Fresh southeasterly winds have been the order of the month in the Northern Bay as spring gets into full swing. Increasing ambient and water temperature has been favourable for fishing conditions in the local waterways over the last month with the spring season attracting more and more boating interest in all corners of our bay area.

Due to the consistency of easterly blowing winds, bait schools have a tendency to amass around our east facing river mouths and reef laden peninsulas which makes now a great time to fish. It pays to keep this in mind when planning your next angling adventure, as where there is bait there will be fish. Accompanying the good weather is the elimination of many pesky weed species that inhabit our waterways during the cooler months. The same weed that tangles around baits, lure trebles, and jigheads – making your day a frustrating experience in weed removal.

On the fishing front, estuaries have really ramped up catch production with occasional afternoon showers being enough to stir the water and keep bait moving through the river systems.

The Pumicestone is an area that performs better with warmer currents flowing through as it is often laden with weed during the cooler months. Lately bream activity has been quite good on the top of the tide especially around the mangroves, at the mouth of Ningi and Elimbah Creeks, and outside Tiger Rock. Good mullet schools are still populating Cooks Rocks with many good legal bream holding with them. Shallow running hardbodied lures are preferred by many lure buffs coupled with light leaders – a must in these shallow areas. Keeping a high rod position allows you to keep the fish’s head high and out of trouble and has been a crucial technique to fight these fish in narrow waters. Surface breaming has just started to gain momentum and working extended pauses into your retrieve will find results as the fish are a little tentative on striking. Surface lures I recommend include, Luckycraft Sammy 65, OSP Bent Minnow 86, Megabass Dog X Jr, and Jackall Chubby Pencil.

Sand whiting are still being caught on rising tides on the eastern beaches between Buckley’s Hole and Skirmish Point with seasoned anglers still choosing fresh worms as their preferred bait. Flathead numbers have been steady over this last month with Poverty Creek, Gallagher’s Gutter, and along Sylvan Beach noted as good spots.

The peninsula is set to flourish over the next month with the bread and butter of fish species - bream, flathead, and whiting coming to the fore as the waters start to warm. Diver whiting have started to appear more frequently throughout Bramble Bay over the past weeks with many anglers finding the fuller tides a key to success. While fishing in that same area, keen anglers have also been picking up a few sand crabs for their troubles and the next few months should start to see crab numbers increase. Flathead numbers are good, with a much more fruitful flathead find at the southern end of the peninsula rather than its northern counterpart. Soft plastics and large shad style hardbodies have been working the best for these bottom feeders with anglers preferring the ebbing tides around Woody Point, The Wells, and Clontarf Foreshore around Pelican Park. With the increase in water temperature, and the prevalence of baitfish, breaming has been great off the peninsula over the last couple of weeks. Lightly weighted plastics like Ecogear Bream Aquas, ZMan GrubZ, and Berkley Gulp Nemesis have been the pick of the artificial lures with Cranka Crabs working a treat in the deeper waters around Redcliffe’s many bommies.

After a slowish winter in one of the Northern Bay’s popular rivers, the Pine has start to fire a little over the last few weeks. Bream and flathead quantities have responded better due to an influx of bait schools especially around the deeper holes that are spread throughout the system. Bait like prawns, mullet and chicken breast have been popular amongst the local anglers with many choosing to anchor up in areas of good current flow. The mouth of the South Pine River, Deepwater Bend, Dohles Rocks, and the mouth of the Bald Hills Creek have been the popular hotspots of late with the boat traffic on the weekends a testament to this popularity.

Monthly Tip: Chase the fish - not the spots!

Happy Fishing!