Species

SNAPPER have been a target species for me recently, with a few showing up in local rivers and estuaries. In winter our focus is deeper structure, with 4” plastics such as the Z-Man 4” StreakZ Curly TailZ or 4” Scented Jerk ShadZ fished on 3/8 or 1/2oz 3/0 or 4/0 jig heads getting the bites and fish landed to around …

WELL, it’s that time of the month again – where I whinge about the weather and how tough the fishing has been! Yes, the weather has been tough that’s for sure, and from most reports it’s the same up and down the coast. I find spring is often quite volatile. Heavy from the north as the temperature rises and then …

I SPEND many hours exploring and pursuing shallow water snapper in Moreton Bay, and nothing comes close to matching the aggression and brute power these fish have. I use the term shallow water to describe the water I fish, as it’s not often I find myself casting a lure for snapper any deeper than 1.5-5m. Shallow snapper A huge variety …

WITH summer now in full swing, what better time to chase some summer whiting from the beach in Queensland and northern NSW. Although they can be caught all year around, particularly in southeast Queensland, summer or yellowfin whiting are a great option from the beach in summer, particularly when other beach targets like tailor and bream are in thinner numbers. …

WELL, I suppose this is a happy new year and hopefully 2021 is going to be better than 2020, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it all goes. At the time of writing, the weather was a bit all over the place. But I was able to line up the odd charter and fishing tuition with the …

HEAT, humidity, mozzies biting, cicadas singing – this spells the beginning of the mangrove jack and mud crab season to me. There’s a few mud crabs on the move now but they will only improve as summer progresses. They are in varying degrees of fullness at the moment, with some big rusty ones being caught and some green empty ones …

ANYONE who has caught a jewfish will almost certainly have encountered worms inside the fish. Be it live wriggling reddish nematodes – or roundworms – in the gut cavity or the smaller white spaghetti flatworm trypanorhyncha, both are believed to use jewfish as a host before moving on to another species. Headlands hop While the sight of either of these …

THIS time of year is certainly popular for getting out on the water. The weather is hot and the water is the place to be. Whether you’re a fisherman, into your skiing, kayaking or camping, Lake Boondooma and Bjelke-Petersen Dam are two places that will be busy until it starts to cool down again. The fishing over summer is usually …

I AM happy to target any species that will eat my lures, and bream on light spin gear can be both fun and challenging. When a big bream eats your soft plastic and switches on the afterburners, it’s cool to watch the line cut through the water and feel your inner ninja switch on as you employ some crazy rod …

WELCOME to 2021 and a happy new year to all Bush ‘n Beach readers. Last year was a pretty wild ride, but thankfully the fishing side of things wasn’t affected as much as other activities. Summer started with a bang and a nasty heat wave ripped across the eastern side of Australia and pushed the temperature gauge over 40C in …