Sweetlip

MORETON Bay holds heaps of shallow water areas. When we fish the shallows, we look for rubble patches and any other good-looking structure that holds bait on a high tide. What that means is you fish the shallows on a high tide and retreat to the drop-offs on a low tide. Moreton grassie Peak bite times are dawn and dusk, …

AFTER our Swains sortie, George and I decided to head to Turkey Beach for an overnight fishing trip because we hadn’t fished that region since October last year. Weather, circumstances and other commitments kept getting in the way and unlike many other fishers, we chose not to fish the area during the COVID-19 lockdown good weather, when social distancing and …

THE snapper and pearl perch closed season for this year is now done and dusted and the overall feedback from most people is very supportive. There have been a few negative and veiled swipes at the closure conducted through the media, but they all link back to people who have a vested interest or who earn good money from being …

IT’S time to get the razor out and shave off the winter hibernation because the worst is now behind us.  I probably shouldn’t degrade the colder months this way, as there were amazing captures and weather over the past three months. I’m definitely more of a warmer water fan though. You’re not arguing over who has to get wet to …

EXPLODING in the US, the Ned rig is basically a stand-up presentation built around a mushroom-style jig head and a buoyant soft plastic, meaning in the water the plastic is either fleeing on the retrieve or rapidly standing up in a claws-up ‘defensive’ pose or tail-up ‘feeding’ pose on the pause. On the pause, the buoyant plastic moves around naturally …

WE have certainly seen mixed weather across the state, from a prolonged drought to torrential downpours and catastrophic hailstorms. For anyone with a boat, offshore is all about the pelagics and getting stuck into some big mackerel and tuna. In big easterly swells, the Noosa River Bar holds waves up to 2m. Before these arrive, be sure you know how …

HERE’S a rundown of my two months fishing Moreton Bay, mainly targeting pelagics and whiting (I did very little reef fishing), with most of the departures from Whyte Island and Manly. The end of December was the beginning of our two months fishing Moreton Bay and the lead-up to the new year got off to a good start, with plenty …

PEEL Island is inhabited by a variety of sea life including dugongs, turtles and dolphins, jellyfish following the currents and, of course, plenty of fish and the odd shark. The island is a popular overnight and weekend anchorage for vessels, and Horseshoe Bay on the southern side is a great spot for sheltering from northerly wind, particularly during summer. If …

PICKING up where I left off last month on my week-long live-aboard Swain Reefs charter trip with Carlo Fishing Charters, we’d just wrapped up an incredible morning of fishing a glassed-out Great Barrier Reef. This unreal start to the fishing had us salivating, but not for lunch, rather to get back out in the dories and catch more epic fish! …

GOLDEN opportunities don’t come along too often, so when they do, you’re well advised to grab them with both hands. I was lucky enough to find myself in this situation recently when owner and operator of Carlo Fishing Charters Karl Kleimeyer invited me on a seven-day Swain Reefs fishing trip aboard the recently completed Carlo II mother ship. Karl has …