Fisho's Weekly Fishing Report - 2nd May 2025

Jack Scott had his hands full hauling in this magnificent 9.7kg bluey © Fisho's Tackle World Hervey Bay

Trade Winds Return

We trust you all got out and enjoyed the magnificent weather of the past fortnight. Two ripper long weekends in a row were a blessing. No such luck for the Labour Day long weekend sadly, as the trade winds have kicked back in and are with us for the foreseeable future. Ah well, two out of three ain't bad, eh.

A strong wind warning has been issued for Hervey Bay waters for today, as south to south-east winds are anticipated to reach 25 knots, and maybe 30 knots in the northern bay. This weekend will be just shy of such a declaration, with the current forecast being 15-25 knots from the south-east for Saturday and Sunday at this time. It will be even windier offshore, to 30 knots, with no sign of any winds below 20 knots offshore for the coming week.

If next week's forecasts are reliable, then the Labour Day holiday will be a breezy one, but pleasant. Not so much for boating, but for all other activities. Persistent onshore trade winds will dominate the whole of next week. We might even see them strengthen again late in the week.

Showers seem likely pretty much daily from here on into next weekend. Nothing too dramatic, but enough to give our lawns a last burst of life before cooler weather sets in. You will notice the chill in the air this weekend no doubt, but few will complain after such a warm summer and autumn.

The moon is waxing as we approach Sunday's first quarter phase. This means neap tides once again, with minimal tidal flow until the tides start to 'make' thereafter. So, this might not be a prime weekend for fishing, and for that reason, I will offer a brief recap on last week's efforts with more of an insight into what the future holds as cooler weather affects our fisheries. I will let the abundance of photos tell the story of last week's piscatorial adventures.

Passing Pelagics Prowl Pier Waters

Given that access to the very end section of the Urangan Pier remains closed, it must've been frustrating for pier-goers to watch passing schools of longtail tuna come close - but not close enough. At least one big longy was caught, something like a 20-kilo fish I am told; caught by a local regular. The same guy managed large broadies too, so the pier remains a potential land-based hotspot for pelagics regardless of the access restrictions.

The gated-off section is about three light posts from the deep end by the way. That means the ever-productive slope into deep water is still accessible, plus some of the deeper stuff. Prime flathead country out there it happens, so flathead fans can try there or the first channel with live baits over this set of neaps. Flathead are not keen on the wind in the shallows, so the slope out near the end might fish better than the first channel, so long as you can handle the breeze.

Looking ahead, it will be soon time for bream fans to dust of their lighter tackle. As our waters cool further, the bream schools will make their way to the waters beneath the pier, and linger there during the winter spawning period. Anzac Day has often heralded the arrival of the first of the 'pilot' bream in colder autumns of the past. These bream are some of the larger males that arrive before the masses, staking out territory for future moments of fondness.

This year's pier bream run might be belated due to higher prevailing water temperatures. Having said that, the late wet season rains and resultant flooding caused a significant downstream migration of bream just recently, so the simple fact that more fish are aggregated so much closer to their spawning grounds already might well counter the prevailing warmth. Coming weeks will reveal all.

It should be an absolute bumper crop of bream in these parts this winter. Good rains promise productive times from the lower reaches of our river systems initially; then the local flats will come online, as will the local shallow reefs and many man-made structures. Restricted netting effort will see a rebound in bream numbers that current and future generations will be highly impressed by. The bream caught during the Easter Fishing Comp at Burrum Heads is indicative of what is yet to come.

More on bream fishing in coming reports, so for now, give them a crack in a creek or a river, or spend some time chasing the flathead you might find lurking in the same waters. Seek out grunter, queenfish or blue salmon from the local flats, or try your hand at a little rock fishing from a suitably-sheltered platform at Pt Vernon / Gatakers Bay. The Booral Flats will be exposed to the onshore breeze and virtually out of bounds this week, which is a shame, as those waters are home to a good selection of displaced estuary predators and plenty of whiting these days.

Cool Change Means Good Things for Reef Fishos

Plenty of families are enjoying the fruits of Easter and Anzac Day forays to our local inshore reefs. The sharks took way more than their fair share, but they didn't tax everyone. The grassy sweetlip population is still ravenous and abundant inshore. Their numbers will taper off as winter arrives, with only the better-class of fish remaining inshore.

Coral trout, estuary cod, nannygai and squire will all get a week's reprieve from angler effort due to the wind. All should be there and hungry for the full moon in a week's time. Let's hope it's not still blowing then. The past week saw a lot of quality grunter caught from local hotspots, and plenty of small ones at times too. This is another species that will feed aggressively on prime phases of the moon in coming weeks, offering great sport and tucker for a growing throng of fans.

Snapper will be on the minds of many local fishos eyeing off Tuesday week's May full moon. Jostling for positions on prime snapper country will soon be a thing again, and some will try their hand a little early just to get into them first. As I've said in the past, anyone can catch a big snapper, but only one can catch the first!

