Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
THE water that came out of the Logan River certainly was dirty and it’s taken a while for it to tidy up around southern Moreton Bay.
It’s still pretty dirty at the bottom of the tides but reasonably clean water can be found around the southern Moreton Bay islands at the top of the tide. I’ve been looking for nice clean water, which I’ve been able to find around Peel and Goat islands. In these areas I’ve mainly been targeting bait schools by trolling hard-bodies to see if we can get the odd mackerel or tailor. So far all the mackerel have been undersize, or if they were legal, the sharks made short work of them.
A few reasonable-sized tailor from 50-55cm have been mixed in too. If you decide to try this sort of fishing, the first thing you will need to do is find good bait schools. The next is to use hard-body lures. I’ve been finding the 89mm Zerek Tango Shads and Ripper Divers have been working well. Our successful trolling speed has been about four knots. Be prepared to catch a lot of grinners between the quality fish. To prevent bite-offs, I find a 3-6kg rod with 15-20lb braid and 20lb leader with a bit of wire on a metal clip suffices.
We have also been scraping up a feed by working the rubble grounds around the southern Moreton Bay islands, mainly on mid to high tides in cleaner water. The water is still pretty dirty on the bottom of the tide. I’ve mainly used plastics to chase bay island squire/snapper, bream, grassy sweetlip and tailor.
When it comes to flathead, hopefully by the time this edition hits the stands the water will have tidied up a bit. There should be a few around but at the time of writing the water on the bottom of the tides around the islands was rather silty and dirty, meaning the flathead fishing has not been great. However, I think that will all change by the time winter properly arrives.
Sorry that it’s only a short article this month. We haven’t been able to get a heap of fishing in because of the after effects of ex-cyclone Debbie, but all I can say is: bring on winter. If you’d like to join me on a charter, phone 0433 732 310, visit moretonbaycharters.com.au or check out the Moreton Bay Charters Facebook page.
If you would like to know more about our night tuition classes, feel free to give me a call.
Until next month, stay safe on the water.
