Best of both seasons

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | May 2023

GEN III

MACKAY

Cameron Christian

May is typically our official transition to winter and while the start of the month can be quite warm with plenty of summer species, like jacks and barra still available, the end of the month can become pretty cool and leads to plenty of opportunities for winter species like mackerel, snapper, queenfish and bread and butter species like bream, whiting and flathead.

As usual, look for barra and jacks in the warmer areas during the warmer parts of the day, like sand or mud flats or rock bars and points in the afternoon on the incoming tide after they have been baking seconds between twitches, especially on the cooler days. Fishing these areas will also lead to plenty of sooty catches and can make for a really great time.

Toward the end of May when conditions really cool down, anglers should start planning to target species like flathead, mackerel, snapper and queenfish. Flathead can be super abundant as the cooler weather is typically their breeding season. Large schools of actively feeding flathead can be found on the flats around Pioneer River and Seaforth. Anglers should focus on features like gutters and drains using lures like shallow divers and lightly weighted soft plastics or fresh baits like yabbies and prawn. Large numbers can be caught during times spin outfits. Alternatively, lures like metal spoons or old busted up barra lures like Tilsans or Halcos can be trolled around the edges of the feeding schools. There should also be tones of queenfish available during May and many can be caught around structure like the bridges and trainer walls in the Pioneer River and inshore islands and rocky headlands like those around Seaforth and Eimeo. Popular techniques for targeting queenfish include working surface lures like poppers and shallow divers, fast and erratically or fishing deeper sections using metal slugs, letting them sink to the bottom and burning them back.

Snapper typically begin to show up in our more southerly waters toward the end of May as they taking advantage of the warmer northerly winds can lead to the best results. Persistent anglers can be rewarded however as the cold conditions tend to effect the rats more than the big fat monsters. Kinchant is typically the warmest dam and should lead to the best results. Anglers trying for monster barra in Teemburra however will usually have to adapt their techniques for the colder and awesome data. sooty fisheries and absolute monsters can be caught there. The flooding earlier in the year has left the dam at maximum capacity and this typically allows the lily pads to take over the weeds. This still makes great structure around the points and bays in the main basin and they can be fished using small divers, soft plastics and hardbody vibes cast as close as possible to the lily pads. Sooties are in the sun. Lures can be worked slow for lethargic barra but live baits can typically work best for those big lazy barra.

At the time of writing, 30,000 barra fingerlings between 60-70mm will soon be released into Teemburra, 20,000 of which have been generously donated by Coral Coast Barramundi Hatchery. The remaining 10,000 have been purchased using Go Fund Me donations, funds raised by the MTA fundraiser comp and Aurizon Jilalan depot social club donations.

Chasing barra in the rocky, shallow freshwater streams above the weirs throughout the Pioneer Valley can also be a great option for the land-based or kayak angler. The waters here can be a bit warmer if plenty of sun is about and the freshwater reaches of the Pioneer River are loaded with barra thanks to MAFSA. Surface lures can sometimes be the best option due to the shallow water and should be worked fast and erratically if the fish are visibly feeding but can be more reliably worked slowly and gently, waiting up to 30 like this, however anglers should be careful with what they keep as many can be found full of roe when fileting.

Plenty of mackerel catches should be seen during May and they should be easily found around rocky headlands and inshore islands like those around the Harbour, Slade Rock, and Round Top and Flat Top Islands. Surface and bird activity can be the best way to locate mackerel schools however stealth is important as a roaring engine will spook the fish and drive them deeper.

Anglers should cut engines well away from the schools, keep the wind to their back and cast lures as far as possible, an approach well suited to metal slugs and progress through their northern migration. Some will be found around the islands and deeper reefs south of Sarina initially with fresh or live baits sometimes being the best option. Looking for schools of bait on the sounder will help to find the snapper noting that they will typically sit below the bait schools, hence baits should be presented accordingly.

Impoundment barra will become hard work to catch as the weather cools down and consequently the barra comps are put on hold. When chasing impoundment barra during this time of year the bite times can become really short and hard to pick. Picking the warmest parts of the day will help and

Big fat Teemburra barra like this one caught by Ben Barker should still be available during May. conditions. Downsizing lures is one such practice and also increases the odds of sooty by catch.

In very exciting news, there have been two recaptures of tagged barra in Teemburra, these barra were released around 350mm and have both grown nearly 200mm in 147 days, some absolutely phenomenal growth rates

The best part of May is all the sooty action throughout the dams and freshwater rivers and streams. Sooties don’t worry about the cold weather and the stable weather patterns during this time of year leads to some great impoundment fishing conditions.

Eungulla Dam is probably one of Queensland’s best also commonly targeted in the tree tops using the same lures mentioned above cast tight into the gnarliest structure possible.

The recent INDT world sooty comp should leave anglers with tones of practice for the upcoming MTA sooty comp taking place on the 20th an 21st of May, see MTA’s Facebook page for entry details.