Fisho's Weekly Fishing Report - 18th July 2025
by Fisho's Tackle World Hervey Bay 18 Jul 10:50 UTC
Classic mid-winter weather
The past week was pretty darn good boating-wise, and the fishing was good too. Particularly good in fact, until the full moon lost its oomph and the waning moon and tides lessened what was a marvellous bite pre-moon.
This weekend is looking quite good yet again, whilst even better weather is on the cards for later next week. The showers riding the gentle northerly breeze today will disappear overnight as a clear southerly change kicks off another exciting week for Fraser Coast fishos. Expect a south-south-westerly of around 15 knots early Saturday morning that should tend south-easterly and ease to 10 knots or less around midday.
Even better conditions Sunday will see no more than 10 knots all day; south-westerly for the most part, tending south-east mid-afternoon. A brief yet boisterous southerly will blow through late Monday and keep boaties in protected waters into Tuesday. The wind then drops right out mid-week potentially opening up options for offshore ventures for those not burdened by work commitments.
Tides-wise, today's last quarter moon phase means we are smack bang in the midst of the neaps right now. Resultant minimal tidal flow will increase daily under the influence of a waning moon and do so all week until the new moon next Friday. Great weather on select days and building tides - brilliant! Many options await you, so gear up and get the boat ready for those days when the wind drops out.
Pier fishos look elsewhere whilst herring absent
Urangan Pier fishos are consistently disappointed by the lack of herring beneath their beloved jetty. No bait means no fish on the larger scale, but a feed of bream can be managed, along with the odd flathead. Catching pike for live baits helps those chasing flathead, and doubles-up nicely for a jewfish bait for anyone trying their luck out the deep end after dark.
Until the herring return, there will be minimal pelagic action, if any. There are school mackerel making their way down the west coast of the bay that would be pier-bound if the herring were there. Tailor currently terrorising baitfish elsewhere would also be a feature beneath the pier if there was the usual smorgasbord. Making tides this week might trigger a return of the herring and their pursuers. Let's see what happens.
Landlubbers focussing their efforts on alternative locations have been rewarded here and there. The creeks and the flats fronting the creek mouths have had their moments, as has the River Heads peninsula, the Urangan Harbour and the Pt Vernon foreshores. Our town beaches have been fairly quiet, save for a feed of whiting being snuck away by the odd guru, and flathead and bream entertaining the tourists. This will all change next month as the whiting turn it on, but for now, focus on the creeks, the rocks and elsewhere.
Flathead have been the main target for many creek-goers. Numbers and size have been quite good, even after the school holiday onslaught. Flicking soft plastics up-current and hopping them back has been all it takes to tempt any flatties in an area. Once the action stops, a short move and repeat keeps you catching fish, and your extra mobility means you can cover plenty of terrain if the fish aren't too thick.
Eli Creek has been a favoured haunt for many, particularly the kids. Beelbi and O'Regans are also equally popular and quite productive at the right stages of the tide. Queenfish have been both a target species for some fishos and a bonus bycatch for others. Not big queenies by Hervey Bay standards, but exciting fish up to 80cm.
Some of these queenies have been bycatch for kids working tiny topwater stickbaits for whiting. You can imagine the chaos and the excited squeals as the water erupts behind their lures and line peels from their tiny reels like never before. Many of today's fishing kids are level-headed and very capable with a rod in hand, so a few meritorious captures have resulted on finesse tackle that many an adult would be proud of.
The rocky foreshores fronting Pialba - Gatakers Bay are worth prospecting for bream, queenies, small GTs and tailor. Do so with lures, or try your hand with lightly-weighted or unweighted baits if you prefer. A simple spinning session, armed with a spoon or other metal slug will soon see if you are in the right spot for the pelagics. Surface commotions from the tailor or the queenies can be a dead giveaway if you are lucky, otherwise it is a chuck-it-and-see scenario. The extended ledges at Pt Vernon, the Gables and one or two of the ledges at Pialba are good starting points.
Blue salmon are prolific in our rivers
Recreational fishers are certainly reaping the benefits of reduced gill-netting efforts in the Great Sandy Marine Park. Many species have come back notably; in many areas throughout the southern bay, the straits, and our local rivers. One such species is the blue salmon. These exciting fish are a staple for estuary fishos and have been a regular feature in catches throughout our history.
The local blue salmon population has exploded in recent times and they are in numbers unseen for some time. You can find plenty in the Burrum system and vastly more in the Mary system. They cruise in and out of many of our local creeks and every other creek down the straits. Their presence on the flats is a major drawcard for those in the know and bound to be a key feature of that fishery as more folks discover the blues in coming seasons.
