The fishing has been outstanding lately! Plenty of anglers have been coming home with a feed of fish from inside the Jumpinpin Bar, with flathead, bream, whiting, tailor and school jew all included in their catches.

Outside the bar on Sully’s Reef and out to the 36s there has been snapper, cobia, large jew, amberjack and mackerel. Early starts have been necessary for those heading out offshore in order to get back before the wind picks up.

It’s really good to see that flathead stocks are on the rise due to the legal size and bag limits (minimum 40cm, maximum 70cm, bag limit of five). Large females can hold thousands of eggs, and from the number of very small flathead caught, it’s obvious that most anglers have been releasing these breeding fish. I’ve been lucky enough to head out a few times recently and it’s quite common to catch up to 10 undersized flathead in a session. Soft plastics are going well on the weed banks near Pandannus Island, Kalinga Bank, and Canaipa Passage. White, pink, green and purple colours have all scored good fish, while small pillies and froggies have been the best baits when chasing lizards.

Bream are still around in good numbers at the Five Ways, Short Island, Kalinga Bank and the Powerlines. Vic and Brad caught two stonkers over 1kg from the Logan River’s lower reaches. There have also been some bream close to 1kg caught at night in the surf across from the Bedrooms. Plenty of dart and the odd medium-sized tailor have been taken from this area as well.

Tailor have been fairly quiet with only small choppers available at dawn and dusk along the bottom of North Stradbroke and scattered throughout the Jumpinpin Bar.

Whiting are picking up in size and numbers from the Broadwater, Wave Break Island, the Green Bank, Slipping Sands and the western side of the Never Fail Islands. A few good hauls have come from the Nerang and Logan rivers in the deeper holes and also from the sand flats between Kalinga Bank and Crusoe Island. I recommend using either sand or bloodworms as bait.

Thanks for all your reports and if you need any advice or want to find out what’s biting, drop me a line at Gem Bait & Tackle on (07) 3287 3868 or email --e-mail address hidden--

I’ll catch you next month.