street.  Trolling in all of these areas has produced most of the fish with no real large fish being caught.  Apart from a few consistent sessions about a fortnight ago lure casters have found the dam very difficult to fish recently.  The dam is still dirty and the fish are not yet ready to fire.  If you are keen this weekend try the places above and also in the sticks use all the usual lures such as jackals, blades and spinnerbaits as these all have vibration or noise which will give the fish something to hone in on.

BORUMBA DAM – Borumba is undergoing a bit of a change at present with the upper reaches of the creeks starting to roll.  This is making the fishing in these areas difficult as it will affect the water clarity, smell and density all of which will affect the feeding habits of the fish in that area.  The Yabba arm of the creek is by far the best place to concentrate your efforts this weekend as this is one place within the dam that is still consistently producing fish.  The fish have been small but on its day they can be plentiful in number and size.  Cast spinnerbaits toward the rocky points and around the sticks and experiment with the depth you are allowing your lure to sink to.  This can often make a big difference in this dam.  Also the junction of both creeks is always a good fall back spot where you can often hook up amongst the timber.

At present freshwater fisho’s are in a holding pattern waiting for the dams and rivers to clean up so that we can get back to some sense of normality.  With this dim outlook it is important to remember that on any given day these dams can fire. A recent trip to Somerset about a fortnight or so ago saw almost 30 fish greet the boat and then the following weekend produce nothing. If you decide to go out be sure to have as much as you can in your favour.  Think about the weather (wind etc), air pressure (this can affect the feeding ferocity of the fish), water temp, tackle and techniques.  Bass fishing can be exciting but can also be very frustrating so don’t give up, work through your techniques, depths of water, location, line/leader size, lure etc as you will eventually come across something they like.

Hope this helps,

Brendan