Excellent fishing across the board

The past few months have seen excellent fishing across the board for the northern bay and adjacent estuaries and dams.

The weather has been way more settled than this time last year, and it seems the systems are still benefiting from the biblical flush of 2022. With the temperature well and truly dropping off, May is set to be an exciting month as we head into winter.

The quality of the fishing in some areas is as good as some locals can recall, however they aren’t necessarily following typical seasonal trends. This is likely to do with the unusually cool summer we had and the shake up from last year’s floods.

In any case, May is always an exciting time to fish the northern bay area, so let’s take a look at your options!

BAY

May is usually when Brisbane anglers start thinking about snapper, but in reality anglers have been recording great catches all through summer. Areas around the Port of Brisbane, Mud Island and the shallow reefs and rubble patches off

A good result for a session chasing deeper channels and well-lit breakwalls and jetties will hold arrow squid at night. with a few little surprises here and there as well.

Land-based anglers can get into good quality tiger and arrow squid by throwing jigs along Redcliffe, Margate, Scarborough and Woody Point. High tides are best, as this is when the water is at its clearest.

The bream will be preparing for their series of winter spawns on each of the full moons, and will be found in good numbers in the deeper channels around river mouths and bridges. Small vibes and soft plastics will be productive, but so too group together, and we can start expecting to see larger 80cm+ models getting caught more regularly. The lower Brisbane, Caboolture and Pine rivers, Cabbage Tree Creek and Kedron Brook all hold great numbers of flathead – just make sure you’re up to date with where you can and can’t fish! presentations like jerkbaits, soft plastics and blades and moving deeper as the sun comes up is a good way to find a pattern.

Tailor have been thick in most systems, and this should continue through May. Through the day they can often be seen busting up on bait, however at night they can be found around artificial light. Any lights pools over the water are worth casting at with either soft plastics, topwater lures or baits like pilchard.

As winter sets in, fish will tend to follow the pattern of feeding shallow early on before schooling up deeper as the sun rises. Points are good areas to target, as they often provide shallow water with nearby deeper water, which bass really like.

WRAP-UP

Late autumn can provide excellent fishing in the northern bay area, however the seasonal variation from year to year can make it a little hard to predict. Whatever you’re chasing, make sure you have some back-up options planned – there’s always plenty of alternatives if your plan A doesn’t come together!

Scarborough will all fire through May, especially if you can time an early morning or late afternoon with a tide change. Fishing with light traces around 10lb is a good way to get more bites, weather fishing with soft plastics, vibes or baits.

Now is a good time to target tiger and arrow squid around the bay, and typically the size of the squid will improve right up to about October. Any shallow weed beds, rubble patches of rocky reefs in the bay will hold arrow squid, whereas

Those chasing pelagics in the bay have found good numbers over the last few months, with spotted and school mackerel, mac and longtail tuna, and tailor all harassing the masses of bait that have been hanging around enjoying the nutrientrich waters. Watching the birds and fishing lures and baits in the areas where they are feeding is the key.

The fishing through May is usually pretty reliable for favourite estuary species like bream, flathead and tailor, will crankbaits when they are feeding a little higher in the water column. Just about any bait will work in these same areas, particularly on the outgoing tide.

Flathead will be starting to pile on some condition leading up to their spawn in spring. They will be spreading themselves out through the lower estuaries looking for a feed, meaning trolling and casting lures over shallow flats and through nearby channels will be deadly. In the coming months they will begin to

Mulloway and threadfin salmon will be starting to feed in shallower water as it cools down and baitfish such as mullet, herring, hardiheads and gar start to enter the Brisbane and Pine rivers. At night these fish will hold in well-lit areas under bridges and pontoons, picking off baitfish as the current sweeps them past. Lures such as soft vibes, swimbaits, jerkbaits and even topwater lures will work, provided they are a similar size to whatever bait is in the area. Live baiting can be very effective if you can manage to get hold of a few of these nervous bait fish.

DAMS

With only one month of the wild bass season left, most bass anglers will turn their attention to the dams. Both our local dams, Samsonvale and Kurwongbah, have been fishing reasonably for bass, and better than average for saratoga. Saratoga fishing will taper off as winter sets in, however fishing around the edges during May will still turn up the odd toga.

The key is to keep moving, keep casting, and be on the lookout for any boils or movement in the shallows!

At this time of year impoundment bass will generally be in a transitional

• For more up to date information on fishing in and around Brisbane call into the guys at Tackle World Lawnton and they can point you in the right direction. The friendly staff at Tackle World Lawnton cater to all levels of experience and offer the widest range of phase, and anglers might have to chop and change a bit to find what they’re doing day to day. Starting shallow in the morning with subtle brands at the best prices. They are located at 640 Gympie Road Lawnton (07) 3205 7475 or find us on Facebook and Instagram.

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