Return of the Spaniards

David Green

April is a good month to chase Spanish mackerel and wahoo. Despite the ludicrous new regulations based on poor non validated science, this month we can return to catching Spanish mackerel.

In April there should be plenty of mackerel between 6-15kg on most of the inshore grounds. Palm Beach, Mermaid Reef, the Gravel Patch off Burleigh and the 18 and 24 fathom reefs off Southport should all be productive.

Trolling whole rigged dead baits such as slimy mackerel, bonito and tailor is probably the most effective method, particularly when a downrigger is used to get the bait down to the waiting fish. Slow trolling live baits is also deadly. Other methods include spinning with metal lures, casting stick baits and trolling hardbodied minnows. Early in the morning high speed trolling metal headed skirted lures can also very effective, trolling at speeds up to 12 knots.

As well as Spanish mackerel, there should be plenty of spotted mackerel on the close reefs, such as 12 Fathoms and Palm Beach Reef. It has been an excellent season so far for spotted mackerel on the inshore grounds. Downsizing your lures and baits will put spotted mackerel in the boat. Slowly trolled pilchards are a good way to catch them.

Wahoo usually turn up this month on the Tweed Heads Nine Mile Reef and on both 24 and 36 fathom reefs when the current is running. In April these fish average around 15-20kg. Wahoo like speed – trolling metal headed lures at around 12 knots is a great way to catch them and the strikes are sensational. Nothing apart from a blue marlin makes a reel scream like a wahoo in full flight.

Small live tuna slowly trolled around the back ledge of the Nine Mile Reef is a great way to target bigger fish, although sharks can be a problem at times.

This method can also produce Spanish mackerel, huge GTs and big kingfish. Wahoo also respond to trolled minnows like Halco Laser Pros, Samiki Pacemakers and Strada Trackers.

There should be some good blue marlin fishing this month wide of the continental shelf. Trolling skirted lures on 37kg tackle is the preferred method, and when the bite is on in April it is not uncommon to encounter 5-10 blue marlin in a day. The average sized blue marlin is around 150kg and these fish are extremely challenging from a small boat.

There should also be a few striped marlin and the odd wahoo encountered on the wider grounds. Most of the bites are in depths between 200-400m and the best time is the hour around a tide change. So far this season the blue marlin fishing off the Gold Coast has been very good. Local boat Maverick, skippered by Bob Jones, has caught 14 blues in the last two weeks.

Bottom fishing this month is dictated by current. There should be reasonable catches of snapper, pearl perch, teraglin and parrot fish on the 36 and 50 fathom lines, current permitting, and closer to shore there should be a few mulloway around at night as well as teraglin and tailor. Deep dropping for flame snapper and bar cod is another good option if the current is running slowly. The best depth is between 200-400m.

April is a great month to stock up on banana prawns. The catches in recent years have been sensational, and the lower end of Moreton

Bay has seen prawns in reasonable numbers throughout February, which is very early in the prawn season. Use your sounder to locate prawns close to the bottom, and a good prawn specific cast net is a good investment. Run out tides are generally the most productive. It is a good idea to set your crab pots while prawning, as April is a great month to chase both muddies and sand crabs.

As the days get a bit shorter the water cools and the estuary fishing improves, flathead start to show up in the usual spots. There are plenty of whiting to be caught on the flats and in the deeper sections of the Seaway and Jumpinpin Bar there are generally a few decent sized mulloway to be caught. Sharks can be a big problem, eating a lot of hooked fish.

On windy days in April I like to chase whiting using surface lures. These fish, despite their small mouths, are voracious surface predators and chase the right lure with aggression. The ideal lure mimics a skipping prawn, and the key to success is to wind the lure at a quick pace, skipping it through the small waves with plenty of twitches.

When it is windy you can make long casts with the breeze at your back, and the whiting seem less shy in these conditions and will generally bite well. I like to fish the first half of the run in tide and the Bassday Sugar Pen is my favourite lure. Alternatively, casting unweighted yabbies is another effective method.

Mangrove jack start to move about in April and a lot move into the Seaway area where at times they form large schools at the end of the north wall of the Seaway. These can be targeted using live baits such as herring, yellowtail or small slimy mackerel. Don’t let them run far with the bait or they will take you into the rocks. Some of these jacks are well over 50cm in length and fight hard. Up in the canals April is a good month to chase jacks early in the morning using surface lures, and this also produces big eyed trevally and GTs. The mangrove jack seem to be increasing in number every year.

Overall, April is a great month to fish the Gold Coast. There are plenty of opportunities both offshore and inshore and the cooler days make fishing very pleasant.