QUEENSLAND Gold Coast

GOLD COAST David Green

August usually sees westerly winds and the waters cool down considerably, dropping to less than 20ºC on the inshore grounds and to around 17ºC in the estuaries. The closed season for snapper and pearl perch runs until the 15th of the month and this means offshore anglers need to focus on other species while the ban is in effect.

It is a good month to chase mulloway on the close reefs and kings, amberjack and samsonfish on the wider grounds. There may also be a few striped marlin around this month and the 36 fathom reef is a good place to look for them. Out wider beyond the 600m line there may be good numbers of yellowfin tuna, but you need to be very careful travelling well offshore if even moderate westerlies are forecast.

The 36 fathom line reef is probably the most reliable area to target snapper after the snapper ban is lifted. Low tide changes around dawn and dusk generally provide the best fishing, and in August quite a few big snapper over 6kg are caught. By this time, most of the snapper have spawned and feed hungrily as they put back on condition. Fish as light as you can, with only as much lead as you need to get down to the lower part of the water column. As well as snapper, expect a few parrotfish, teraglin and tailor. For big snapper try a more picker-resistant bait, like mullet heads or tailor frames. These often account for the biggest fish. Jigging with soft plastics and Octa style jigs is also effective.

There should be some good mulloway around on the inshore reefs and also on the artificial reefs in 23m located north east of the Seaway. These fish are at their best just on dark, and live tailor, slimy mackerel and yellowtail are all effective. If you catch any pike they are deadly. Circle style hooks work well on mulloway. Fish your live baits close to the bottom and leave the reel in gear. In general the fish will hook themselves.

Out on the 50 fathom line there should be amberjack and kingfish this month. Jigging and deep live baits are quite effective and the addition of Susan Sullivan with an unusual catch on a micro mullet – a big luderick. This huge mulloway was caught from the Jumpinpin bar on a live bait.

a small piece of lumo tube can increase the effectiveness of the rig when fishing with bait. Be careful if the wind blows up from the northwest. It can be a long slow wet ride home if you get caught in a big westerly. Deep dropping in depths up to 400m is another productive method that is increasingly popular targeting bar cod, trevalla and flame snapper. A lot of local anglers are investing in electric reels with good results.

For game fishers, August can produce yellowfin tuna out wide past 600m as well as striped marlin from the 36 fathom reef out to around 300m. The winter marlin fishing off the Gold Coast can be very good at times and there is always the chance of a blue marlin as well. Trolling slightly smaller lures is a good tactic in August as both tuna and striped marlin prefer something slightly smaller than is usually used for bigger blue marlin. A lot of marlin are hooked when they eat bottom fish being wound in on the 36 fathom reef. RIVERS AND ESTUARIES

Gold Coast estuaries are fishing very well at the moment, and August is a great month to target bream, flathead, mulloway, luderick and squid. A lot of anglers are already out there targeting flathead in preparation for the upcoming Flathead Classic in late September. It’s all about trying new spots, new lures and refining your techniques in preparation for the big event. So far this season the flathead fishing has been excellent; on our last 3 trips we caught over 30 fish each time. This season I’ve done very well on the Zerek Absolute Shrimp in 3 and 3.5” in the fat betty colour. In August big flathead move into the deeper estuary entrances in preparation for spawning. Deep jigging using soft vibes and big soft plastics is worth trying this month and the numbers of fish in the deep increases throughout late August into September. At high tide a lot of these big fish move up onto the shallow flats and provide great fishing on surface lures, shallow running minnows and big soft plastics. Squid are another option this month. At present there have been thousands of arrow squid in the southern half of the Broadwater but they are mostly small. To target

Brittany Horner with a flathead. The bigger flathead will move into the deeper estuary entrances in preparation for spawning this month.

them fish areas over the top of weed beds on the top of the tide. Calm still days tend to fish the best. Drifting over weed patches working a good quality squid jig is generally quite productive and a feed of squid is always welcome. In general more natural coloured squid jigs in browns and green with a hint of orange are very effective. As well as arrow squid there should be quite a few bigger northern calamari (tiger squid) around this month.

Mulloway are quite active in August and fishing live mullet on tide changes can produce big fish over 120cm throughout this month. These fish actively feed on the masses of tiger mullet that school up along the seaway walls and the mouth of Swan Bay at Jumpinpin. Live pike are another deadly bait. If you are fishing the seaway area just float out your mullet without weight on the change of a high tide and be patient. It may take a while to get a run but the size of the fish makes it very worthwhile. Deep fished soft plastics are a good option for mulloway in daylight hours.

August is a good month in the estuaries and there are plenty of offshore options as well. Just be careful of fishing offshore if strong westerly winds are forecast.