Imagine how happy this young fella was, catching a snapper like this on a Saltwater Playground Charter.
Father’s Day Precedes a Blood Moon
Glorious weather yesterday, and absolutely brilliant today; but not so flash for the weekend unfortunately. Weekday weather has certainly outshone weekends of late, so we must be due for a turn around soon. No real complaints over the past week as a whole, as even when breezy there were inshore and estuary options galore over the neap tides.
A south-east change will kick in late this afternoon and strengthen overnight. Up to 20 knots is expected throughout Saturday in Hervey Bay waters, and 15-20 knots easing into Sunday. It will be a little stronger offshore, reaching 25 knots at times both days. Apart from the chance of passing showers Saturday, the coming days should be dry at least, under increasing cloud cover. A pleasant enough weekend for Father’s Day activities, even if boating will be limited to inshore and estuarine waters.
The origin of the breeze will follow the typical springtime anticlockwise rotation around the compass as the working week unfolds. Expect 10 knots or so from the east on Monday. A light north-easter Tuesday looks appealing before the breeze tends more northerly and strengthens into the evening. Stiff northerly winds mid-week will precede another light south or south-westerly change that will restart the cycle once again. Very spring-like weather and quite welcome for many reasons.
The full moon is approaching and the tides building until it crosses our sky Monday evening. This one is a blood moon folks, so one not to miss if you can be out on the water that night. Stronger tidal flow over coming days will peak with the moon as evening high tides nudge the 4m mark from lows of a little over 0.4m. Great tides for so many species of fish, and the crabs will be active again too.
Jeff snuck offshore and hauled in some fine-eating reef fish. None better than this lovely cattle dog cod.
Dan has been fishing with Jacko again, and catching .... you guessed it .... flathead!
Don't forget your squid jigs when fishing the southern bay and the straits.
Baitfish Draw Pelagics Back to Urangan Pier Waters
Since the herring schools have returned to Urangan Pier waters there has been a semi-constant procession of pelagic predators rocking up for a feed. The herring are only small, but plentiful, so its happy days once again for pier fishos. The pike are prolific enough too. Actively cruising about in hunt-mode themselves after dark to pre-dawn; they remain the best bait for larger estuary species.
Whilst there has been plenty of pelagic action, many of the fish caught have been undersized. That has been the case for the majority of the school mackerel and the odd spanish mackerel anyway. A stray broadie or two and passing raids by small schools of mac tuna have been entertaining at times, but it is the larger longtail tuna that have the local pier fishos excited at present.
Bream fishos might put some effort in over this full moon. No doubt hoping that the return of the herring might boost a fairly lack lustre pier bream season. There seems to be less and less bream week by week of late, however, true bream fans will be keen to give it one last try under a big rising moon.
Small jewfish remain quite prolific under the pier. Legal fish are rare, so careful handling is a must to enable these fish to mature. Some folks are having fun with large tarpon to 3 kilos under cover of darkness; a fish very adept at throwing hooks after aerial displays that would put a barra to shame.
The one fish missing from the pier scene at the moment is the sand whiting. To date, there have been fish caught elsewhere at Urangan, and some at the groynes near Shelley Beach, but next to none from the pier. This is somewhat strange given the time of year and reduced netting activity in the straits. This full moon might (should) see that situation turn around, so be prepared if catching whiting is your thing.
Rough weather has restricted D.I. Point Fishing Charters a bit lately, but they have been into the jobbies and snapper when they can get out.
Gold-band snapper are just one of the jobfish species Double Island Point Fishing Charters is catching lately.
Large venus tusk fish regularly feature in catches aboard Double Island Point Fishing Charters.
Somebody Tell the Whiting its Whiting Time
A lot of fish migrations seem extra-late this year. Snapper and bream were late, mackerel are late, and whiting are also late. The only notable variable that your scribe can think of that could’ve negatively impacted whiting movements along our beaches in recent weeks is the extraordinarily consistent spells of westerly winds through winter. Such persistent offshore winds create extra-clear waters in their wake and limit feeding opportunities for shallow-water hunters like whiting. Even if this theory holds water, then the prevalence of northerly winds this week and in future weeks should see whiting move along our beaches as they have done every other spring.
If the 20 knot south-easter doesn’t trigger a whiting bite pre-moon, then surely the northerlies post-moon will. Until our shallow waters get churned up from such winds over coming weeks, it will be a largely nocturnal bite from the best of the whiting. Modest catches might be expected in mornings during and immediately after an onshore blow, but otherwise, pin your hopes on a feed after dark.