The usual inshore snapper hotspots should be even more prime for the arrival of the spawning fish this season than in seasons past. This is courtesy of the flooding rains of a half-decent wet season and the abundance of nutrient and fodder such events create. It's not just the estuary species that thrive post-wet, but reef species and even pelagics.

Let's see if the baitfish move closer inshore in volumes equivalent to those following past major wets. Let's see if the snapper migrate in with any conviction this year, or if we see a continued decline in the bay's overall migratory population. The latter would be highly concerning after such a good wet.

Let's see if the sharks back off heading into winter. They didn't last year, or the year before that, or.... you get the picture. Surprisingly, the shark issues over the past summer were not as bad as past years, and they haven't been nearly as bad around the tuna schools in autumn. Let's hope this trend continues.

Offshore and Northern Bay Get Another Spell

Calm seas saw a veritable fleet of vessels head for the Southern and Northern Gutters over the Anzac Day weekend. The sharks were horrendous along the main ledges of the gutters, as expected, so it was those that chose to seek our more isolated outcrops that faired best on big reef fish.

There were quite a few coral trout caught by both traditional live baiting methods and the more popular prawn-profile soft plastic jigging techniques. Light winds made drifting much easier and a good skipper had little trouble lining up assaults on the best bits of a selected reef. No-one gets to kick back and relax as they haul in big reefy after big reefy out there anymore, like we used to, as its all hell for leather to skull-drag our quarry to the surface before the taxman takes a cut these days.

Estuary cod featured as bycatch whilst trout fishing at the gutters. Sweetlip are a reliable box filler for the bait brigade, and an occasional taker of jigged softies. Nannygai were found out in the paddock scouring the plains for fodder in the big new moon run. Large school mackerel made a real pest of themselves, snipping off multiple softies and jig heads for those struggling to avoid them. Spaniards were just as big a hassle to the reef fishos, whilst also a bonus to fans of these stripey speedsters.

Launching from 1770 meant issues at the over-popular boat ramp and parking issues in general, but boy, did the fishing make up for that. It was a trout-athon in the 'shallows' to 30 metres or so, with bag limits quite easily achieved by those sporting the modern-day jigging techniques. Efforts wider and deeper were rewarded with quality reds; both emperor and nannygai. Red throat bit well and tuskies soon let you know if you wandered too far from the hard reef.

The Bunker Group has really turned it on this past couple of weeks, and will be a favoured stomping ground for reef fishos frustrated with sharks on the local scene in coming months. The hugely-popular Boyne Tannum Hook-Up is on this long weekend. Touted as Australia's biggest family fishing competition, this year's event will be a bit challenging due to the windy weather. A few local lads are heading up to try their luck, so we wish them well, and trust all and sundry will have a fat time and stay safe on the water.

If you got out and enjoyed the bountiful pickings from east of Breaksea Spit; or headed south and got amongst the incredible offering of reefies out from the Wide Bay bar, then you shouldn't be too perturbed with the windy weather this week. I am sure many an esky came home brimming full and many prime reef fish fillets are secured away in freezers.

Not much point talking up that fishery at present, as no-one is heading offshore this week. Once the wind eases though, many eyes will turn towards Sandy Cape or D.I. waters and a view to another haul of tasty treats from the deep. The EAC is due to slow now, as the warmer water flow from up north is met by more consistent southerlies. Onshore winds such as this week's can maintain the rage somewhat, but we will see more south and south-westerly winds leading into winter that will aide our offshore cause.

No Need to Drive Far to Find Tuna

Such calm seas over the past two weeks meant all and sundry had the option to chase tuna, if they were so inclined. The smallest of tinnies and even kayakers were within range of tuna schools feeding close to Pt Vernon; around the bay islands; and down Kingfisher Bay way. There were hordes off the west coast of the bay, with particularly good numbers working the Burrum 8 Mile and Fairway waters.

Given time in the bay and a tendency to migrate further in with time, these tuna can be notoriously flighty and fussy, especially in our shipping channels. A broad mix of artificial offerings are needed to ensure you can tempt the fish whilst they are within casting range. Some days you can catch them on metal slugs, others you cannot. Stick baiting for longtails has never been more popular, and many larger fish have fallen to these tempting imitations.

As good as other offerings may be, few fair dinkum tuna fishos would dare wander the bay without their ever-reliable 5-inch jerkshads rigged to heavy 5/0 jig heads these days. Fail to raise tuna on alternatives, and it is often this humble offering that comes up trumps. It also happens to be a very handy offering to plummet to the depths should you spot some trevors or possible reefies on the bottom. Such a combination has been the undoing of many a quality knobby snapper in the past too, whether on purpose or by accident.

