The new moon on the 6 April should bring some good fishing during the Easter holidays. There will be a lot of boats around during this time so be sure to exercise some patience and be safe out on the water.

Plenty of quality flathead are on offer from the Logan River mouth near Redland Bay channel, southwest side of Russell Island, Pig Styes and the top of South Straddie. Peter Woolgar caught a great 2kg flathead with a Tilsan bass lure near Cabbage Tree Point, so the big ones are definitely out there.

Live bait has been a bit easier to gather lately with prawn, poddy mullet and herring having great results. Soft plastic lures twitched through the shallows are doing the trick with purple, lumo green and yellow colours catching the fish, not to mention the life-like mullet lures also going well.

Apparently someone forgot to tell the crabs that their season is coming to an end. Probably due to the late rains, muddies have been firing from the lower reaches of the Logan River, the Albert and the Pimpama Rivers. Sandies too are going well around Tabby Tabby Island, Little Rocky Point, Long Island and Tiger Mullet channel.

Some good-sized schools of tailor have been coming through the bar and along the beaches of South Straddie across from the Bedrooms. A few local fishing club boys have been hitting the beach at night with varied results and are saying it’s hard work to find some quality fish.

Size is the main concern, as the real big greenbacks seem to have given us a wide birth. Not that there’s anything to complain about with plenty around the 1kg mark and the odd trevally has been amongst the schools. Smaller metal slugs seem to be working from the boat and floating a pilchard out the back and drifting is also popular. Most tailor have been caught when the schools are feeding and easy to see around the dirty water line near the top of the tide.

Whiting have been on the chew in the Logan River with the best results coming at night on the smallest tides. Bloodworms and beachworms have, once again, been the pick baits.

Some other good spots to try are Canaipa Passage near Oak Island, western side of Eden Island, Never Fail Islands and Tiger Mullet Channel. Col scored an elbow slapper and Dylan Foster got some quality whiting from the Logan River near Marks Rocks.

Banana prawns have been around in good numbers from the rivers and look to be sticking around, so grab the cast net and get out there as the chance to get a good feed of prawns is hard to resist. Target feeder creeks and drains as they tend to congregate there, feeding on all the goodies that get washed out into the river.

Thanks for all your reports and fish weighed in. Drop us a line at Gem Bait and Tackle if you’d like to order bait or get some up-to-date info on what’s biting on 07 3287 3868 or email --e-mail address hidden-- .