The drought is hopefully starting to ease with a good drop of rain over Christmas injecting a bit of colour to the landscape and giving the rivers a badly needed flush.

The influx of rain has helped stir the mud crabs with good hauls throughout the new year period along Fraser Island’s many creeks.

Scarness Reef has had plenty of coral bream, blackall and cod on squid, worms and mullet fillets. The boat harbour has fished well over the Christmas break with a few cod responding to live herring, flathead to 95cm on mullet fillets and mackerel and trevally taking Flasha lures fished at varying depths around the mouth.

The artificial reef has had cod, coral trout, coral bream and mangrove jack on live bait, flesh baits and squidgy slick rigs bounced around the wrecks early morning and late afternoon on the tide change.

Moon and Bagimba ledges have yielded mackerel and golden trevally on floating pilchards. Cod, squire and blackall can also be caught on squid and live pike.

Bashing the beacons with plastics, baitfish profiles and the new octopus style jigs have produced trevally, mackerel, bonito, cobia and tuna when worked on the edges of bait schools. Most beacons in the bay are a good spot to locate live bait and in turn hold larger fish, which are easily coaxed to take live bait and lures.

Typical for this time of year, Platypus Bay has had good numbers of spotted mackerel working the bait schools from Arch Cliffs to Rooneys Point. Longtail tuna, trevally, Spanish mackerel, mac tuna and billfish all share the same food source as the spotties which keeps it interesting every time you come up tight on a fish.

Stalking the depths is a good way to find fish when it goes quiet as often other species feed below the surface action. Small black marlin have been smacking lead slugs amongst the surface feeding frenzy but rarely stay hooked due to their hard bill and inadequate tackle meant for other species.

If targeting these mini marlin downsize your lure spread to match the baitfish as close as possible for best results.

The creeks north of Moon Point have had good numbers of flathead and whiting on yabbies and plastics and golden trevally and queenfish on lures and live bait.

So get out there and make the most of the remaining summer now the crowds have eased.