Layer up for autumn sessions

BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

With the weather cooling rapidly, anglers will be requiring a few extra layers for those pre-dawn starts and night time sessions on the water. The abundance of many species will begin to change over the coming weeks with species such as snapper, mulloway, squid, bream and tailor being some of the more readily available species.

Plenty of others will still be on the menu with sweetlip, prawns, threadfin, flathead, longtail tuna, school mackerel and many more available. The crabbing will begin to wane a little but it should still be worth setting a few safety pots if you’re out on the water. Squid and prawns are definite options for those who specifically target them. The days will be a lot cooler, which many anglers seem to prefer, yet the fishing should still be hot to trot. Get amongst a few of these key targets over the coming month.

SNAPPER

As we move into the cooler months, plenty of anglers will have snapper on their mind. These awesome table and sport fish begin to move inshore to breed during the cooler months. Large knobbies are on the wish list for many, however I think the specimens in the 50-65cm range are the best for eating.

Currently snapper have a bag limit of 4 per person with no more than one of those fish being over 70cm, or 8 per boat with no more than 2 over 70cm, regardless of how many anglers are aboard. Remember this bag limit also includes the fish already in your possession at home. There is a closed season on snapper (and pearl perch) from 15 July to 15 August but we will worry about that when it happens. During May, the better specimens are commonly caught as they come inshore to breed. Limiting your catch of larger specimens (as the size limits are designed to do) makes good sense as it allows these bigger fish the chance to breed, helping to maintain future stocks. Any snapper bought to the boat should be handled with care and respect whilst being released as they will be the big breeding fish in years to come.

Snapper will respond to a wide array of lures and baits. They can be rather aggressive at times however the larger fish don’t get to that size without some smarts. Therefore, those employing the better techniques and approach are more likely to score results. Around the artificial reefs, drifting with the current and casting lures such as soft vibes, blades and numerous jighead rigged soft plastics has proven a successful technique. It is best to cast the lures upcurrent or across current then work back to the boat with a series of hops and pauses or errant, slow winding. Casting an additional lure aft (generally a jighead rigged soft plastic) then putting the rod in a holder and allowing the current to lift and work the plastic, can be a deadly technique. This ‘dead sticking’ approach can often produce the fish of the day. I regularly use Samaki Thumpertail 100mm when targeting bay snapper but additionally use soft plastic shad, curltail and crustacean patterns rigged on 1/4oz or 3/8oz jigheads. Snapper will respond to a wide array of lures and many will troll deep diving minnow lures around the artificial reefs and other structure to achieve hookups.

A wide array of baits can be used for snapper however the better quality, fresh baits are generally the best option. Whilst the easily attained pilchard or frozen squid can still produce quality fish, fresher offerings are a better option. Live yakkas, slimey mackerel, gar, herring and mullet can all be used successfully. These same whole baits can be used deceased, as well as fillet baits from pike, gar, mullet, tuna, bonito and even grinners. If you can’t get fresh then salted tuna and bonito fillets are well worth using and are often a lot hardier than the fresh option anyway.

Baits are best fished with a minimum of lead, fluorocarbon leaders and hooks buried well in the baits with just the points proud. Larger baits often work well when there are a lot of smaller pickers around. These juvenile fish will attack the bait creating cloud of berleyed water around the bait. This scent and commotion can get the attention of the larger fish lurking out wider and hopefully they will come and investigate before the entirety of the bait is depleted. Bait fishing can be done from an anchored position or whilst drifting, especially around the rubble areas and some artificial reefs.

PRAWNS

Prawns began to show in numbers late in March and continued throughout April. The Caboolture River, Pine River and several of the creeks filtering into the Pumicestone Passage all produced full ten litre limits of prawns for keen cast-netters. Over the last month, prawns have been caught in numerous areas of the southern bay including Jackson’s Hole, The Powerlines, mouth of the Logan, The Saltworks, Giant’s Grave and the

Redland Bay Channel. During the coming month, it is highly likely that areas off Clontarf, Deception Bay and Nudgee will begin to fire.

Usually by this time of the season the quality of the prawns is greatly improved with plenty of large bananas and a few brown tigers on offers. Quality 12ft top-pocket only nets are desirable for prawning as they provide maximum legal coverage and minimum amounts of debris accumulating in the net. Traditional bottompocket bait gathering nets can be used however you will waste a lot of time retrieving the prawns from the net and removing the debris trapped in the bottom pocket. Prawns will commonly lift and move around during the changes of the tide so this is when they become most visible on your marine electronics and easiest to catch. They can be predictable at times yet fickle and can be here one day and gone the next.

MACKEREL

Even though the temperatures are starting to cool, school mackerel should still be available over the coming months. Vertically jigging the shipping channel beacons with chromed slugs and slices will often produce good numbers of schoolies. Repeated trips to a likely beacon can reward even if unsuccessful previously.

Trolling the edges of major banks and channels during the first few hours of the falling tide with deep diving minnow lures or spoons dragged behind paravanes is a very reliable way to score a few school mackerel and cover a body of water. Drifting these same zones with unweighted pilchards can also reward. As their name suggest, they are a schooling fish therefore if you catch one in an area, subsequent passes through the same zone is likely to reward.

