There’s no secret Fraser Island has some fantastic sport fishing opportunities from Barramundi and Threadfin Salmon in the estuaries, Longtail Tuna, golden Trevally and juvenile Black Marlin on the flats, and what is fast becoming one of the best Marlin fisheries on the east coast. We certainly are blessed with many options when the weather plays ball.
However, if you’re after a feed and a good arm stretching while you’re at it, it’s pretty hard to go past the shoal country east of the sandy cape.
Leaving from Urangan harbour in Hervey Bay it’s around an 80km journey to the Breaksea spit bar crossing.
This bar like any bar crossing shouldn’t be taken lightly, as you’re a long way from help if anything goes wrong. It’s also a long bar, roughly 1-1.5km long so keep your wits about you and seek local knowledge before making the journey.
Once through the bar it’s only a few more km and you’re in the shoal country.
You will find just about anything structure wise in this area with large bombies, scattered ledges and the odd shipwreck there’s certainly no shortage of ground and large predatory fish.
Being where Fraser is positioned there is a crossover from northern to southern species so you honestly have no idea what is going to hit your plastic next. Red bass, Amberjack, Kingfish, Cobia, all sorts of Trevally species and of course just about any reef fish you can imagine including the prized Red Emperor there certainly is plenty of variety out there.
I find a 6 inch gobblers jerk shad ideal to drop on this ground and it doesn’t normally take long before it gets whacked. Like anywhere different colours have their days so it pays to have a bit of variety until you find what works. A few of my personal favourite colours are Dropshot, Hyper Bubble Gum, Lime Slammer, White Magic and Wahoo Whacker.
Current is your next issue, as it can rage out here and trying to get a plastic or lure to the bottom can be a challenge some days so it will pay to have a good selection of jig heads.
However as the old saying goes “no run, no fun” and out here it is definitely true.
There are some absolute monsters that are hard to stop and unfortunately the shoal country is littered with sharks, so it pays to stay shark savvy once they move in. Yes it hurts to have to leave a hot bite but honestly I’d rather find something else than not be able to boat a fish and lose half my tackle box in the process.
There really is no shortage of ground to fish in this country so do your homework before heading out and you won’t be disappointed.
If you would like our one of our Offshore kits Check "Large Jerk Shad Kit"
By Zac Deppeler