The tuna's push into the straits is one borne out of both migratory instinct and their pursuit of prey. Our inshore waters are home to a range of small baitfish that need to move from ground to ground to exist, and the tuna are experts at rounding them up when they leave the relative shelter of structure. Queenies and mackerel tend to harass mobile bait schools too, yet they also favour lingering around reef sites etc that host the baitfish for longer periods and require less energy-burn to pursue.

There are plenty of school mackerel in the southern bay and a few are straits-bound. Big broadies are a regular feature of our inshore reef and mackerel fisheries, and will become even more visible as they mooch up into the shallows come winter. It is quite remarkable just how quickly the broad-barred mackerel population has rebounded after netting was restricted. The average size impresses many fans these days too.

Just as prolific are the spanish mackerel roaming the waters north of the banks. The Arch Cliffs 6 Mile has seen spaniards in numbers at times recently, as has the 25 Fathom Hole area, and a host of reefs scattered throughout the central bay. Basically, right now, if you find a reef hosting any serious quantity of baitfish, there will be mackerel of some breed in attendance.

Throw in the increasing chance of encounters with golden trevally as winter approaches and queenies continuing their raids on the local flats, and Hervey Bay is looking good for pelagic pursuits heading into this winter. The simple fact that such an abundance of bonito has been observed so far into the straits already this season suggests there is a good offering of fodder and no shortage of predators primed to predate on it.

Crabs Feeding Those that Aren't Prawning

Whilst the bay's sand crab fishery burst back into life and prominence recently, this week's wind will see no-one other that the hardier pros out there amongst them. Once the winds ease, the waters of Platypus Bay will be visited by keen sand crabbers, as will the waters off the Burrum coast. Setting a few pots off Gatakers Bay might result in a feed for those desperate to crab the windy weather close inshore, but you had better ensure your pots are duly-weighted or they may drift off with the wind and waves.

Catches of mud crabs from the Great Sandy Straits belies the yarns getting around about the muddies having gone quiet a week ago. The catch-rate from the Burrum Heads Fishing Comp reflected a vibrant crab fishery that will see renewed effort this week, purely because it is blowing too hard to do much else. The next full moon will be rather popular with mud crabbers, as many believe they won't catch crabs in winter. Leave those old wives' tales about not catching crabs in a month without an "R" in it for the southerners. The crabbing won't be nearly as good as post-flooding autumn crabbing, but success will come to those that put in the effort in cooler waters.

Many made the drive to Woodgate by boat in ultra-calm conditions to see if the banana prawns popped up, but alas, those grounds didn't fire. Not in the daytime anyway. Burnett River prawners continue to reap good hauls from the river, so perhaps there was insufficient flooding up that way to see the Woodgate abundance materialise. It ain't over 'til it's over, they say, so don't write-off Woodgate just yet. A proper cold snap, with an offshore breeze followed by calm conditions might see those grounds spring back to life.

May means prime banana prawning for much of the remainder of our waterways, so carry your cast nets with you when wandering the straits or our rivers and creeks in coming weeks. Last word of prawns was centred around the Fraser Island creeks. Tourists were catching prawns from the River Heads boat ramps a week ago; learning the hard way that you shouldn't throw a net over the nastier rocks and ramp-ends out there.

Straits Clearing and Mary Still Muddy

Little effort on the Mary River due to filthy brown water has meant those that are inclined to ignore the popular theories get to sneak around without watching over their shoulders. Steadily improving numbers of large threadfin salmon have joined the schools of blue salmon in the lower reaches. Some of the blues have been actively hunting baitfish to the surface in the Mary's mouth and drawing small flocks of terns.

Barra will be eagerly sought-after by a dedicated band of fishos. Those that can handle the wind and know their quarry's movements at this time will enjoy the most success. Whether it be Burrum barra, Mary barra or Great Sandy Straits barra, they will all be actively feeding whilst our waters are still warm and their metabolisms active. Both low tide and high tide efforts are worth considering at present, and prawn imitations will really appeal.

Quality grunter can be found down the straits; some in the creeks, but very likely more beyond those creeks along rocky ledges and gravelly drop-offs. Flathead are certainly an option on the flats and around creek mouths. Jewfish gathered at Kingfisher Bay Resort's jetty have copped an absolute hammering, yet it remains a most suitable option for those keen to pay the barge fare for a day or night on the jetty.

May in the Wide Bay Show 'N' Shine

If you are looking for an alternative to fishing whilst the wind is up this weekend, then you can always take a spin out to Nickenbah this Sunday and join in the fun and festivities of the local Wide Bay Rodders Show 'N' Shine car show. There will be all sorts of hot rods, classics, Aussie and American muscle cars, and vintage motor cycles to take a gander at.

It will only cost you $5 to enter, and the whole family can get in for a $20 note. You can even enter your own pride and joy for a measly $10 if you feel so inclined. All monies raised go to support local charities, so why not rock along for a peek at some of the coolest collectibles from our motoring past. Be there at 9am and hang around until 1pm and you won't miss a thing.

Good luck out there y'all... Jase