Over the bigger full moon tides, the last couple of hours of the rising tide and the first of the ebb are prime time for whiting at the pier or along our beaches. Long shanked hooks pinning live yabbies are second only to live blood worms. Beach worms you buy from us will serve you well in a good bite, so you can take the easy option if it suits.
Keep your sinkers light enough so that your baits are moving with the tidal flow, and ensure you use very light clear leaders. Clear mainline, like full-length fluorocarbon is perhaps best of all for whiting endeavours as its invisible nature extends beyond just that sub-metre length of leader. Ultra-light and whippy is the best way to describe whiting rods best suited to bait fishing for whiting. Soft enough to double over when a whiting takes the bait without resisting their charge, until you lean back and set the hook.
Josh got amongst the night time barra at Lake Monduran.
If you're struggling to find shark-free snapper schools in Hervey Bay then head for the grounds off the Wide Bay bar where they are in great numbers.
Neil went snapper fishing with Mick off the Wide Bay bar and found himself hooked up to this fine jewie.
Action Aplenty for the Kids Wandering Our Foreshores
Flathead just keep on impressing everyone with their abundance and large average size this season. Whilst boaties always have a definitive edge, land-lubbers can catch a string of fish with a little effort too. Much of that effort might be walking beyond the range of average-joe, traversing muddy flats or drains to get to the terrain beyond. Our local creeks have various easily accessible shores, but many secluded little pockets beyond that can be extra special.
A backpack (or sling bag), a flick rod and a suitable selection of small lures etc is perfect for a mobile fisho wandering our creeks and foreshores. Flatties are to be expected, and bonus catches of bream and whiting could be even better if you scale down your lure size over the full moon. Small queenfish are a feature of larger creeks like Beelbi, where tailor, tarpon, salmon and even barra might be next to pounce.
The rock walls of Urangan Harbour used to be the domain of a few cunning fishos in years gone by, where night time exploits revealed its treasures and daytime activities were scorned for ‘giving the game away’. Not so in recent years it seems, as these same walls are now the happy hunting grounds for an ever-increasing number of young fishos. Social media posts bragging of recent captures will always draw hopefuls, so the harbour’s fish populations can expect plenty of attention forever-more.
Those spinning from the rocks at River Heads could connect to tailor or small schoolies if using spoons or similar metals. The odd larger broadie cruises those waters this time of year too, and no wonder with the abundance of baitfish gathered thereabouts. Flathead are an easy target, so long as you have sufficient skill to work lures over rock and gravel with constantly fouling up.
Blue salmon schools and random individuals add a bit more excitement to River Heads fishing exploits, and their tendency to strike at slowly-walked stickbaits makes them extra-appealing. Look out for those pesky wolf herring that have moved in down there though. These fang-riddled freaks of nature are a pathetic sports fish and one not to be handled if you are smart. They won’t hurt you as such; it’s just the slime. Oh, the slime! Something akin to melting cling wrap on your hands if you handle them, and most unpleasant to remove.
There is still plenty of winter whiting about if you want an easy feed and some light entertainment for the kids.
Riley with a ripper ruby from his latest deep dropping mission.
The average grassy sweetlip caught within close range of the Wide Bay bar on Double Island Point Fishing Charters.
Flats Fisheries of the Straits Worth Some Effort
While the big full moon tides roar in and out of our rivers, the flats and smaller streams of the Great Sandy Straits gain appeal. Ambush predators get a distinct edge from large ebb tides that channel fodder their way, whilst the speedsters that frequent the flats enjoy easier foraging too.
Think blue salmon on some flats, and queenfish and trevally on others. Large schools of some of the biggest blues you will encounter all year can be found down the straits, and a smaller average-sized fish within the Mary system too. Be there when the rising tide colours the ever-deepening waters on the flats and the blues will lose their inhibitions. Staying connected will be a matter of having sufficiently abrasion resistant leader, which will mean fluorocarbon if you insist on the smallest of lures.
Grunter can school in the same manner, as the flood tide creeps up onto the flats. They will be more cautious and flightier than the blues, but they too will feed when the water loses its clarity. Small soft plastic prawn imitations are hard to beat when it comes to grunter, be that in skinny water or in the depths. Be quick to recover line when you strike if you feel some slack as they often tend to rush at you on the take. Quality grunter to well beyond 60cm are possible, even if your average run of fish is more like 40-55cm.
