Northern Bay

NORTHERN BAY Steve Nash

It’s that time of the year again to put away the warm winter apparel and get prepared for the best time of the year for our awesome spring season!

Our local winter species are slowly beginning to phase out but some of the local anglers are still scoring decent snapper from around the Bribie bridges and up through the passage and the rumble grounds along Moreton Island. Tailor are still good on the menu with the odd school popping up in minor numbers.

The schools of winter whiting have all but gone RIVERS Flathead

Large numbers of flathead are due to return to the mouths of the estuaries. Spots along the front of the Pine and Caboolture River entrances are perfect places to start hunting. A lot of these areas will see some of the large 70cm+ size females in these areas. It’s always a good idea to implement large baits and lures while chasing flathead around this time. You may get lucky and catch yourself a trophy fish. Bream

Bream will be in their mass numbers around now with many and more bream hanging around bridge pylons and the rock walls along the creek. The higher on a small 1/0 hook lightly weighted with a small sinker drifted passed will quite easily do the trick. Mangrove Jack

The lead up to our warmer weather may see some early spawns come into our river systems. It may pay to not get too over keen on bulking up the heavy gear just yet. But you never know your luck casting deep into the snags and tight into the rock walls. You might just get lucky! THE BAY

The peak of snapper season may be at its end, but don’t give up hope altogether if your still keen for a crack at them. Check the deeper drop offs in the northern bay and the rubble grounds

The northside of Brisbane has some wonderful wild bass habitats.

from the usual hot spots, but don’t let that stop you from still checking out the areas out the front of Queens Beach or the shallow areas out the front of Bribie Island. tides will see bream hanging closer into the mangroves as well so don’t be afraid to chuck a few sneaky casts within the sticks. Prawns or small strips of pilchards

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TOP WATER ACTION

As this warmer weather kicks in, the top water bite will be surely become on point. Bream, flathead, bass and even whiting will begin feeding heavily from the top, which brings on some of the most exciting fishing for us anglers.

Throwing Bent Jack season will kick off this month.

Spring is a perfect time to work the edges of the local dams for yellowbelly. one that works. Each day will be different depending on the mood of the fish. FRESHWATER

The winter bass schools have most certainly died off again for another cool season. However the 1st of September sees the opening of the wild bass season both the North and South Pine and Caboolture rivers. These stretches of fresh water contain good numbers of wild bass. While these are in the upper reaches and not accessible by boat, paddling a kayak or even walking the banks of these areas are great way to explore some beautiful parts of this region and chase

at the front of Scarborough when the boat traffic is down throughout the week.

If you’re keen to shoot out and the weather is good, take a run to the shipping markers for some early school mackerel feeding on the edge of the channels on the incoming tide. Slugs, soft plastics and your live bait Minnows in the shallows for flathead to small popper in the mangroves for bream will be a good start to see how the top water bite is fairing on the day. The way these fish will hunt down a lure is a massive adrenaline rush and visually exciting. Drifting across the flats in a boat or wadding the shallows on a making tide anyone can get the addiction.

Walk-the-dog lures require a lot of wrist action with short quick flicks and winding up the slack line making the lure dart from side to side, while poppers can be a lot easier to get a handle on with a simple flick of the rod tip that is kept low Mackerel are worth looking for in the shipping channels.

to the water level. Making small splashes with pauses while mixing up the speed of retrieves till you find the these bronze creek brawlers. These river bass have some serious street smarts that fight dirty and often win the battle by back to the cover of logs and fallen trees.

Our dams should see the bass starting to move back to the edges but as most have gorged themselves over winter it can be a better time to chase a few of the other species that call the edges home, yellowbelly will start to become very active and enter their spawning cycle working the edges with shallow dives or hoping small blades like ZX40s amongst the weed beds will bring them undone every time.

Another target this time of year is a fish that everyone has a special place in their hearts and memories, the prehistoric saratoga. There is something very special with these fish not only are they highly allusive but they have a special set of skills to throw hooks with the greatest of easy being able to leap and shake and almost fold themselves in half to avoid being photographed.