The next month or so will be particularly exciting for flats fishos as swirling masses of salmon can be sight-fished in very skinny water. As the tide floods onto a given flat, the salmon gather and move up as a school. They can be a little flighty whilst the rising water remains crystal clear, but once the tidal flow lifts a little slit from the flat and the water starts to colour, the salmon lose their inhibitions and pounce on everything.
Casting soft plastics at feeding fish is at its best when you can see them, but they are so quick and responsive to movement that unseen fish will come from nowhere and demolish your lure with no warning. Blues of all sizes can be encountered, from the annoying little scrappers to serious barrels that are rarely landed. Fish to 90cm or so and 6-7 kilos are quite common and will test your skills, and your leader. Most of us go pretty light to catch sambos, and this may be why so many extra-large models are lost.
Find them in a riverine environment and it can be fish-a-cast. Schools of blues are easily identified on a good sounder, and are easily tempted with soft vibes and soft plastics. Much easier than winter-time threadies nearby you will find, and notably hard to avoid when you are trying to tempt an uninterested threadie. Trollers won't have any trouble finding or catching blue salmon. They will eat deep divers, medium divers and shallow divers. Shorter-profiled narrow-bodied lures are particularly tempting for blues, though they are vastly less fussy than their cousins.
Casting softies and shallow-diving hardbodies from the rocky shores at River Heads can see landlubbers hooking into blues at present. Casting and retrieving spoons is equally as effective too. Walking-the-dog with topwater lures will tempt them in the skinniest of water where you wouldn't dare swim a sub-surface lure and the added bonus of explosive takes makes this option even more appealing.
Happy days for Burrum lure fishos
Casting spoons or slugs from the banks at Burrum Heads might see a shore-based fisho hooking into tailor or even mackerel at present. Queenfish are a chance too, if not a substantially lesser one. A few flicks with a soft plastic will soon see if any flathead are in the area, and even smaller presentations will tempt the hungrier bream out that way too. The pike will be a nuisance at all the usual haunts of course, so either avoid those spots or be prepared to lose a few softies.
Jumping in a boat and heading upstream opens up another whole world of options for wintertime lure fishing. The Burrum's flathead population is the healthiest it has been for many years. There are flatties to be found anywhere and seemingly everywhere at present. From the mouth at the heads all the way to the upper reaches, the flatties are lurking in ambush.
Being a river system so heavily endowed with structure and appealing features, knowing where to start can be a bit daunting for the uninitiated. Looking for areas where flats drain through channels into the main flow, or where structure obstructs the current flow is handy, as is monitoring where the baitfish appear most prolific. You will do well in the bottom half of the Burrum itself right now, and can be catching flatties in inches of water on a bend one minute and vibing the depths for their brethren somewhere nearby moments later. They are prolific, hungry and on the bite.
One particularly destructive form of bycatch - tailor - are making life difficult for flathead fishos in all but the shallowest of water. The choppers are swiping at vibes, trolled lures and all manner of softies, so try to avoid them if you are a bit precious about bite-offs. The tailor aren't all big - some as small as 40cm or so - but a feed can be put together if you are into eating tailor. Spin them up on spoons or slugs or gear-up for a troll and you can catch plenty without the carnage to your collection of soft lures.
Still no word on any queenies or river GTs pushing upriver as yet, but it still early days. Given how dramatically the river fishing has improved following an extended wet season and reduced netting effort, big things are expected from the Burrum next month and beyond. Until then, focus on the flatties, the tailor and the blue salmon, or wait until the new moon and try your hand at the big summer whiting or a few grunter. Barra can be found readily and tempted with the right approach, and big banana prawns are still being caught, so boat traffic on the mighty Burrum system isn't likely to slow down anytime soon.
Great Sandy Straits is clear and fishing well
The Burrum system isn't the only estuary fishing well right now. The lower Mary and lengths of the Susan are giving up plenty of blue salmon, flathead, bream, grunter and whiting. Barra and threadies can be pursued too if you like, and they won't be too hard to find. Tempting them might be a challenge, so be prepared to put in a little extra effort and ensure you are on them when the tide is low.
A run down the straits is even more appealing for many of us, for a number of reasons. The ultra-clear waters lapping over the flats means sight-fishing options galore for lure fishos and fly fishos alike. From the tiniest targets like whiting and bream to the biggest barra, threadies and queenies, there is a host of species waiting down there for your next visit.
