Northern Bay

NORTHERN BAY

Steve

Nash There have been mixed reports from the bay last month, with some days generating a super-hot bite and the next being quiet.

Some lucky anglers have been landing good size snapper off the Moreton artificial reefs and along the local reefs of Redcliffe.

There’s awesome news for those who love a plate of calamari with squid numbers increasing in catches. Many have been scoring squid along our local jetties with standing room only on some weekend nights.

Tailor have certainly been moving through, with big numbers being caught in the bay and through the local estuaries.

RIVERS AND CREEKS

While the flathead, bream and winter whiting are still in plentiful supply during our cold winter months, it is always worth keeping a heavier setup on the ready. Our estuaries will well and truly become hunting grounds for winter predators. Tailor, mulloway, snapper and others start to move in and harass the schools of baitfish.

Tarpon are also another be seen boofing the top of water chasing bait schools on the flats and in the main channels. These fish are great to chase using top water stick baits, poppers or any smaller profile surface lures. If that doesn’t work, using smaller profile soft plastics, such as can still be caught throughout the day, however your chances are increased fishing those low light times. Fishing the many artificial reefs and natural rubble grounds throughout the bay with baits or plastics will produce some good legalsize snapper.

Mulloway are a schooling fish, when you find one there’s normally a few.

3” Berkley Powerbaits or even softs vibes, can also bring on a bite. Once hooked these guys love to put on a great aerial display, jumping out of the water, along with massive headshakes trying hard to throw the hook. By keeping your rod tip low to the water while they are jumping adds more control to your action

A good feed from our estuaries.

winter species that school up around the mouths of the rivers and creeks. The North Pine and Caboolture rivers are go-to spots that have schools of tarpon passing through and lurking around these areas. Tarpon generally feed on the incoming tide and can and will greatly increase your chances of landing one.

MORETON BAY

Snapper are the main target of bay fishers during winter, with those getting the better results fishing the low light and night times.

Good pan size snapper your bite is slow. Travelling at a slow pace between 3-5km/h trolling a 5m deep diver can work wonders. This will work amongst a range of species, including snapper, grunter, cod and even mulloway.

Tailor will also be worth keeping an eye on while fishing along the Redcliffe waterfront. There have been some good numbers of tailor that have been caught from the fishing platforms by land-based anglers. Casting Large predators are lurking around the rivers.

Fresh baits, such as mullet, tuna, bonito even those winter whiting heads that you caught last weekend do make great bait. Casting up current so your bait can slowly drift down getting to the bottom, as it goes past your boat, this will present your bait as natural as possible. If you are anchored up on wrecks, use mid weighted sinkers with a mid size hook and lightly drift down.

In regards to the use of lures, you cannot go past a light weighted jerk shad. Hopping or jerking it in an erratic motion while drifting over rocky areas will grab your target fish’s attention. Trolling lures are always an option too if Tailor schools will be found throughout the bay. back through the school using a couple of different retrieves.

The Burn: cast a jig as far as possible in front of the school. Let it sink to the bottom and retrieve it back at speed through the school.

The Large Hop: let your lure sink to the bottom. Wind up the slack, then lift sharply whilst winding up the slack keeping in touch with the lure as it sinks again. This most of the time will get the fishes attention as most times it will get hit on the fall.

metal slugs with a very fast retrieve into the schools is a sure effective way to land a few. Or, for a bit more excitement, throw a surface lure if you can get in within their range. Use lures, such as walk-the-dog style lures or a simple small popper. But be prepared to loose some tackle. Tailor have sharp teeth and can make short work of a fine light leader or monofilament line so throwing your best lures can be dangerous and an expensive exercise

Tarpon are a great sport fish. Dave Hudy with one fat schooled up bass.

DAMS

The winter bite is well and truly on with big schools of bass sitting in the 10-15m depth range, gorging themselves on bait schools. This is a great time of year to hook into some bass. When targeting schooled up bass, jigs, spoons and large vibes have been had the best results with long casts and retrieving

Alternating between these two retrieves have been very successful and are bound to get on onto some freshwater brutes this winter! Pick your fishing times and find out when the peak bite will be. In most systems, the best time is mid to late afternoon. This generally is the best time to get onto hungry feeding schools of bass.