In winter you do have to work a little harder to inspire a hook-up but the ensuing fight is always worth it.

The reef areas around Gladstone are starting to come alive after a quiet spell over the previous month. There has been action around the Gladstone Wrecks with several large fish leaving their home for quality bait.

Gladstone Wrecks can be found on many general dive websites. There are dozens of good quality wrecks around Gladstone, many with the structure intact.

Red Dolphin wreck is a 10m steel yacht that sank about 7nm out from Curtis Island and sits in 27m of water. The wreck is covered in baitfish that attract olive sea snakes. Strong currents make it difficult to anchor, however it is possible to drift.

Drifting with a sea anchor will slow down the speed across the wreck. Coral trout and red emperor frequent the wreck.

Colosseum is one of the top Gladstone estuaries that could take you a lifetime to explore.

It has all the variety that makes it a varied fishing spot with plenty of opportunities. I prefer to enter Colosseum from the harbour and usually on a high tide.

Some have been know to travel down Boyne River but the course is narrow and generally better suited to smaller tinnies.

Right at the entrance to Colosseum is a great clump of coral. This is a great place to anchor near with the purpose of flicking onto the reef. You can grab hold of decent parrot and sweetlip here. Even the occasional coral trout can be encouraged to snap onto the sharp end.

Colosseum has fabulous beach areas at the entrance of the creek and these make great camping locations. The beach areas also house whiting by the hundreds. Whiting here school up so you can catch a bag full or none if you are not on the correct spot. Live yabbies are the best baits.

The mangrove edges of the deeper reaches are great locations to drop a couple of crab pots and flick for the usual bream, jack, and grunter. I prefer the dappled light of the mangrove banks especially if it is near a drain. There are several holes along the length of Colosseum but beware on low tide as several sand banks become exposed.

A few boats have been trolling near Sable Chief Rocks and have been able to hook onto some cruising mackerel. On the warmer days, baitfish school up and the mackerel go nuts.

If you see this surface action you should try to predict the path and position the boat close enough to flick some hardbodied lures. This sounds a lot easier than it looks so you can keep a lure out the back of the boat and troll near the surface action.

Give the lure some strong flicks so it looks like an escaping bait fish and hold on. Of course your gear has to be up to the task.

Sable Chief is on the southern side of Facing Island. The structure of Sable Chief reaches quite some distance towards Facing.

Most of the rocky outcrops are just out of casting distance from the beach but the rocky bottoms are fish attracting structures. The combination of sand and rocky structures makes this an ideal location to find whiting.

This beach area is quite accessible by 4WD but you need either a low tide or at least a smaller high to access the beach all the way.

This is a spectacular beach area and fishing locations can be found along the length.

If you visit Facing, look after this area like you own it.