I just got back from a solid week on Fraser, staying at Eurong.
Most of the fishing action was at various spots along Cathedral Beach and yes, I did join the masses one day for a shoulder to shoulder fish. Caught a few nice tailor but only chopper size. We got an odd one or two from other holes & gutters along Cathedral Beach but they were more on the bite in the 'crowded zones'.
I caught a couple of tailor off the beach north of Indian Head, on the way to Champagne Pools. I also saw a bloke with half a dozen tailor in a bucket, a bit south of Happy Valley. I was on a drive past so didn't stop to join him.
Me and a mate fished the Maheno for two days straight totalling around 8 hours of fishing for almost zero. There was a nice wide & deep fishy looking gutter right next to the wreck but our efforts were to no avail. He used pilchards while I cast metals.
I did jag a good size sea mullet at the Maheno (with a Halco twisty treble). We filleted it & wacked on the Coleman Roadtrip that I'd bought with us – yep, used it heaps. I should've tried the fresh mullet fillets as bait but we were hanging out for a feed of fish.
We did the Maheno the first two days there as we had to spend some time occupying the kids at Eli Creek. Didn't head north of the Maheno until day 4 as day 3 was Lake McKenzie. So, up until the 4th day we only had one mullet between us.
Retrospectively, with the benefit of hindsight and the tailor being at Cathedral it was too far to travel all the time from Eurong to Cathedral beach. The timing of the high tide is a major factor if you need to cover a fair distance.
If I did Fraser again at this time of year I'd stay at a self contained cabin, or holiday house at the Cathedral Beach settlement or maybe camp at the Dundubara Camping Area. That's mainly because its a great advantage to be close to where the fishing is, so the timing of high tide & beach driving is not such a factor.
Some blokes had apparently found where the main concentration of tailor were and had set up camp right there near where the shoulder to shoulder action was. They had buckets & filleting tables set up and the surf was only a 50m walk from their tents...
On my last day there I fished the falling tide in a nice gutter immediately opposite the turn-off into Eurong. It was 11.00am and I was using pilchards & ganged hooks. I landed two mulloway – one 70cm and the other 80cm – so that was a nice way to end the trip.
A bloke was fishing the same gutter (I arrived there after him) but he didn't catch anything. I think it was because he didn't want to wet his feet but I waded out into the surf for that 'longer' cast.
The best thing was casting the new 8' 6" St Croix surf casting rod. It was a pleasure to use and it was generally great all round – I can't wait to feel what it like loaded up with a decent fish. I used it for both metals & bait and it cast both with ease. The millionaire CV-Z 253 cast better on the St Croix than my TE Conquest 300 did. It seemed that the level wind on the Conquest laboured more going back & forth during the cast which in turn slowed the free spool…maybe.
My Daiwa 10' Sensor Surf rod was also fantastic to use but I didn't enjoy much using the 30lb braid on my Tica Dolphin spinning reel. The braid just got too many niggly tangles & knots and was a bit on the high maintenance side. I even cast off a couple of rigs into oblivion for no apparent reason.
I ended up putting my wife's Penn Spinfisher 6500 with 14lb mono onto the Sensor Surf and it made things much more straight forward. No more lost rigs, casting distance just as far as braid, better peace of mind – and caught fish with it!
In summary – if you intend to stay on Fraser and fish – locate your base as close as you can to where the fishing is – then you'll enjoy things more.
Fraser Island Beach Fishing
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