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Clean after the Wash
  |  First Published: April 2010



It has been a wash out all up and down the Queensland coast for the past three months and now May is here let’s hope we can capitalise.

Traditionally after a good wet we get some great fishing, but as this has been a cracker of a wet season we may have a cracking autumn. The ambient air temperature will be on the decrease over May, which in turn will start to drop water temps. This is not a bad thing as the cooler water will clean up faster giving the pelagics a chance to move right back in against the coast.

The Burnett has already seen some good fishing on the incoming tides with good sized grunter being caught on baits in the deeper holes and this should continue through May. When the top of the tide coincides with dawn it will be well worth trolling around some hardbodies along the dirty water line looking for mackerel and tuna. When that tide turns and the dirty water starts to push out its time try something else.

The Baffle has been and will stay fresh for a long while but again on the incoming tide there are fish being caught. Flathead are showing up on the flats around the mouth and small rattling hardbodied lures are doing the trick, you will have to watch for snags though as the recent floods have unearthed many new buried trees. May should see the start of larger trevally and queenfish patrolling the deeper holes around the mouth of the Baffle so keep an eye out for nervous baitfish and keep a surface popper handy.

Offshore has been firing up for those lucky enough not to be working for the three days of good weather we had over March. Red emperor, coral trout and some big sweetlip have been caught outside and thanks to a weather enforced reef closure the fish are hungry. The best results have been on live bait but anglers fishing grounds that have not seen a bait for months are catching fish on anything they drop down.

Freshwater: Well there is plenty of it and there will be for some time to come. I’ve not had a chance to fish Monduran since the rise so I have no first hand news. However, I have been told that there are still fish being caught, mainly trolling and over new ground. I hope to get there soon to see this giant body of water as it is 75%, which is a staggering 475,000mL now that’s a lot of water.

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