Longtail Tuna

Tuna numbers have been good in the bay over recent months and May should also produce some awesome action. It is the longtails that anglers froth for due to their tenacious fighting ability and exceptional table quality, especially when consumed raw or barely cooked. Specimens in Moreton Bay can reach weights in excess of 25kg. The average fish is probably around 8kg to 9kg but plenty of specimens of 10kg to 15kg abound.

Good offerings for longtails can include, chromed slugs and slices, jighead rigged ZMan jerk shads (especially the bubblegum colour), weighted casting minnows and stickbaits. I have had a lot of success on the Oceans Legacy Keeling 105 stickbaits lately. These are 105mm long, weigh 42gm and cast exceptionally well, even on PE4. Generally I opt to fish fairly heavy for longtails, otherwise the attrition rate from sharks is rather high. Even on this heavy line, plenty of fish are lost to sharks which often pounce on a hooked fish within the first few seconds of the fight.

The longtails have been feeding on rather small bait most of the time which has made it hard to tempt them when they are in a feeding frenzy. They seem to get tunnel vision and will only eat replicas the same size as the bait. Small baitfish profile flies can usually be delivered the desired distance, often working when other offerings fail. When the tuna are more scattered, with single fish sounding periodically in an area, it is a little easier to achieve results. I often cast stickbaits and work them back to the boat with a slow wind and frequent twitching. Pencil poppers will also sometimes work in this situation as will jerkshad plastics and other offerings.

If you keep a longtail for the table, brain spike it first before piercing the lateral line a few centimetres behind the pectoral fin on both sides and cutting the throat latch to allow it to bleed well. Ice down immediately and you will have some prime sashimi once the fish is completely processed.

SQUID

Squid numbers should be good throughout the bay with most areas of clean water flowing over reef, rock, rubble and weed bed producing these tasty cephalopods. Casting egi and working it back with a series of hops and pauses or a slow retrieve with pauses is likely to produce.

There will be a few to be caught from landbased spots such as Manly, Wynnum, Wellington Point, Victoria Point, Amity Point and Scarborough however the best results inshore will generally come in a month or two when westerly winds have increased water clarity.

MULLOWAY

One of the prime species for anglers fishing throughout the artificial reefs of Moreton Bay and in the Brisbane River is the mulloway. Often termed ‘ghosts of the estuary’ due to their elusiveness, mulloway can be caught on a great array of lures and baits, especially live baits. They will respond to much the same lures, retrieves and approaches that you use for snapper and are often welcome by-catch for anglers targeting this species. Larger schools of mulloway roam the artificial reef areas and can be detected using sidescan and downscan technology.

Presenting a soft vibe, jighead rigged plastic or micro jig just ahead of the roaming fish will often pay dividends. However, the sharks are often quickly on the scene resulting in a negative scenario for all except the noah. The Brisbane River can hold decent numbers of mulloway at times and whilst shark losses are lessened, it is still an issue. Fishing live baits along the edges of the declines into the main riverbed, the dredge holes out from the retaining wall at the mouth, the deeper areas around the Gateway Bridge and along the ledge just downriver of the International Cruise Ship Terminal is usually successful, especially on a night time rising tide. Mullet, herring, pike, biddies, banana prawns and squid are all excellent live offerings for tempting mulloway. Use a minimum weight sinkerjust enough to keep it in the strike zone. Baitrunner style reels allow the fish to mouth and run with the bait, giving them time to swallow it before you engage drag to set the hook.

Casting lures around the lighted areas along the river, such as the terminals, riverside restaurants, jetties and pontoons is likely to reward at night. The lights attract baitfish and crustaceans towards the surface and predators usually aren’t far away. Those targeting mulloway in the Brisbane River during May are highly likely to encounter snapper, threadfin, tailor, cod and sharks, especially when fishing with live baits.

Other Estuarine Offerings

Bream, flathead, cod, threadfin, trevally, whiting, jacks and many other species will be on the hit list for anglers fishing the estuaries, canals, harbours and creeks over the coming month. There has been some sizeable flathead taken in recent months and these are always a serious target throughout most inshore areas on both baits and lures. Bream numbers will begin to increase as water temperatures fall.

Whilst basic bait fishing will always produce a few bream, rather refined techniques can be employed whilst targeting them successfully with lures. Cod will continue to be taken along rock walls, jetty pylons and artificial reefs. You may even encounter the odd jack or trevally whilst probing heavily structured inshore areas with lures and live baits. The greater population of threadfin will begin to move back up the rivers but there are always a few lurking around the port area. The winter whiting should begin to grace the catches of those fish squid strips or worms throughout the bays flats systems and also up in the estuaries. Subtle rigging will increase catches.

Conclusion

May anglers will have a broad array of options available to them over the coming month. Whether you are fishing the estuaries for bread and butter species or out in the bay for sporting targets, there are options galore. Tasty bay options of snapper, mulloway, sweetlip and maybe even a tuskfish or two are always on the cards. Add a few prawns, squid or crabs into the equation and seafood lovers will be stoke with the smorgasbord on offer.

Cooler mornings and nights will definitely dictate a few extra layers and perhaps a warming beverage or two however the variety on offer will make the effort worthwhile. It is always a few degrees warmer out on the water than on land so that is further inspiration to get on out there.