It was great to catch up with a few Queensland Fishing Monthly readers at the Brisbane Boat Show and I hope everyone who went enjoyed the show. The number of people who came along with specific questions about gear and techniques shows how much our sport is growing.

Matt from Salty’s reports that the Burnett River has been producing some good salmon on livebaits. He also said that plenty of big flathead have been taken around the middle reaches of the river on soft plastics. Anglers targeting whiting have been getting a few nice fish but they are a little hard to find.

The weather will warm up nicely this month and the fishing should improve as more baitfish move into the river. I drive over the river every day and because the water is so clean, you can see plenty of baitfish all along the town reach. There should be a few fish up the top end to catch as well.

The Baffle has already been fishing well for jacks, with the upper reaches producing better results. If you are going to chuck a few lures around the area this month, concentrate on the very shallow sections as the water will be the warmest and should hold the more active fish.

There has been very little rain lately so the water should still be very clean. Try natural coloured lures like greens and golds and work them slowly and erratically to entice a strike. Lures like the Tilsan Barra and Halco Scorpion have inbuilt actions that attract fish and both have caught plenty of fish in the Baffle.

I don’t usually fish this river but a few mates have told me that the Kolan has been producing flathead around the mouth and salmon and jacks on live and dead baits in the deeper holes of the main river. The mangrove system at the mouth holds some decent black bream and estuary cod; they have been eating Prawnstars and Berkley PowerBaits without much fuss.

Once again, as the water warms the jacks should start to chew. The best place to start is right up the river just below the weir, where there are some good rock ledges and walls that hold fish. You can get to the mouth of the Kolan through Maira and it does have a van park if you want to stay for the weekend.

Monduran has been fishing very well of late with plenty of 60-85cm barra being taken in the dam. The shallow water around the fringes is the best place to try and large shallow running lures are doing the job.

I had a trip out there recently and managed to tangle with a couple of fish. My fishing partner for the day, Geoff Beyer, raised around seven fish, but unfortunately only put one in the boat as he hooked them in a heavily timbered area. Geoff’s technique is to get his casts right in tight in the shallows where the timber meets the banks, which means that when the fish hits, it is usually already in the timber. It is a very effective method, but has a high mortality rate for lures.

During this trip I put a 65cm barra in the livewell of my Polycraft to see how they last and to my surprise, after 5 hours in the well, the fish was in very good condition.