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Fruitful fishing when weather permits
  |  First Published: March 2012



The powers from above have dished up some very ordinary weather for the second year running and between the wind, rain and large seas, opportunities to get offshore have been very limited.

The amount of dirty water flowing out of the rivers and creeks is keeping the mackerel off the close in reefs but it should only take a week or so to clean up once the weather gives us a break. Mackerel reports from along the coast have been promising, we just need a run of good weather to get out and nail a few.

Quite often the bottom fishing on the close in reefs can be as good. As the murky water starts to clear, the reef fish will come in for an easy feed.

When chasing mackerel, find where the clean water meets the dirty and troll the clean side looking for bait and quite often that’s where the mackerel will be.

March gives anglers plenty of options east of the South Passage Bar. Along with Spanish mackerel, wahoo, should be very active and there should be some hefty specimens at that. High speed trolling with lures such as Hex Heads and Halco Laser Pros are normally the best method to boat one of these ocean going greyhounds, but don’t be afraid to slow troll a live tuna or large slimey mackerel – you just might find a real XOS model.

Hot spots for wahoo include ‘The Group’ and ‘The Sevens’ off Point Lookout and further north at Hutchinson Shoal, just a few kilometres north of Cape Moreton. The key to wahoo numbers on the closer grounds is blue water, so let’s hope we get plenty of blue water pushing close inshore in the next couple of months.

There should be good numbers of school mackerel hanging around the close in coffee rocks reefs off Moreton Island along with Spaniards and to a lesser extent wahoo.

The schoolies can sometimes be quite solid fish and on occasion we’ve boated ones larger than just legal on occasion we’ve boated ones larger than just legal Spaniards. They respond well to trolled livies and pillies and it pays to use a bit of lead crimped onto the front hook when trolling pillies to help it swim straight plus get it down to where the fish are feeding. They will also feel in that greeny coloured water that other mackerel usually shy away from and to top it off they’re good on the plate.

This time of year the wider reefs such as the 35s, 37s, 42s, plus the isolated wrecks that most people know about usually fish well for school sized amberjack, Samson and yellowtail kingfish. Using jigs or livies fished on braid will get you the best results.

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