I trust everyone had a good Christmas and New Year and there wasn’t too many self-inflicted headaches along the way.
From early December fishing has been a mixed bag with a few good days on the squire and snapper from the Shallow Tempest areas. Although the fish haven’t been monsters, there have been some red hot days on the kingfish and amberjacks on jigs in the deeper water.
We also had a few sessions on good squire in the deeper water with some good fish in the 1-3kg bracket coming aboard.
Lately this quality of fishing has been dependent on the weather. While we have caught good numbers of fish, as soon as the wind starts blowing to the north or northwest with more than a few knots of puff in it, its been like hitting a switch and putting any sort of fish on the deck became a real struggle.
North of Cape Moreton there’s been quite healthy numbers of small black marlin caught. The wahoo have not shown up in any great numbers yet, but the ones that have been boated have been good fish ranging from 15-20kg. There’s also been the odd Spanish mackerel caught. Down off the Gold Coast, Palm Beach Reel and Mermaid Reef some small Spaniards and spotty mackerel have turned up, so there’s still hope for a good pelagic season in our neck of the woods.
With the winds being predominantly from the north lately, coming into early December the water has been a dirty green in close to Moreton Island and Point Lookout. Live bait has been hard work to find most days. With a little luck we will start to see some southerly winds in January bring clean blue water in close and with it the baitfish and predators.
As soon as conditions are favourable, I will be dusting off the trolling gear and working live baits along the coffee rock reefs in close to Moreton Island. Looking for any of the mackerel species to set my reel screaming.
Other good options for January include trolling skirted and hardbodied lures in the Hutchies and Point Lookout areas for pelagics such as wahoo, mackerel, yellowfin tuna and mahi mahi.
For the bottom angler, Shallow Tempest will be worth a look for a good snapper and spangled emperor. Yellowtail kingfish and amberjack will still be active out on the deeper reefs, so a bit of jigging will be worth the effort.
Down off Point Lookout, the walk-rider buoy should hold a few mahi mahi but with only the one buoy, traffic is an issue.
Last year one of Brisbane’s game fishing clubs put around half a dozen Fish Attraction Devices (FAD) in various depths out from Moreton Island. They were a great success with good numbers of fast growing mahi mahi schooling up around these FADs and giving anglers the opportunity to target these fish. Unfortunately they are all gone for one reason or another. With all the green zones coming into effect in March and with Fisheries wanting to take the pressure off the rocky reef species, the government could dig into their pockets and put in half a dozen or more of these FADs, which would assist in the long term health of the fishery off Brisbane.
Enjoy your fishing and take care on the coastal bar.
If you would like to join me on a charter (max 5 persons) give me a call on 3822 9527 or 0418 738 750.
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