Winter has finally arrived and with the cooler temperatures the more temperate species should be starting to fire up. Bream and tailor should be on the menu inshore, while big Spaniards and the very popular snapper will be up for grabs offshore.

The local winter breamers will be camped at Kirbys Wall with their mullet gut and fresh prawns at night as this is the best spot for the big guys. If you want get into a few on plastics, the moored boats up from the sugar jetty will all hold fish. They usually respond well to Berkley 3” PowerBait in pearl watermelon colour.

The other hot spot upriver is around the new bridge pylons. Check on your fishfinder to see whether the big balls of bait are around the pylons, then fish the one with the most bait around it.

Tailor will start showing up in numbers this month. Although tailor are not a glamour sportfishing target, they are great fun on light tackle and are always willing to take lures. In the Burnett the North Wall point is a great place to start. Try shallow diving lures with a chrome finish – small Bombers are ideal.

My kids and I have had some great sessions trolling small lures around the channel edge. You should also get into a few wolf herring and pike, and these make great Spanish mackerel baits for out wide. If you see anyone catch a decent sized mackerel while you’re out there don’t be afraid to whack on a Halco Scorpion because if there is a good mack around he will find that lure.

The Elliott River is another spot worth visiting to chase a few tailor over the next month or two. The best time is high tide in the early morning and if there is a bit of cloud cover then you should be in with a good chance.

Casting metal slugs around DR Mays Island and the channel at the mouth will cover ground fast and help you pinpoint the schools of fish. If you are land-based, look for a low tide around dusk and spin metal slugs and plastics around the bend at River View just up from the boat ramp.

Although we all know how bad the water situation is, it’s not until you see it first hand that the problem really hits home. I was lucky enough to spend a day with my mate and fellow QFM writer Jason (The Colonel) Ehrlich on Lake Wivenhoe recently and was witness to a much depleted water supply.

Jason explained that the lake had dropped 3m since his last visit only months before. When you couple that with the sheer size of the waterway, you soon realise the volume of water that has been used in such a short time.

My day on the lake was great in the end. I saw heaps of lungfish and caught lots of catfish. We did manage to get into some of the lakes famous for big bass and both of us weighed in a pair of fish over 4kg.

While on the subject of water, the rapid decline in water levels in my local dam Monduran is throwing up plenty of surprise with trees, cattle yards and even rods and reels showing up unexpectedly.

On a recent rip to the dam I was staying overnight in the cabins overlooking the lake when some friends returned from their day out brandishing a rod and reel they had found on the bank, covered in mud and growth.

After consuming a few refreshing beverages and a few big steaks off the barbecue, I decided in all my wisdom I would get this rod and reel working and cast a lure off it before I went to bed. I removed the years of growth off the reel with hot water and vinegar, and then discovered that the mess I was playing with was an ABU 5600 C3. Anyone familiar with these reels will know how simple and well built they are.

So my task actually became easier as I took the reel apart and cleaned all of the parts. The only thing that had collapsed was a bearing on the level wind so I put it all back together, tied a leader on and by 1am I had successfully cast a lure with it. It just goes to show that ABU really know how to build a reel.

Chris with a trevally that he jigged up on a Berkley Gulp.