It’s Ekka time again and that means two things – days off and westerly winds.

Combine the two and it’s the perfect time to head out and fish the waterways that make up the Jumpinpin area. It’s easier to cross the Bar and make your way to the close inshore reefs where medium sized snapper and grass sweetlip have been on offer. The odd tailor, flathead and trag jew have also been caught from the reefs.

Inside the Bar some tailor have been around early in the morning. Size is the main problem, with choppers making up the bulk of catches from the Bar through to Short Island. Greenbacks are sometimes amongst these smaller fish but most of the larger fish have been coming from the surf off North and South Straddie. You can’t go past pilchards for bait but the best fish have been caught on bonito flesh and small gar. There are plenty of dart and big bream in the surf as well.

The water temperature is still very cold so bream are still around in good numbers. They are mostly juvenile bream but that’s nothing new as Jumpinpin is a nursery ground that provides protection and shelter where they can grow with few predators. Larger bream have mainly been caught at night or near the top of the tide from Short Island, Kalinga Bank, Tabby Tabby and the north wall of the Seaway. The best baits have been yabbies, mullet gut, chook gut and prawns.

The flathead keep coming in and it’s good to see the size limits working well with a lot of great stories of 70cm+ lizards being released unharmed. We need these big girls to keep breeding and we’re starting to see the benefits as Jumpinpin is now one of the best places to cut your teeth on flathead fishing. You can catch them quite easily on either bait or soft plastics. I’ve taken plenty of mates out who haven’t used soft plastics and there’s nothing better than someone hooking their first lizard. First strike and they’re hooked. There have been a lot around, mainly from Kalinga Bank, Canaipa Passage near Oak Island and Little Rocky Point. Small pillies, froggies, whitebait and soft plastics have been the best for scoring a lizard.

The whiting on offer aren’t huge but decent enough around the 400g mark from the Never Fail Islands, Green Bank, the Broadwater and the Powerlines. As usual worms are the way to go.

Jew have been a little scarce with only a few schoolies coming from Marks Rocks in the Logan and the ‘Pin Bar on live banana prawns and mullet.

Thanks for all your reports and fish weighed in and if you’d like any information or advice drop us a line at Gem Bait & Tackle on (07) 3287 3868 or email --e-mail address hidden-- .