Seaway Weekly Wrap Up Friday 5th July 2013

Another week done with some wild weather at the start of the week but falling seas and low winds towards the end of the week, weather should be good for boating over the weekend with just a mid strength SE wind for sunday.  Some interesting behaviour by the fish this week and further confirmation of winter behavoural patterns.

Some decent sized Tailor around the north wall in the big swell early on in the week, some smaller tailor were also sighted further up north of Crab island and between Sovereign and Ephraim islands.  Now that conditions have calmed down the wall fish have probably either moved back into the surf zones along south straddie, gone down deep or back into the broadwater.  Still a chance for a couple of stragglers though.




GT's have been quite tough to get this week but trolling has picked up a couple and as the tide got closer towards the end of the day the GT's began to feed in the half light of dusk in and around the Northern Y, Canyon and North Channel East Flats.   For the first time this week I saw the winter schooling behaviour exhibited by the GT's last winter.  They would come up briefly, then go back down but sit in the same area.  Twisties dropped to the bottom over the bottom fish got hookups.  They aren't fussy when they come to the surface, poppers work great and as long as your cast is accurate gets hit straight away.  Other lures also work fine if you get them in the zone.  I haven't heard of them feeding on the surface outside the dawn or dusk period in the last week(but they may have) so make sure you have your eyes open during that time.  The birds are not on the fish so keep an eye out for any bait you see rippling during this time and stay close.

There have  also been plenty of Dart around the north wall, small 7gram slugs work fine but they have been hitting larger lures as well, I took quite a few on CCM Grass Minnows on 1/4oz heads.  Queenfish have also been around in the broadwater, I saw a few scattered fish during the week but no big schools.  Jewies have been caught at the slowing parts of the tides, the usual livies or plastics work fine(not much changes with these fish on a week by week basis).

Tarpon are still around the walls at night in small numbers and a few caught by fly fisherman during the day off the south wall.  Some small bigeyes are around the tips of the walls as well.

The water clarity is still quite good despite the swell and rain, so at the top of the tide it might be a good idea to head further up the broadwater away from the clean water.

Looking forward, the tides over the weekend look good for GT's at either dawn or dusk, but as next week goes on it will change to a dawn bite only.

Remember that the Gold Coast Marathon is on this weekend, Marine Parade will be closed both Saturday and Sunday at various times so use another ramp other than The Grand this Weekend.  I recommend Paradise Point ramp or Coombabah creek ramp if you want to stay right away from all the hassle.

I will be at the Carrara Market Car Boot sale(Gooding Drive, Carrara) on Sunday selling off some old fishing gear(lures, rods, reels, line) if you have nothing else to do and want a chat.

For those fishing over the weekend, Good Luck and may your drag scream long and loud.

As always this report is a combination of personal observation and talking with other fishermen, thanks to those who have contributed.