One such species is the humble flathead. Their numbers have rebounded dramatically this season and they are quite prolific. Thank the decent wet season and reduced netting effort for the current abundance, and make the most of coming months. You can catch a swag of flatties in a session again these days, akin to several years ago. Ensuring we, as thinking and responsible fishos, don't over-fish this abundance, will ensure an extended season and happy days for years to come.
Those catching a few flathead for a feed recently will confirm that the larger fish upwards of 55cm are all ultra-fat and heavy in roe. That is the future of our flathead fishery in those big girls' bellies right now, so do your bit and put them back in favour of a feed of smaller fish. The upper size limit for dusky flathead might be 75cm, but that certainly doesn't mean you should be actively looking to kill a heap of fish in that size range. Flathead are one of our most highly underrated table fish, and readily accessible, so just take a selective feed now and grab another feed the next time the tides are good.
You will find plenty of flatties lurking in the creeks fringing Fraser's western shores, along the verges of the gutters draining the vast flats over there and down the straits further. You will find them within cooee of River Heads and in and around pretty much every mainland creek from there south. There will be a few creeping about in the shallows fringing the bay islands, where even better numbers can be expected in the future when the vast hardy head schools of the past finally return.
Kingfisher Bay Resort's jetty is a great platform from which to chase a few flathead. They can be spotted with the aid of polarised sunnies and baits or lures presented to them accordingly. There is a swag of bream under the jetty at present, so holidaymakers and local day-trippers can have some fun with them. Pretty big bream too apparently, so expect a dust-up or two if you let them get your line too close to the pylons.
Of course, a trip to Kingfisher should never be undertaken without squid jigs in your arsenal. The tigers cop a flogging over there, but more turn up on the next tide, the next day, or some time thereafter. Squidding in the inshore shallows remains popular elsewhere in the southern bay and straits, so no doubt there will be a few caught again this week.
Seek alternatives whilst snapper are off limits
As you all know, our Qld snapper (and pearl perch) are no-take species for the next month. At least until after the 15th August that is. We finally enjoyed a late run of snapper into the bay in recent weeks, but now it is time to down tools and seek alternative quarry. Sure, there will be snapper caught accidentally, but anyone who knows what they are doing will be able to take measures to avoid contact with them.
Being observed dancing soft plastics over known snapper hotspots, or being seen slow-trolling the best snapper lures on the market through such waters, might make a fisheries officer or your peers a little suspicious. Given the atrocious attrition from the bull sharks this past week inshore and in Platypus Bay, our snapper population deserves every chance it can get to successfully spawn without interference from us. Please do the right thing, or the seemingly annual decline in Hervey Bay snapper stocks made so obvious earlier this season might be just the tip of a fast-melting iceberg.
Keen inshore fishos still need to go fishing of course, so a shift in focus is required for the coming month. Without getting into good or bad tides for the purpose, targeting jewfish is a worthy pursuit. Whether it is the landlubbers probing rocky land-based hotspots or boaties scanning and vibing ledges, reefs and wrecks, this is a great time of year to be hunting jewies. Time your efforts to coincide with tide changes where necessary and either put the effort in for appropriate live baits or tune-in your accuracy with your lures, and success will come.
There are jewies to be found along some of Fraser's western ledges, maybe some left at Kingfisher, some at River Heads, and plenty on select reefs in the straits and the southern bay. There was even one particularly large school of jewfish found out in the central bay by one lucky crew. Not a common occurrence that one, I would suggest, but a great thing to trip over if you are so lucky.
Given that snapper are off the hit-list for a month, some folks might make a little extra effort to tempt a wintertime cod or coral trout inshore. Live baits might be required in some instances, but tea-bagging the usual lures is still worth trying. Expect a subdued bite due to the cold water. Persist and keep moving to find active fish.
Some might chance a few nannies inshore, or more likely up the island or out in the central bay. Nannies are a hard fish to target without catching snapper, given the similarity in standard techniques. The same could be said for reef-oriented grunter. There is no need to write-off inshore reef fishing, just make the required effort and keep on the move if necessary, during the snapper closure.
School mackerel making a come-back
It is early days yet, but the first signs of the July run of school mackerel in the western bay have appeared. Coming weeks and months will see a surge of mackerel swim down the bay that spreads wide across many inshore grounds. This past week, it has been the NU2, the Bait Grounds and the Burrum 8 Mile that have been mackerel central.
These aren't big schoolies by all accounts, just the typical smaller mid-winter models. Undersized mackerel can be a nuisance at times, but most folks have found legal fish of 50-55cm or so at the above locations. Bigger fish will arrive, and all will get bigger as they feed in coming weeks. Spaniards will be hot on their tails sometime soon too; predating on the smaller mackerel as they migrate. River Heads fishos can look forward to a run of mackerel some time next month (most likely), whilst winter whiting fishos might want to start thinking about carrying tackle capable of landing a few as they inundate the whiting grounds.