Queenies love topwater as you all know, but straits fish can eventually spook from such presentations after a couple of encounters in skinny water. Be prepared to resort to plastics of some form to maintain the rage and keep the hookups coming. They will typically be in different waters to the blues and grunter, yet their paths might cross.
Get stuck into the bream if they appeal, as this time of year sees their numbers peaking post-spawn. They will soon return to the creeks and rivers, but right now, bream offer champagne fishing on finesse tackle. So too, the whiting. Schools of sizeable sand whiting can be found along the flats and within the creeks fringing Fraser Island’s west coast. Various stretches of the straits are prime whiting habitat too, as are the lower reaches of the Mary and Susan Rivers.
Night time forays over the full moon will see bag limits of plump whiting going home with a few local whiting fans. A very small number will make the effort to dig worms, but most will rely on the humble yabbies they pump during the afternoon lows on their way to their whiting spots. Bycatch can be significant, and include bream and flathead as well as grunter and even salmon.
Weather permitting, some fishos might head to Kingfisher Bay Resort’s jetty this week. The kids are catching small jewies over there as well as bream and a few flatties. Legal-sized black jew have been in attendance recently, though they rarely number more than just a few and are quickly caught or shot. Given the abundance of herring along Fraser’s western ledges in that part of the world, mackerel might make a visit to the jetty, as might longtails, so be ready for anything if heading for Kingfisher.
Catching threadies is becoming easier and will be very easy soon - so long as you have soft vibes and can scan the river.
Carry a long esky or a handy Insulated Fish Bag if you intend on keeping bigger threadies this spring.
Andrew caught this solid thready recently. Just one of many for this spring no doubt.
Snapper Have Plenty of Competition in the Bay
Snapper haven’t rated much of a mention this past week, yet they will be a prime target species in coming days. The wind will deny access to open waters for nearly everyone this weekend, yet at the same time, create opportunities for snapper to feed inshore. Some of the usual hotspots are haunted by sharks, but not all it seems. If you get the chance while the tides are big enough, then go find aggregations of baitfish around your favourite reef systems and drift by hopping plastics or jigs. The knobbies will be on the bite at key times, so they will respond if you find them.
You might need to sort through some bycatch in the process though, depending on where you head. There are schools of quite large golden trevally inshore and up the island. Its up there in the central to northern sector of Platypus Bay that you will find various cousins of the goldies as well as queenfish and perhaps the odd longtail. Trollers can add mackerel and cod, and maybe even coral trout to their list of snapper bycatch, as can anyone using live baits.
Most appealing bycatch in the form of grunter will add variety to the day of those working the grounds from ‘the banks’ north. They love jigs and plastics worked around the fringes of the reefs just like snapper, even though they tend not to rise much from the bottom. Add a couple of nannies or a jewfish to your list of snapper bycatch and you would go home pleased enough even if you failed to raise the knobbies.
Snapper will be on the bite over the full moon, day and night.
Golden trevally can be found inshore and up the island. Look for bait schools around prominent structure where you might also find snapper.
School Mackerel Numbers Steadily Increasing
We should be inundated by vast schools of school mackerel by now, yet we have only just enjoyed the start of the run. There have been schoolies harassing the herring schools at the top of Big Woody and at the Bait Grounds this week, as well as rubbly reef patches up off the Burrum coast and Woodgate.
Big tides trigger big movements from pelagic species such as school mackerel, so what might seem like lean times pre-moon could turn into an abundance post-moon. Herring numbers are solid inshore, so the tucker is here and mackerel numbers can be expected to swell very soon. Spanish mackerel will follow them in, but for now they seem relegated to the northern and central bay.
Queenies offer tremendous sport both close inshore and up the island. Their high-flying antics are the highlight of a dogged fight that never ends prematurely. Queenies ‘fight to the death’ so try to subdue them as quickly as you can, so they can be released with sufficient residual energy to swim away. The same goes for giant herring, who will also feed well over these big tides. These speedsters suffer terribly from poor handling, so it’s a quick wet-handed lift for a happy snap and spear back in asap when you catch one. The bay islands and the swirling currents that spin off them are good locations to try for both species, with the added ‘bonus’ of trevally and possibly tailor or mackerel.
Large cobia remain one of the most sought after pelagics of the northern bay at present. They are well scattered and can be found anywhere baitfish or juvenile demersals are prolific. Lovers of live baits and lures of many forms, extra large cobes are also inclined to scoff reef fish being retrieved from the bottom. Expect to find cobia at the Gutters as well as off Rooneys and further down the central bay. Schools of mid-sized fish (10-25 kilos) have also turned up on shipwrecks and other local artificial reefs closer inshore this time of year, so look out.
