SOMERSET DAM – The fishing at Somerset is still very good with some good catches of quality and quantity. There are 4 areas where there have been some consistent catches of fish. Firstly Poly Point has been productive using blades, soft plastics and ice jigs. The mouth of Beams creek and the northern bank that runs up to Pelican Point have been very productive as there is a large school of fish patrolling this area. They are in water from around 10 feet out to about 50 feet and they are responding well to soft plastics on 1/4oz and 3/8oz jigheads. What has worked in the last few weeks is punching out a long cast letting the plastic sink to the bottom then slowly rolling back to the boat and then about half way back open the bail arm and let it float back to the bottom. The fish have been smashing it on the drop. Blades, ice jigs and soft jackals have also been productive in this area. Another area of interest is the large 10m deep flat that runs out from the point of Kirkleagh. The fish here have begun to thin out however there are some small patches still being sounded in the area and ice jigs along with plastics have produced for the patient angler. A good way to fish this area is to troll a deep diving lure like a blitz baga or poltergeist as you will cover plenty of ground and increase your chances of locating fish. The last place that has been producing is the area near the power lines up in the timbered area of the dam. This time of year will see the schools begin to disperse and the fish start to head back up into sheltered areas such as the timber and rocky banks. We fished the powerline area last week hitting the slow sloping, timber and grassy banks using suspending lures such as jackal chubbys and squirrels. We cast to the bank gave the lure a few jerks to get it down in the water and then we would pause. After the pause we would give it a slight roll before pausing again. Most of the strikes happened after a pause.

BORUMBA DAM – Borumba’s fish are starting to head back up the creeks away from the main basin so it is time to think about starting in these areas. The key area at this point is the junction of the creeks in the timbered areas. There have been some good reports of fish being found, targeted and caught in this area using ice jigs and plastics (1/4oz & 3/8oz). As the weather warms up target the banks with spinner baits, jackals and plastics as the water is warmer in the shallows and the active fish are more likely to be in these areas eager to feed. Borumba is a great dam as it allows you to try many tactics and landscapes to get a capture. If the shallows are not working for you try hitting some of the steep rocky banks with plastics and suspending lures like chubbys, squirrles and 3B crankbaits as these have proven lethal at this time of year. Finally there have been reports of a few more Saratoga getting caught and seen lurking in the shallows. This is a great sign as the weather is only beginning to heat up which means as we head into summer the fishing should improve for these prehistoric fish.

LAKE MACDONALD – There have not been a lot of reports this fortnight from Macca’s but fish are still being caught in 2 key locations. The three ways have seen some nice bags being landed using soft jackals in a jigging motion close to the weed. The fish are starting to look for a bit of cover now so it is vital that the weed edges and pockets are targeted as this will provide you with the best opportunity to catch some fish. Bass point has also seen some fish being located and caught on blades mainly but plastics are a good option also in this area.

CREEKS/RIVERS – The Stanley River has been firing in the past few weeks with some massive hauls of fish being taken of multiple species. There are a few areas of this system that can be accessed by canoe or kayak. Near the Woodford bridge is one option and fish have been landed up from here and also near the Woodford jail is another good option. A friend recently put his kayak in at the jail and fished up from there. His haul for the day was near 40 bass, around 10 yellas and 1 Cod. The bass were on the smaller side but some reasonable fish were taken. The yellas were much larger with some cracking the 50cm mark. The Cod was only small but any Cod caught in a kayak on a lure is great fun.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

OFFSHORE – been a little quiet of late offshore but you tend to hear the odd fisho getting a good feed and others pulling up doughnuts. most people have had to move around somewhat to find a few fish here and there but make sure you burly up a bit on your spot to stir the fish up cause the bite period lately has been small. i seem to hear the guys heading out at night and putting the time in have been getting the best results. this week no doubt ive heard more fish being caught on the reefs. still the fish are spread out. the better snapper have been from the outer gneerings to murphys reefs. there has been snapper and sweetlip on the outer gneerings and at murphys reports of pearl perch, snapper and cobia. smaller snapper, pearlies and and sweetlip on the inner gneerings. snapper, pearl perch, cod and cobia on caloundra 12 mile.

ESTUARY – Some good tailor along kawana beach on low tide in the gutters on mac tuna fillets. along maroochy nth shore same thing but theres been dart aswell. good reports of whiting in the pumicestone passage and down the bottom end good bream, whiting and mud crabs. whiting, flathead and the odd trevally in currimundi lake. few bream off the rocks on the inside of mooloolah river. a couple of good jacks were caught at the mouth of petrie creek. trevally on the top of the tide from the mouth of maroochy to the motorway bridge. few flatties and jew near bli bli bridge. up in noosa river good trevally along the tewantin stretch and in the first ski run and diamond trevally in the woods bays.

