It’s crazy to think that a third of the year has already passed. Time flies when you’re having fun. Talking of fun, on a recent trip I was assigned a task to get a good mate, Finley, onto some decent fish and thought, what better way to do it than throw small hardbodies in 2ft of water?

The day started out by going to one of my faithful spots. The wind and tide were working the way I wanted them to and I was quite hopeful that we were going to get onto a few fish. We positioned the boat before the ground that I believed would hold fish and started casting. Third cast in and my mate hooked up whileslow rolling a little Atomic Crank 38. The fish turned out to be his new PB bream of 32cm. In the first drift we both landed numerous bream in the 30s with a few sweetlip thrown in as well. The second drift wasn’t so kind with only the one bream caught fairly early in the drift. I was about to call a move to a different spot when Finley called for one last cast. While I was getting the boat ready for a move I hear “Ryan I’m hooked up and it’s not stopping!” After a few anxious moments we landed his new PB flathead of 70cm in 3ft of water on a little Atomic Crank 38. We got a few photos with it before releasing it for another angler to enjoy. With the tide almost at its peak there was one more spot I wanted to give a shot. A shallow weed bed that was holding lots of bait ended our day with a few more bream on the little hardbodies. The gear we used for this trip were light 7ft rods with a small 2000 size spinning reel with 4lb braid and 4lb fluorocarbon leader, we were both throwing the Atomic Crank 38’s in a variety of colours all day.

Other species being caught in the bay include prawns that are running around the southern bay islands from Redland Bay down to Jacobs Well - just look for the swarms of boats in one area throwing cast nets. A good quality sounder is a great tool to have when searching for these tasty crustaceans. Snapper have been found around Peel Island recently by fishing the rubble grounds and artificial reefs and wrecks using a variety of soft plastics. Whiting have been an awesome target for the land-based angler with live bloodworms and yabbies being the preferred bait. Surface lures such as the Bassday Sugarpen and Storm Gomoku poppers in colours that are clear with small brown or red lines to imitate a prawn have been my favourite for targeting bream and whiting on the flats recently.

April is surely going to be an exciting month for fishing with the summer species at their peak. If you’re after any further information or just want to have a chat come in to Dave’s Bayside Bait and Tackle in Victoria Point to meet me or any of the other staff members. Tight lines and screaming drags!