Flathead are the best fish to target in September in the Jumpinpin area. The breeding season is well and truly underway and the lizards should be feeding up. Big flatties can grow to in excess of 1m, which are a fish of a lifetime!

Just remember all large flathead over 75cm have to be released so if you do catch one try to handle her with care and release her safely back to the water.

The pick of the spots will be from the dead trees at the bottom of North Straddie all the way to along Kalinga Bank along the steep drop-off and the main channels leading to the bar. They can be caught on any part of the tide but you’ll find they feed more on the first of the run-out or from about half tide out to the bottom of the tide as the water comes off the banks bringing the bait off the shallows into the deeper water. Try and aim for the banks that will be exposed at low tide and hit the edges of these banks. Flatties can be caught in as little as 6” of water so don’t be afraid to get right up on the bank and slowly move your bait or lure into the deeper water.

Big bait for a big fish is the way to go with live mullet, herring, gar or pike awesome baits for the really big fish. Some other good spots to try for lizards are the Stockyards, Flat Rock, the point of Short Island, and the Gold Bank.

Bream are still in plentiful numbers in the usual bream spots like Short Island, Kalinga Bank, Five Ways and Little Rocky Point. They are not big fish with most between 25-30cm but the odd stonker to nearly a kilo can still be caught.

Stick with prawns, gut, yabbies, worms and whitebait as favourites for bream bait. Vibes, soft plastics and suspending lures around any structure will usual catch you a bream or any number of other species.

Juvenile snapper have been caught in the main channel from Cabbage Tree Point past Rocky Point and up to the western tip of Macleay Island. At the moment I’m told trolling deep diving hardbodied lures that dive 5m+ is proven very fruitful.

The whiting should start to come on as the water starts to heat up. Worms are still the best bait or you could try yabbies, peeled prawns, squid or small worm like soft plastics fed along the current seem to be working well too. Popping in the shallows or using small minnow divers are also producing. Try Alberton Sands in the Logan, the Junction, Marks Rocks, the Pimpama, Tipplers and the Never Fail Islands, Pandannus weed banks and the Gold and Green Banks.

Tailor have been moving along the coast feeding on schools of bait so keep an eye out for them chopping up the surface. Poppers, metal lures and soft plastics are all working well with a fast retrieve but these toothy critters are murder on the plastics and will quite often take the plastic clean off the jig head which can prove an expensive way to fish.

School mulloway are around in good numbers. Just remember that their legal size limit is now a minimum 75cm and a bag limit of two – there are some anglers out there who still don’t know the new rules. Try around Marks Rocks, Little Rocky Point, Giants Grave, Whalleys Gutter, off Swan Bay and Fishermans Channel using live bait or large strip baits.

The muddies and sandies will be on the move now that the water temp is heating up so be sure to throw the pots in when you head out. Muddies have been going well from the Logan River to the mouth and right down to Rocky Point.

• Thanks for all your great reports and fish weighed in and if you’d like to order any bait or up to date fishing info drop us a line at Gem Bait & tackle on 3287 3868 or email --e-mail address hidden-- I’ll catch you next month.