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A clearer outlook for May
  |  First Published: May 2017



All the rain we had at the end of March turned the system inside out. The rain flushed all the prawns into the bay, so all the guys chasing prawns had a couple of weeks of low numbers. With the rush of dirty water, the flathead and whiting retreated to the deeper holes, trying to avoid the worst of it.

We’ve also had some poor weather and swell, preventing boaties from making the most of fishing in the bay and outside. Big ground swell over the Easter weekend saw five boats flip on the bars.

However, things are on the improve. The water has been clearing up, which paves the way for good catches of flathead and quality sand whiting in the shallows. We’re also seeing good catches of prawns and crabs, and the weather is looking better. Overall, the outlook for May looks pretty good.

OFFSHORE

Lately we’ve had some big ground swell, so the only boats that have been getting out have been leaving from Mooloolaba and fishing the lower end of the Barwon Banks. They’re picking up some good Spanish mackerel along with some excellent pearlies, up around 50-60cm. Most of the pearlies have been coming from the wire weed at the bottom end of the banks.

There have been some nice cod caught out on the wrecks on live bait, and some cobia as well.

In close, anglers have been having a lot of fun on the schools of longtail tuna and mac tuna, catching them on slugs ranging anywhere from 15-30g in a variety of colours.

Also in close on the inner reefs, anglers fishing soft plastics have reported good catches of snapper to 3.5kg, with some grass sweetlip mixed in.

RIVER AND ESTUARY

The river mouths have been really dangerous with the ground swell we’ve had, so estuary fishing has been limited to the guys chasing bream, whiting and flathead on various soft plastics and hardbodies.

The prawns have left the river and are making their way back into the upper reaches of the creeks.

There are reports of jacks in the Pumicestone Passage, Bells Creek, Currimundi Lake and the upper reaches of the Mooloolah River.

There have been good catches of muddies and sandies in all the river systems, with good reports from the Mooloolah and Maroochy rivers and Pumicestone Passage.

BEACHES

From Currimundi Beach through to Dicky Beach there have been reports of whiting, dart and bream starting to show up. There’s also the odd smaller chopper being caught from Currimundi to Wurtulla.

THE MONTH AHEAD

May should hopefully see the prawns returning in the coming weeks, and we’re hoping for some good weather as well. The guys that want to get offshore and really have a go at the snapper should do well. The best options are soft plastics and small pillies.

Due to ongoing road works and development around Bells Creek, it has been very dirty on the low tide. However, if we get no more rain it should be much better in May.

The water is still quite warm at the moment so a few species haven’t really made their presence felt, such as bigger sea bream and school jew. This should change towards the end of May though, with school jew starting to enter the river systems and start feeding around mouths of the rivers. They love taking 5” soft plastics, along with bait such as squid and mullet fillet. Always fish on the change of the tide for the best results.

For all the latest info on what’s biting and where, drop into Caloundra Fishing World at 7/8 Yay Ave, Caloundra or give them a call on (07) 5491 4566.

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