Something Burrum 8 Mile fishos might want to consider is the apparent presence of a dolphin out there that has become accustomed to stealing a feed from fishos. Numerous encounters have been relayed of this critter swiping yakkas from hooks and from bait jigs, and stealing fish being retrieved from the bottom. Obviously, all and sundry should limit their interactions with this mammal and not be tempted to feed it. Cool it might seem, but the poor thing is bound to a have a negative experience at some point if it keeps lingering out there.
Sportsfishos can spend time chasing queenies inshore or up the island, or jig local wrecks and reefs for various species of trevally. There will be big goldies on inshore wrecks and artificial reefs and almost every other trevally species you can think of up in the northern bay. Big longtail tuna continue to take livies and jigs fished deep in the water column up in Platypus Bay, and most of them have been large fish pushing the 20-kilo mark.
Spanish mackerel appear mostly relegated to the northern bay at present. Cobia are also regularly caught up that way too, particularly at the Gutters. Otherwise, its giant herring, maybe a little flats fishing for goldies or spinning for mackerel for your inshore pelagic fix this week.
Winter whiting now widespread
Winter whiting fishos are generally pretty happy with their catches of late. The grounds off Gatakers Bay have been given the miss by many as they seek better schools of better-quality fish elsewhere. The NU2 has been one place giving up a good feed with some regularity. For those that don't know, the vicinity of the Bait Grounds often draws good schools of whiting too, and a bonus feed of mackerel can be pretty easy to secure from those rubbly reefs.
Drifting 3-5 metres of water down off the south-western corner of Woody Island has been productive for some whiting fishos this week. So too, the other whiting grounds in similar depths back closer to Urangan (near the go-slow marker). Winteries have been caught just off our town beaches within ear-shot of beach-walkers this past week, and word is there is good fish still being caught off Woodgate and the Burrum.
There has been sizeable summer whiting mixed amongst the winteries west of Woody Island this week. They are regulated with a minimum size of 23cm, so don't confuse the smaller ones for winter whiting or you will be in strife. Convex versus concave dorsal fins is the most reliable identifier. Concave for size-regulated whiting species, convex for winteries.
Those launching at Gatakers Bay boat ramp might consider an alternative option to just whiting fishing if they are so inclined. Masses of spawning bream can be found gathered over the fringing reefs in that area this time of year, and serious numbers can be caught. Anchoring and deploying a constant berley trail is the go, whilst sending lightly or unweighted baits into the trail.
Very large bream can be amazingly hard to stop in this unforgiving coral jungle, so keep that in mind when selecting appropriate tackle. You will need to fish light enough to tempt the cunning old bream, but still pack enough grunt to keep them from the coral. A balancing act that will see you win some and lose some on an average day. Better fishing will be experienced when the tides gain a little more momentum, but this is definitely a worthy pursuit this week.
Other fish attracted to your berley trail might include tailor, mackerel, squid and even any lingering reef fish such as sweetlip. Pack a few lures for the pelagics or soak a gang-rigged bait further down your berley trail. Make sure you can find your squid jigs when and if the squid rock up, or you will be kicking yourself. Winter whiting fishos in general should be prepared for mackerel and squid in coming weeks, particularly if fishing near shallow reef or on lively bottom.
Great conditions offshore later this week
A few crews did the big miles to the wide reefs while some of us were working earlier this week - lucky buggers! Big things were expected on the red emperor and nannygai fronts from some of those that we fitted-out prior to departure. No doubt quality coral trout will be part of catches made this week for those that head for the northern bay. Avoiding the sharks is the main variable, as the fish should be on the chew.
Crossing the Wide Bay bar last weekend was semi-fruitful for those that took one last swipe at the pearlies and snapper in close. The post-moon bite wasn't even a shadow of the pre-moon bite, so an air of disappointment was obvious from those that made the effort yet failed to realise their expectations. Snapper were caught, pearlies were caught and jewfish were caught - all within a few miles of the bar, in waters alive with yakkas and plenty of life - just not in the same numbers as the days beforehand.
No doubt others did better out wider, where future trips will be focussed on catching red emperor, tuskies, cod and any other reef fish those folks can find while avoiding snapper and pearlies. Chasing jewfish, sweetlip and nannygai will be on the cards for those that can find them in closer, in what looks like a good few days to be out there somewhere on the briny late next week.