Nothing has changed as far as the pelagics are concerned. They are still playing hardball. There’s been a few Spanish mackerel caught on the coffee rock along Moreton Island, but Point Lookout has been very erratic and the lack of tinnies trolling the area is a giveaway. There’s not a lot happening.

During the last week of February and the first couple of weeks of March, a lot of mac tuna showed up and worked bait schools, so you never know – we might yet see a late season burst of Spaniards and wahoo. During the same period we had a lot of strong north to south current and even with the sea-anchor out we were drifting at over 4km/h, which made it very hard to bottom fish. Thankfully, the mahimahi turned it on and we had several red hot sessions on them.

On a few of the charters we targeted them around the Waverider buoys off Point Lookout, but on a couple of trips they turned up around the boat while we were bottom fishing and we managed to keep them around for a while with a bit of berley. There were only a few bulls amongst them, but most were good solid fish. Half pillies with a well-hidden hook did the damage on the majority but if they got fussy, livies changed their minds.

On the bottom fishing side of things, the shallow reefs around Point Lookout have been producing mixed bags of tuskfish, pearlies, Moses perch and squire for us on charter and when we’ve spent a bit of time floatlining.

The same area we’ve still picking up the odd good snapper around 5-6kg.

Shallow Tempest is also well worth the effort at this time of year, mulloway are a real possibility, especially at night. Anchoring up on bait schools and sending a livie back down on a single hook paternoster rig can tempt plenty of brutes including mulloway, gold spot cod, cobia, spangle emperor and snapper. Floating a livie outrigged on wire can bring in a Spaniard or two while you are bottom fishing.

• Until next month, enjoy your fishing, take care on the coastal bars and if you’d like to join me on charter (max. 8 persons give me a call on (07) 3822 9527 or 0418 738 750 or visit my website outlawcharters.com.au.