The weather conditions are usually favourable for an early morning session before it gets too hot and the afternoons are longer so you can head out to have a fish after work. If you can time it so that the high tide coincides with these times of day, when the fish are at their most active, then your catch rate will be sure to improve.

Mangrove jack and cod will be more active in the warmer conditions, so hit any snag or structure that looks promising with a livie or a fresh strip bait and you’ll give yourself a real chance at catching one of these terrific fighting fish. Be sure to arm yourself with at least 30lb line and use a heavy mono leader as these fish will blow you away in the blink of an eye. The trick is to get them off their snag and into open water, but this is easier said than done. Another great method to catch jacks and cod is to troll lures around the snags and rock walls or you can flick blades, vibes or plastics around the structures.

Flathead once again should be prevalent as usual and with nearly 5,000 lizards being caught and released in the recent Flathead Classic you can see that there is no shortage in the flathead stocks. All these fish were caught on lures so if you have never used lures, give them a go because they really do work. The top of Crusoe Island, Pandannus weed banks, Kalinga Bank, Tipplers Island, along the Never Fails and the Aldershots were all great haunts during the competition and with all those fish being released they should all be in those spots during November. Flathead love live mullet, herring, hardiheads and the like, and drifting with these in those areas just mentioned during the first of the run out tide should see you on the right track to catch bigger and better flathead.

Dust off the crab pots as the muddies usually fire up about in November. If you love a feed of crab, start at the lower reaches of the Logan River and head outwards towards Long Island, Redland Bay Channel and further to Cobby Passage and out from Jacobs Well sticking along the mangrove covered shoreline and holes.

Tailor should start to venture through the Bar on the early morning high tides or they will be hanging out beyond the breakers of South Straddie across from the Bedrooms all the way to the tip and for the bigger fish night fishing is the way to go.

The whiting are also picking up in size and in numbers from the Broadwater, Wave Break Island, the Green Bank, Slipping Sands and the western side of the Never Fail Islands. A few good hauls have come from the Nerang and Logan rivers in the deeper holes and also from the sand flats between Kalinga Bank and Crusoe Island. Stick with either sand or blood worms.

Thanks for all your reports and if you need any advice or want to find out whats biting drop us a line at Gem Bait & Tackle on 07 3287 3868 or email --e-mail address hidden-- I’ll catch you next month.