Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
IT’S time to get the jumpers and beanies out, because winter is here! All the rivers and creeks are looking excellent after a good flush over Easter. We’ve had a bit of follow up rain too, which has helped.
May threw quite a bit of interesting weather our way, with long periods of light wind followed by a couple of nasty storms. It’s uncommon for this area to experience storms during May, especially for a few days in a row. It will be interesting to see what June brings. Brisbane snapper tailor
The fishing has been very good over the past month. I’ve spent most of my time in the Brisbane River chasing snapper and tailor with success. The river was looking great and with plenty of bait spread out around the mouth.Brisbane snapper tailor
Hardyhead were everywhere, with big numbers of tailor eating them. There were also good quality prawns getting around, with tailor and snapper feeding on them. On one trip to the river, the snapper and tailor were that thick, they were pushing a huge school of jumbo-sized prawns to surface where seagulls enjoyed a feast.Brisbane snapper tailor
We didn’t have a sounder that day and we were about to head home when we saw birds bombing into something. Quite often it’s a school of small tailor attracting birds, so I’m glad we went and had a closer look. We scored a fish for every cast into that school and left them biting to go home.Brisbane snapper tailor
Most of the snapper were between 35-60cm. The bigger models give an excellent account of themselves, especially around structure. I use a leader between 12-20lb, depending on water clarity and how fussy the fish are. On the day they were eating prawns, I had a baitcaster with 40lb in the boat and the snapper were happy to eat even that.Brisbane snapper tailor
When they’re feeding hard in that manner, they aren’t too fussy. Prawn imitations worked really well. Smaller lures such as 3” Berkley Gulp Shrimp and Live Target Fleeing Shrimp scored a lot of fish, and curl tails and paddle tails in the 3-4” range have also performed.
