Sunshine Coast Fishing Reports

Lately the weather has been atrocious and the fishing reports very few and far between.  A lot of people give up on the game fishing over winter and go reef fishing instead.  The best options for the hard core game fishers is blue marlin fishing on the shelf where you are a chance of success twelve months of the year, the middle grounds from 60-250m chasing a striper or late season black and it would be great to see someone crack daytime deep dropping for broadbill swordfish in South East Queensland like they do overseas.  The Florida techniques were used by the Kiwis in their late summer/autumn season and they absolutely smashed it.  It would be hard to know how many we have here on

We now come into the slow time of year for billfish anglers in South East Queensland.  The options this time of year are sailfish off the Sunshine Coast, black marlin on the deep snapper reefs and striped marlin off the Gold Coast on any of the reefs deeper than 36 fathoms.  Blue marlin are an option any month of the year off either coast as well.  Many gamefishers hang up their hats and go snapper fishing over winter but you’ll never never know, if you never never go!   Two tournaments were run during the past month.  The second one being the Mooloolaba Gamefishing Club Billfish Bonanza.  It was won by Noel Jones, Bob Forbes and the MGFC crew on the Dick Ward built Kajiki

The run of juvenile black marlin has continued for anglers off the Sunshine Coast but has slackened off for all other ports.  North Queensland is still getting them off Airlie Beach so they may well go into May.  The interesting thing has been the run of 3-5kg micro ones.  These may well be September –October spawn from Cairns.  These micro fish often show up in June and July off the Sunshine Coast so they may continue for a few months.  The usual autumn run of blue marlin has been very disappointing though.     A bit of stable weather over the Easter weekend and weekend prior saw quite a few boats out.  The Surfers Paradise Club were also able to conduct their ladies comp and

All indications are we are looking at a one in ten year event, a bit like the floods, as far as the run of black marlin are concerned this year.  As an example, the Sunshine Coast Gamefishing Club has tagged over 400 billfish already this season.  Their best year was 800 though.  We realistically have up to May to still catch them in good numbers and sailfish should be around all autumn and winter.  Weather has been the biggest thing holding us back from getting more during February.  That is just light tackle, we are right in the guts of heavy tackle season.  It will be interesting to see if the blue marlin turn up in big numbers this year or not.   Numbers wise

The game fish season is well and truly underway now in South East Queensland.  Already two tournaments have been run and billfish tagged at both.  It might end up a season to remember for all the right reasons this year.   The first cab off the rank was the Sunshine Coast Spring Shootout.  A tournament wrap up should be close by.  It was virtually a repeat of last year with SCGFC President Brent Higgins putting his dad Barry onto a blue marlin as the first billfish of the tournament on Brent’s 19’ centre console, Walk the Line.  A fair few other blue marlin were seen over the course of the tournament but they were in a lock jaw mood.  Brent’s was very nearly a double

Things are starting to happen in South East Queensland and we may not have to wait until November before the light tackle fish start arriving.  Already in August the first billfish of the year trophy has gone off for the Sunshine Coast and Mooloolaba Clubs on small black marlin.  Off the Gold Coast it went off for the Surfers Paradise and Gold Coast clubs on heavy tackle fish and as of the time of writing no juveniles have been tagged, just a few being seen down there.  At any time sailfish could turn up off the Sunshine Coast as well.   This season is going to be outstanding knowing these fish are here already, the same time as juveniles are being caught off Port Douglas