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happy fishing…. ben

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SOMERSET DAM – Well this dam just continues to impress me with the way in which it can come back from adversity and once again produce some astonishing catches and amazing quality. Most freshwater fishermen were worried that the floods could have put a hault on their favourite pastime for a while longer as some dams have yet to recover from the natural disaster at the start of the year. Somerset has certainly recovered and the proof is in the pudding. In the last few weeks there have been a few large competitions on the dam where the ABT record books have been broken over and over again. In the last report I mentioned that the new ABT bass record is 3.53 kg, well this has been broken and now stands at an incredible 3.65kg. The quality in the dam is outstanding with fish up to and over 50cm becoming more the norm than the exception. On a family trip over the week we managed to bag some quality fish in the short periods we fished. In all we landed 5 fish over the 45cm mark with some just nudging the 50cm milestone and most of the other fish being between 40 and 45cm. There are 3 areas in the dam that are producing regular catches but 2 of these areas are not giving up the larger fish. The sticks in Queen Street are responding to ice jigs and blades that are being vertically jigged and the small island off Kirkleagh Point is firing with most fish being landed on blades and plastics. The trollers in this area are doing the better with more strikes and fish being landed than the cast and retrieve boys. The go to lure to troll is the RMG Poltergeist is purple diving to 8m. The fish here are in around 8-10m of water and are a bit patchy in their concentrations as this area has been hammered by bass pro’s, however there are still fish in this location.

By far the best place to target is the spit side of Pelican Point towards Beams creek. There is a huge school of fish here and the quality is unbelievable. They’re sitting right along this stretch of bank in anywhere between 7m to 13m of water. What we found was that in the morning we would start shallow and then slowly drift out into deeper water as the morning drew on. In the afternoon we would do the reverse with effective results in each session we had. The technique that was by far the best was to rig a smoke yellow core (Atomic) /Gary Glitter/Black Gold (Squidgy) or the Keitech plastics on a 1/8oz jighead and slowly let it sink to the bottom before gently winding the lure back with small twitches before a pause. It was just after the pause the fish were hitting it. The other technique and lure that was effective was vertically jigging and casting a River 2 Sea Glassie Vib. These lures are fairly in expensive and have a great action a good quality appearance and most importantly they do catch fish. Finally the redclaw are starting to become much easier to catch than they have been in the cooler months. Rockmelon and corn in about 4-5m of water was working beautifully.

BORUMBA DAM – Borumba has been fairly consistent of late with most fishermen catching some fish during their outing. Borumba has been experiencing some warmer days of late and the high pressure systems that we have had has meant that the fish are starting to head closer to the banks and begin to gather themselves on the edges near timber or in most cases near weed beds. They will also school up off rocky points in the rivers where they can be easily be targeted with spinnerbaits, plastics and also suspending minnows that will dive to around 2m and hold there. Cast to the edges with these lures let it sink a little, give it a few twitches then pause for a moment then slowly wind, then pause etc. You will often find after that pause the bass will smash it. Reports this week have the fish in close to the weed beds and the banks on the left hand side of the dam from the boat ramp. There are 2 nice schools out from the rocky wall and up closer to the first weed point of the dam. The depths range from 3m – 8m so use your sounder to find them. The quality in the dam has been good some 2.5kg models being landed with some consistency. As the weather continues to get warmer the Saratoga begin to become active in the shallows of the creeks of this dam and this is an exciting time as these fish are great fun to catch. If you don’t have them already get your hands on some surfaces lures such as Cultiva Zip’n’Ziggy’s, Maria MP 50’s, Mazy Poppers and some sub-surface lures like the Anthraxes.

LAKE MACDONALD – Macca’s has been firing lately with some big bags being recorded of some quality fish. The main areas to focus on are the 3 ways where TN 60’s ripped through the weeds and paused has been successful, the bubble trail jigging ice jigs and blades and runway point where there has been a school of fish that are hard against the weed in the area. Use plastics (1/8oz), blades (1/4oz) and TN 60’s up close or into the edge of the weed and give it a few tugs of the rod before slowly winding out with a little pause and then repeat the process.

BAROON POCKET – Baroon has been fishing OK with some solid 40cm fish being recorded. Concentrate on the edges around points using blades and you should have some success.

CREEKS/RIVERS – Now that the closed season is now open many of us are hitting our local waterways in search of some hungry post spawning fish and we are not being let down. The hinterland creeks have seen plenty of big bass being landed which is tremendous fun up in the sticks of these often overgrown rivers. The upper reaches of Coochin creek has seen some horse bass being landed and lost along with some favourite lures. Exciting Times!!!

I have attached a few pictures of some of the fish we landed up at Somerset.

Hope this helps,

Brendan