This rain we have been receiving has kept the muddies out for longer periods than normal, which has had the crabbers reaping the rewards with very little effort.

In saying this they will taper off quickly this month as the water temps go down and hopefully the passage clears. These crabs have been outstanding quality and very few of the crabs boated were empty.

With all the fresh brings loads of food and nutrients keeping them in prime condition. I guess you could call them grain fed as the dirty passage has acted as one great big feeding lot. The jury is out on the best way to cook these guys but I suggest sticking to what you know works best. I use a bit of extra salt and a small handful of raw sugar in the water in which they boil; it makes all the difference.

Bream should be set for a cracking season. I’ve already seen some good specimens being pulled from boat ramps, jetties, boats and land-based areas all over the passage; everywhere I go someone is pulling some bream and this is set to get much better as the water temps fall.

They have been aggressive and I put this down to the prawn population in the passage; they are absolutely gorging themselves.

Small poppers, blades, soft plastics and fresh bait are all working great but purely for the buzz, I would suggest surface lures. They work a treat this time of year when the prawns are active and abundant, but at the end of the day I fish for fun, not numbers. If you are chasing numbers I would suggest soft plastics or fresh bait.

Grunter bream have been thick and a reliable source of fun, but unlike the normal bream they are set to taper off quickly with the cooler weather. Being more of a warm water target species, you will still hook the odd grunter in the coming months but not in any numbers.

Whiting have been a good, reliable fish to target. The big slappers should hold on and fish quite well all through winter regardless of being called summer whiting; their name gives off a false impression.

Bribie surf beach has been the target area hit hardest with good results but they are all through the passage from top to bottom. If you have no luck in one spot don’t throw in the towel, just keep moving around and you will eventually come out on top.

The diver whiting are biting their heads off out the front between Beachmere and Bribie. The easiest way to locate them in good weather is just head to the flock of boats chasing them. The cockle banks have been the fun location but in most cases you shouldn’t need to travel that far to land a feed of these guys.

Just remember to take the kids; they love it and in most cases they won’t have time to get bored. Whiting will be there for the taking right throughout the winter months.

The flathead are on a slow increase in numbers and size. Persistence is the key to chasing duskies this month as they can be a bit sluggish. I will suggest covering a lot of area and the best way to do this is flicking or trolling as it will get you over a lot of country in a short space of time.

Stick to using lures instead of bait as it can be hard to cover the same amount of country with bait. Once you find the fish, hang around and pepper the area. When it comes to duskies they love to hang around in numbers one or two fish caught in one area if peppered properly can turn into a dozen fish in a short space of time.

While chasing duskies throughout May you can ensure you will start to see the showing of a few chopper tailor in our passage; they will be scattered but in no numbers and this will continue right through until June. But come July it should be all systems go and bagging out on tailor will be easily done. Have fun out there and be safe on the water.