I know it’s not good to start on a dark note, but we have a fair chunk of green zone in our passage, and please be aware that it’s the angler’s responsibility to study where they are located and fish outside of them.

I recommend staying well clear of the boundaries. I’ve seen guys placing crab pots right on the green zone line and with our large summer tides these pots can move a fair distance at times, just remember negligence is no excuse when caught over the boundary. Boating is still permitted in these zones on a look but don’t touch basis and definitely no take.

Now on a better note the passage has been fishing respectably well on most species.

I’ve seen some huge bream being taken on surface lures, however patience and persistence is very much needed at times. A couple of tips - if there is a breeze around, which there normally is, get it on your back to assist you in your long distance casting as they need to be as long as possible. This allows you to keep all unwanted noise away from your catch species. The bream are a heavily targeted species which makes them very spooky, smart and weary. At times you will need to annoy them into striking your lure - a lot of the fish will strike at your lure in frustration.

If lures don’t float your boat the bait anglers have been doing well. When it comes to bait for bream, they will eat almost anything as long as it’s fresh. These fish are scavengers and they will scavenge all day.

Grunter bream have been consistent with the warm weather and it’s here where the bait angler out shines the lure angler. They are hard to consistently catch on lures; I can count on one hand how many I have caught on lures. Prawns and yabbies are the standout bait but like bream they will scavenge around for anything they can lay their lips on.

Talk about hit and miss. They are still around but they are hard work compared to how they were fishing in the cooler months. I’ve had some good reports and seen some good fish up around 60-70cm but not many of the anglers are enjoying the work involved. A month ago you could land your bag limit in under an hour, now it can take all day to achieve. The only tip I have is that you will need to cover as much ground as possible in order to find them.

The whiting have been good in both size and catch numbers. These guys have been showing up all over the place with the creek mouths being the locations. Areas like Ningi, Elimbah, Glassy Coochin and Bells Creeks will produce the goods. Like always live worms will out fish all other baits, but the humble old yabby takes its fair share. They are inexpensive and great fun for the kids to collect. The passage is littered with yabby banks that are best found on low tide, just remember to replace the bucket inside your yabby pump. This is the rubber plunger inside the pump that does all the work - very easy to replace and cheap to purchase.

Trevally are working the passage with respectable sizes up around 2kg. You will know when you’ve hooked one of these boys as your drag will start singing. They will pull more line than most other fish in the passage. They’ve been taken on hard body minnows, surface lures, soft plastics and small live baits (hardy heads and herring). I will suggest just taking a happy snap and a quick release as their eating quality is not the best and they don’t freeze well.

There is a handful of squire and jew around most are undersize and not worth targeting, but if you had the need I would send you to the deeper water around the Bribie bridge.

There are a good handful of crabs around - mainly sandies that have been good sizes. Most of them don’t need to go under the crab check, but in saying that, they aren’t huge crabs and it’s always better to be safe than sorry, so give them a quick check. Good numbers are coming out of Gallaghers gutter. There is a few mud crabs around, a lot of them being empty or under size, making it very hard work and often disappointing. On the up side there is very few jennies around to devour baits and waste your time. The majority of the crabs in your pots should be bucks.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas with heaps of tight line action and have a happy New Year on the water.