Brisbane has certainly had some extreme weather of late, with plenty of much needed rain, strong winds and big seas. Unfortunately there have not been many opportune fishing moments, especially offshore.

I did however manage a few trips before the wild weather set in. The offshore activity at the time saw the squire and snapper slow down in the shallow reefs and sharks turn up in near plague proportions. The shallows have been alive with bait, mostly small blue pillies 3-4” long. We have recently witnessed several shows of sharks along with a few cobia and tuna smashing the bait on the surface. We managed to boat a few good cobia to 25kg and the odd huge dolphin fish from around the bait schools. The sharks have been so copious trying to get a bait past them was nearly mission impossible.

The pelagics still have not arrived offshore in any number, but fingers crossed they will appear soon.

There has been some quality dolphinfish around the FADs off Moreton Island and also the wave buoy off Point Lookout. Keep in mind if there are too many boats around the dolphin fish are easily spooked. Most of the fish we have boated were taken using spin tackle or bait of half pillies. We have also nabbed a couple of monsters bigger than 15kg on live baits.

Target species for the next couple of months include school, spotted and Spanish mackeral, wahoo, dolphinfish and small black marlin for the pelagic angler.

The Coffee Rocks tight into Moreton Island will be worth a troll for the mackerels. The Group off Point Lockout along with Hutchinson Shoal off Cape Moreton are the places to target Wahoo. Remember, in most instances, if you find the bait, you find the fish.

For the bottom bouncers when the current is not up it could be well worth dropping a live on the 35’s and 42’s off Moreton, for a kingie or amberjack. Try the wide ground east of Point Lookout for a pearlie.

I have been lucky enough to avoid the wild weather of the South East, while on holiday in North Queensland. The weather at Cardwell could not be more different. Already I have managed several trips to the reefs east of Hinchinbrook, including a few charters, which were well worth the effort with red hot fishing. Bagging out quality small mouth nannygai between 2-3kg has been a surprisingly simple task. Add some XOS scarlet sea perch to 11kg, coral trout and a few GT, the best of which was about 25kg, and the fish are well and truly on the chew in the north.

I am certainly looking forward to getting back out on the water in this beautiful corner of the world.

Should the weather turn a bit nasty and the wind begins to blow there is still a lot of options for fishing in Hinchinbrook. The Hinchinbrook channel and the surrounding islands are great places to target barra, jacks, fingermark, queenfish and GT when the wind prevents a trip to the reef.

Enjoy your fishing, wherever it may be in whatever weather, take care on the coastal bars and if you would like to join me on charter (max 4 persons) give me a call on (07) 3822 9527.