THE HOLIDAY crowds have dropped off so now’s a great time to hit the ‘Pin and experience how good the fishing is.

Some mates and I recently camped on South Straddie and the weather came to the party with clear skies and cool winds. On the first morning we headed out towards the bar to see if there were any tailor about, and we had hardly got on the plane when we saw white birds diving at the top of Crusoe Island. For the next two hours it was on for young and old with choppers everywhere and the odd greenback smashing our lures. We were back to camp and had our fish cleaned by 7am.

We avoided the heat of the day and then headed out for an afternoon session. Bigger tailor were on this time and they were thicker and more voracious with all four of us hooked up on several occasions. They were all good quality fish and I managed to hook two monsters – a 2.5kg and 4.5kg that took 20 minutes to land on 9lb line. My mate Dan landed half of a 4kg greenback that fought well but apparently something else wanted it more than he did. Fishing Straddie is a great way to spend a weekend, and I strongly recommend it.

Even though we had a great trip, tailor have been hit and miss lately with the best results in the first and last hour of the day. Spinning lures is the best way when they’re on, and jigging the bottom or using pilchard baits have also been working well.

Muddies have been coming up in good numbers but you have to move the pots around a bit and try different baits, because one pot might have five to 10 crabs in it while the next one down has none. The rivers are going well for both muddies and sandies, and some areas to try include Tiger Mullet Channel, Tabby Tabby Island, Double Island and across from Cabbage Tree Point.

Quality whiting are on offer along the drop-offs of most channels using sand or bloodworms, mainly at night near the bottom of the tide. The Logan River is going well, producing the odd half kilo specimen, or you could try near the powerlines, Slipping Sands and south of Russell Island.

Flathead numbers are fantastic at the moment so it seems the new size limits are working (min 40cm, max 70cm, bag limit of five). Many fishos I talk to have been releasing a lot of large females and some smaller ones under 40cm that aren’t worth taking anyway. All lures are getting strikes throughout the ‘Pin area, especially near the Bar on the sandbanks between North and South Straddie. The best baits are small pillies, prawns, whitebait and froggies.

As usual, bream are everywhere you drop your line and will take pretty much any bait.

Thankyou for all your reports and keep them coming in. If you have any questions or would like to order some bait, give me a call at Gem Bait & Tackle on (07) 3287 3868 or email --e-mail address hidden-- I’ll catch you next month.

1) One of many big tailor caught during an afternoon session at South Straddie.