Mack attack through May

David Green

May sees the East Australian current slow down and the water temperature generally drops a few degrees. Target species this month include blue marlin, wahoo, Spanish and spotted mackerel, snapper and flame snapper.

As the current slows bottom fishing improves and the catches on the 36 and 50 fathom reefs should improve as snapper and pearl perch move inshore from the edge of the continental shelf.

This year’s mackerel season has been quite good, metal lures was the most effective method.

The spotties were feeding in the dirty water that ran out of the Jumpinpin entrance. Two days later there were about 80 boats in the same area, but the fish had moved on and very few were caught, which is a typical type of pattern when it comes to mackerel. This month the spotted mackerel should be a bit bigger.

Trolling small, skirted lures, spinning with metal slugs or drifting pilchards are all effective methods. For Spanish mackerel trolled dead baits or live baits generally produce the best results. As it cools down some big female Spanish

This spot is at its best when the current is running hard from the north and there is plenty of bait around. The last wahoo season was quite poor, but hopefully things will improve. High speed trolling using metal headed lures works well. Troll speed should be around 10-15 knots. If small tuna are around, they can be caught by spinning or by trolling small skirted lures. These can then be rigged to troll and are a dynamite bait for big wahoo. Where the current runs over the ledge on the Nine Mile Reef is a great spot but be careful as this area can break in even a moderate swell. Trolling deep diving minnows is fished well. On my last blue marlin trip, we had a double hook-up of fish around the 150kg mark, which was a bit chaotic with only two on board! One jumped off and we caught the second fish after a one-hour fight. the Seaway this month. Live bait is the key to catching these fish, although soft plastics can also be effective on a change of tide. Most of the mulloway have been above the minimal legal size of 75cm at the moment. As well as mulloway, mangrove jack commonly move into the seaway area in May before moving offshore. These are mature fish over 50cm long, and they respond well to small live baits cast into the wash next to the

Snapper fishing should improve this month, and surprisingly there have been good catches throughout autumn. The inshore reefs should produce snapper, teraglin, cobia, mulloway and mackerel tuna this month. Snapper and pearl perch will be in numbers on the 50 fathom line. As the current drops deep dropping for bar cod and flame snapper should improve.

A lot of these fish start to move into the Jumpinpin and Seaway areas and some of these fish are a kilo in weight. Small weighted soft plastics, bait and small vibes are all very effective in the deep water. Schooling bream often feed voraciously as they try to put on condition prior to spawning.

While mud crabs tend to thin out in May, there are still a lot of sand crabs in the central Broadwater. Working a run-in tide using pots

Dave Lawless with a Spaniard. They have been in good numbers this season. with plenty of spotted and good Spanish mackerel turning up in numbers at all the usual spots. I fished just off the Jumpinpin bar a few days ago and there were huge schools of spotted mackerel from just outside the surf line out to a depth of around 30m. Spinning with mackerel start to show up. If you are targeting these big fish troll big baits such as tuna, bonito, tailor and even doggie mackerel. Fish over 20kg become more common as the water cools. May is a good month to chase wahoo on the Tweed Heads Nine Mile Reef. another effective method. The Nomad DTX series of deep divers work very well. Blue marlin should be around in good numbers this month. Some big fish over 200kg turn up in May, and over the past month the area off North Stradbroke Island in 200-400m has

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As the days cool down the fishing improves with a transition from summer species such as whiting, to winter fish species like mulloway, flathead and bream. May is the first month of the year where I start specifically targeting flathead. There has been plenty of rain over summer and baitfish have been plentiful. The banana prawns are in big schools from Jacob’s Well up to Redland Bay. All of this points to a good flathead season ahead. I generally fish the section between Tippler’s Passage and the Jumpinpin entrance.

In May most of the flatties are between 40-60cm long, with the odd bigger fish turning up on the flats at high tide. I generally mix up my lure styles, using a mix of soft plastics, vibes, metal blades and hardbodied minnows.

My favourite is the Gulp Nemesis 4” in the fire tiger colour. These bright orange and yellow lures have caught me hundreds of flathead over the past few seasons. Fished on a 1/4oz jighead they are very effective in a range of situations, from shallow flats through to deep water.

There will be mulloway at the end of the north wall of rocks. They are also quite partial to whole squid. Try to use as little lead as possible, so the bait is carried in the wash rather than sinking to the bottom. baited with mullet in 5-8m of water is generally quite productive. Try to keep your pots adjacent to weed beds. Overall, May is a very good month to fish the Gold Coast with a wide range of options and there is generally good weather.

As the water cools bream become more active in preparation for spawning.