No word on any marlin as yet, either inshore or offshore. Accidental captures on live baits intended for reefies etc often make us aware of the odd random marlin cruising deep in the water column in the northern bay in late August through September. Dedicated efforts by trollers will commence very soon. Most will await word of their arrival, whilst a handful of more intrepid fishos will sneak out for an early look on the next set of darks before the crowds gather in October.
If you are keen to catch XOS cobia, then head for the northern bay when the weather improves.
Coxy with a plump inshore bar-cheek. They were sluggish in winter, but will get more active with warming water.
Fraser’s Tailor Fishery Improving Week by Week
Fraser Island’s tailor season might have kicked off with more of a whimper than a bang, but it is steadily gaining momentum. Much improved numbers of tailor are being caught this week, and even better things are expected from the full moon period. They might only be choppers, but most fish are at least legal these days, with averages in the 45cm range.
Given that the headlands and 400m either side remain closed to all forms of fishing (until 1st October), it comes as no surprise that many of the best tailor catches have been reported from the gutters immediately either side of the closure zone. The north side in particular, from the 400m sign north, has been producing very good numbers. Few are spinning apparently, opting for traditional gang-rigged pillies for now.
Tailor schools biting at the Cathedrals and nearby have been of similar quality. Bigger fish will arrive and all will grow as the season wears on, but for now it’s a feed of choppers for most fishos. Qld Fisheries officers have been kept busy on the island this week. They have nabbed people with undersized tailor apparently – incredible! Dart are making an appearance in the same gutters as the tailor, albeit after the tailor have moved on in some cases. There to pick up the scraps it seems.
Good hauls of whiting can be expected from the shallower gutters and melon holes of the southern-central sector; the bite triggered by the full moon. Low tide gutters are typically favoured by whiting to some extent, so an eager fisho with enough energy could be slipping a feed of whiting into the esky at low tide and getting into the tailor elsewhere when the tide is higher.
Jewies remain a chance, and are of course, even more active over a full moon. There should be decent jewies caught this week. Experienced jewie fishos will know how they react to the moon’s position in the sky and be there at the right time. Bream and tarwhine are possible from any rocky outcrops inundated by the tide. Bream will take a host of baits from worms to pillies, but it is pippies almost exclusively for the tarwhine.
Low to mid-tide beach travel has been quite good, according to those that ran up from Eurong to Orchid. Taking the alternative access track around Yidney Rocks was necessary over the neaps, though there might be enough sand frontage at low tide over the full moon. Poyungan Rocks have been passable when the tide is low enough. Worms and pippies have both been in good numbers north of the headlands, but sadly, we cannot confirm the status south of there. The surf remains weed-free and looks outstanding, so anyone heading for Fraser in the near future is in for a fat time.
Just in case you are interested, it is final days for a low-key instore surf fishing sale we’ve had on at Fisho’s recently. Select surf fishing combos and a few very appealing surf casting rods are on offer at heavily reduced prices. We have been holding back on applying the imminent price rise on Gary Howard’s range of surf rods too, so get in very soon if you want to save some coin prior to your next Fraser trip.
Chopper tailor and some pushing greenback status are on the chew either side of the headland closure zone on Fraser Island.
A big haul of choppers is quite easy on Fraser right now. They will bite particularly well with the full moon.
Take the Kids for a “Day on the Bay”
With the September school holidays not that far away, we thought we might mention a relatively new charter operation that offers excellent options for family fishos and folks just keen to get out and enjoy the marvels of the Fraser Coast by water. Local skipper, Peter McAlpine, is offering very personalised fun-focussed fishing and cruising charters from his comfy 10 metre charter vessel, the “John Hickman”.
Boasting a cruise speed of 20 knots, you get to your string of destinations quickly and safely, while the kids ooh and ahh at the wondrous sights wizzing by. Creating memories in a relaxed and non-competitive environment is what Pete’s operation is all about. Family members and groups of friends are well-catered for with all equipment, snacks and drinks supplied by a most welcoming crew. Dedicated fishing charters are stress-free and yet quite productive as Pete takes you to a number of hotspots in the protected waters of Hervey Bay.
See the images below, or look up Day on the Bay Private Charters online or via social media. Talk to Pete about your options and what you would like to experience on your customised day on the bay. No doubt it will be an adventure for the kids that leaves them and you with lasting memories that you can all cherish for years to come.
Good luck out there y’all …… Jase
