The weather of late has been very scratchy with the odd good bit of weather in between the constant strong southerlies. May usually means cooler weather and this means the start of the change over from our warm water species to the more temperate ones.

I am really looking for to the start of the snapper season proper. I have had a bit of a go at them in the last couple of years and caught plenty of nice fish on baits, but this year I will be committing to a plastic-only approach even at night.

During the last couple of years we have been plagued by plastic chopping trigger fish and a constant run of small reefies, and I have been lucky enough to pick the brains of some good fishers that are consistently getting decent snapper and will be refining my technique until I have cracked a pattern on our local population. Stay tuned; hopefully I will be able to report some success soon.

May will also see the water temperature drop in the estuaries and this will mean the jacks will slow a bit and the bream will start to fatten up. It doesn’t mean you won’t still be able to catch jacks, in fact May can really produce some big fish, it will just mean warm water afternoon sessions will be more productive.

When I was at the recent Tinnie and Tackle Show in Brisbane I got to talk to a few readers of the magazine and when I asked if there was something they would like to see more of I had many requests for areas to fish without a boat. I guess I haven’t really catered too much for those of you that are land-based so from now on I will include more land-based options for local and visiting anglers alike.

Firstly this month we will have a look beach fishing options. Bundaberg isn’t renowned for its big surf beaches as Fraser Island blocks a lot of the large oceanic swells that hit the beaches further south, so the fishing techniques are a little different to those south of the island.

If you’re into your lure fishing then spinning for dart, tailor and flathead is an easy past time on our beaches. All you need is a 7’ light to medium spin rod matched up with 10lb braid, 15lb leader and a selection of small metal slices, jigheads and plastics.

Beaches like Moore Park, Mon Repo, Coonar and Woodgate are excellent places to start. Concentrating your efforts around the creek mouths will increase your chances of scoring fish.

My favourite metal slice is a Halco Twisty in the 20g. I walk the beach sending long casts into the modest surf then let it sink for a few seconds before winding it back as fast as I can. I alternate casts by casting in the shallows as the dart can be right at your feet sometimes.

When using soft plastics my favourite is the Berkley 3” Gulp swimming mullet in the white colour. Fishing on a 1/4oz jighead I basically do the same thing as the slice but I let the plastic waft around and get to the bottom more and just hop it back through the waves. I have caught some nice flathead, sole and dart on the plastics and it is even a good technique for the kids to learn as they can spread out a good safe distance for casting.