Fishing along Teewah Beach this January has the potential to be either particularly good or totally disastrous or a combination of both. Outside influences make for the month ahead hard to forecast, but let’s hope good fishing is the eventual outcome.

Anglers fishing the beach gutters recently have experienced the full spectrum of results, from not receiving a bite to beaching a bucket full of different species.

Whiting continue to be the most consistent species caught with flathead, tarwhine, bream, dart and tailor in lesser numbers. Fish haven't been plentiful, but those putting in the hours are generally putting a feed together.

A few tailor, trevally and kingfish continue to take metal lures retrieved at high speed in rocky country south of Teewah and around Double Island Point. Many of the tailor, tevs and kingies are in the 2-3kg range which makes for good sport off the beach.

The quality and quantity of tailor should improve as schools of greenbacks arrive from the north on their way back to NSW waters. With the heavy presence of juvenile Australian anchovy shoals along the beach in December, which are always on the menu of southbound greenbacks we should see some good tailor being caught.

The anchovy have tended to concentrate along certain sections of coastline over the past few years with those areas drawing seemingly all of the migratory pelagics and other areas none at all.

I predict this year will see Laguna Bay holding good anchovy stocks and healthy populations of mackerel, tuna and tailor in pursuit. This will be great for boaties who like to chase the speedsters offshore, and also for beach anglers who on occasion can access the same species from the beach.

Other species available from the beach in January are oyster crackers (snub nosed dart or permit), golden trevally and bonefish along with the usual bread and butter species of whiting, tarwhine, flathead, bream and dart.

Pipies (eugaries) and worm baits account for all these species with worms in very healthy numbers along the entirety of Teewah Beach. But eugaries unfortunately are still proving to be difficult to find.

January fishing prospects from the beach will be dictated by the weather and whether or not it is conducive to algal growth. Regular southeasterlies are what is needed to keep the algae at bay and at some point a low pressure system or cyclone would be advantageous too. But it's not looking good for anything other than prevailing northerlies.

Cooloola and Teewah hit the headlines and featured on the news in late November due to a bushfire.

The fire was started by day trippers about 13km north of Teewah on November 8, south of the designated camping area. The fire was lit during a total fire ban.

It quickly raced up the coloured sand hills with a 20–25 knot east to southeast wind helping it in a westerly direction. It continued in a westerly direction with prevailing east to south easterly winds and in a direction away from Teewah Village

On November 11 a back burn was lit at Teewah to protect the village from the fire. The back burn then headed northwest with the prevailing wind and continued to burn for the next week.

Now being the owner of a property in Teewah, the last thing I want is for it to be burnt down. But I don’t think the back burn was necessary as the fire was going away from my property and the village and the winds assisted it to travel further away for the next several days.

I simply can't grasp the point that this back burn was lit to protect mine and other landowners properties during a total fire ban when our properties were never under threat. Simple logic dictates the threat was negligible and the Bureau of Meteorology site tells the story of wind directions and strength at the time.

Adding to my confusion is the fact that the village surrounds were burnt off in controlled burns in August, which are designed to protect the village from fires from the north. We also have a beach in front of our village that provides a totally safe location to flee to in the event of a fire.