The cooler weather this month should bring on the bigger bream and the westerly winds will flatten out the Pin and make fishing conditions spot on. This is definitely one of my favourite times of the year to fish.

Bream will be the main species that make up most catches throughout this time of year and, whilst they can be caught all year round, you’ll notice that there are a lot more quality fish showing up. Try fishing at the top of the tide along Kalinga Bank, the deep hole off NE Crusoe Island, Short island, Tipplers Island, the beach off South Straddie, the Powerlines and the Seaway. Best baits to try are prawns, yabbies, herring, white bait, chook and mullet gut, and flesh baits.

Prawns have been running as well and should be available most of May. Plenty of boaties have been getting their 10L of banana prawns from Redland Bay, the Logan River mouth, Rocky Point, Behms Creek, Rudy Maas and Jacobs Well.

You can expect the flathead to keep biting all month with soft plastics producing some great catches now that the water has started to clean up. I’ve caught flatties on plastics using cast and retrieve twitching them along the bottom imitating an injured baitfish, drifting using a lifting action straight up and down to look like a rising baitfish or the laziest method just stick the rod in the holder and let them catch themselves (it does actually work).

If bait fishing is your go, then live mullet and herring are the best followed by prawns, pillies and white bait. You’ll find good lizards at the first of the run out tide from Kalinga Bank to the Bar, the Stockyards, west of Short Island, Cobby Passage and the mouth of the Logan.

Good Whiting should be available from the Green Bank, the Bedrooms, Tiger Mullet Channel, Tabby Tabby, Tipplers and the Never Fail Islands. Stick with live blood worms, beach worms and yabbies as bait or small peeled prawns or squid. I got a few the other day on 2” shrimp soft plastics using a 1/8oz jighead size 02 hook along the Pandannus sand flats in about 8ft of water. Definitely worth a go on light gear.

Tailor have shown up finally but still not in the numbers of previous years. If they aren’t schooling up on the surface and busting up the schools of white bait then a few fishos have had some success dropping pillies to the bottom and slowly retrieving their bait in the deep water just before the breakers.

I haven’t had any decent jew weighed in lately because of the minimum 75cm size limit, but they should start to show up as the water cools and calm weather and small tides combine to make good fishing conditions. Try around Kalinga Bank, out from Swan Bay, Short Island, Marks Rocks and Flat Rock.

The Pin has always been renowned for producing large bream which is why the ‘King of the Pin’ family fishing competition will be held on the 28-30 May. First prize is a $1000 cash for the heaviest bream as well as a stack of prizes for other species, including whiting, flathead, tailor and jew for seniors and juniors plus heaps of giveaways and raffles. Entry is $20 for adults and $5 for juniors 15yrs and under. Flyers and tickets are available at the Gem Bait & Tackle.

Thanks for all your reports and fish weighed in. If you need to order any bait or want up to date fishing information give me a call at Gem Bait & Tackle on 07 3287 3868 or email --e-mail address hidden-- I’ll catch you next month.