Southern
OLD
October’s opulent offerings BRISBANE
Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com
Warmer air and water temperatures have done wonders for the variety of fishing options, making those early morning starts a lot more enjoyable. Warmer water temperatures heighten baitfish presence, which is fortunate for fishers because the metabolism of many species is also peaking, resulting in aggressive feeding behaviour. Throughout Moreton Bay and the waterways feeding it, a broad array of demersal and pelagic species will be on offer for anglers during October. Let’s get stuck into a few of these opulent October offerings! MACKEREL For the last few months, school mackerel numbers have been exceptionally healthy throughout Moreton Bay. The channels (Rainbow, Pearl, Kianga and Rous) have held great numbers of fish at certain times. The larger tides often produce the better action, with mackerel really coming on the chew at the start of the falling tide in many areas. Anglers can target them in these zones by spinning chrome slugs and slices, drifting pilchards or trolling lures. As the tide starts to fall, mackerel will troll the edges of these channels preying on food sources such as squid, baitfish and crustaceans forced off the flats with the receding water and strong current. Casting lures into this zone can offer
some quality fishing action, resulting in aggressive strikes and screaming reels. Drifting pilchards along the edges of these channels is a relaxing way to score a few and is ideal for the less experienced anglers. Anchoring in this zone will also pay and is probably the best ploy when numerous boats are in the same area. Pilchards are commonly fished on ganged hook rigs. If the pilchard is rigged nice and straight with the hooks buried along the back of the bait and the leading
hook placed centrally down through the head, it can be cast out, allowed to sink and then slowly retrieved. This will induce the most aggressive strikes and will often produce when other approaches don’t. Mackerel are clean fighters and can be caught on relatively light line with ease. Trolling is a good a good technique when the mackerel are a little scattered and you need to cover ground to find fish. This can be done with deep diving minnow lures to around 120mm in length
School mackerel numbers have been great in recent weeks and it has been easy to score a few of these tasty critters for the table.
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OCTOBER 2022
or with spoons behind paravanes. Halco’s Barra Drones and Kimberly Spoons in 3 or 4” are available at decent tackle stores and will work a treat when trolled 4-5m behind the paravane and rigged with a ball-bearing snap swivel. During October, mackerel may even be found around the shipping channel beacons in the middle and northern part of the bay. These zones can be fished by drifting pilchards or vertically spinning chrome slugs and slices. Having a pilchard deployed while fishing around the bay islands and artificial reefs or drifting the flats for whiting could also produce a mackerel or two. We will see decent numbers of school mackerel for the next six months or so, and you have plenty of time for some sportfishing fun or to secure some tasty white fillets. SNAPPER The last few months have been awesome for anglers targeting snapper, with good numbers of quality fish to be caught. Scoring a full bag of snapper has been relatively easy for most, with quality fish coming from all corners of the bay. The artificial reefs, bay wrecks and island surrounds offer some great areas for anglers to get amongst the snapper action. These areas hold baitfish, crustaceans and cephalopods, so snapper are usually in attendance. While early morning and late afternoon sessions often produce a flurry of hot bites, snapper can be caught right throughout the day. I believe the biggest deterrent to catching fish is noise, especially in the shallow areas. Fishing when boat traffic is minimal will improve chances, regardless the time of day or tidal stage. The larger tides commonly provide the best action, especially for those using lures. Lures can include soft vibes, soft plastics, minnow lures, blades, micro jigs and many more. Presenting the lure to likely areas and fishing it well is more important than the lure type, brand or colour most of the time. Casting vibration lures and soft plastics up current or across current and then working them back to the boat with a serious of lifts, hops or with intermittent pauses will generally work well. The biggest mistake many make when fishing plastics is that they work them too fast. While this can work on occasion, generally a slower retrieve is the best bet. Quality baits will work exceptionally well, often producing best results around the change of the tide when current flow lessens and they
Chris Deeks with another quality snapper from a session casting lures around the bay islands. present more naturally. Whole fish baits such as pilchards, yakkas, slimy mackerel, gar, pike, herring and mullet will all work well. Live offerings of the same are even more likely to produce, especially when presented lightly weighted and drifted around the bay island margins, artificial reefs and wrecks. Anchoring in these areas is also worthwhile and a lot easier when the currents or wind are high. In this situation it is best to cast baits up current and out to the side of the boat, before letting them sink naturally as they travel back with the flow. Once aft they can be freespooled so they travel further back as they sink. Once they have settled to the bottom for 10-15 minutes, wind them back in, check the bait, replace if necessary and then repeat the process. With water quality gradually improving due to infrequent westerly winds, anglers are best to fish relatively finesse rigs. This will include minimal sinker weights, lighter fluorocarbon leaders and hooks well hidden in baits with just the point proud. Good numbers of snapper will be around for several months yet, with October and November often producing some of the better quality specimens in Moreton Bay. THREADFIN SALMON Octobers offers anglers great opportunity to target threadfin salmon in the larger river systems such as Brisbane, Logan, Caboolture and Pine. The Brisbane River is always the most reliable and large numbers of threadfin salmon can be found in certain zones at times. The lower reaches often hold some exceptional specimens with 120cm plus threadies caught on occasion every year. Any fish up around the magic metre mark will give you a great fight however
careful handling needs to be employed to increase survival rates in released fish. There is nothing wrong with keeping a threadfin for a feed however subsequent fish should be given the best chances for survival by not removing them from the water, removing hooks quickly and swimming them in the current until they are strong enough to swim away in an upright position. Some use release weights and vent the air bladder to get them back to the bottom. The swing zone and other areas around the wharves and jetties on the southern bank plus the cruise ship terminal, oil pipeline and wharves on the northern side can all hold creditable numbers of threadfin salmon. They will often school in these areas especially once the prawns start moving down river as the water temperatures rise or rainfall lowers salinity further up. However, when the threadies are set on prawns they are often hard to tempt on other offerings. Repetitive casts with varied offerings will regularly go unrewarded. Sometimes a tidal change may get them to chew yet sometimes you may need to resort to live baits to get connected. Individual fish wide of the main school or in other isolated locations are often easier to tempt than those amongst a large congregation of fish. As the water temperatures warm, threadfin will become hungrier and more aggressive. They will commonly be found in the lower reaches of the river systems right throughout the warmer months. MANGROVE JACK AND COD As water temperatures rise, many fish’s metabolism will increase dramatically. This makes them hungrier and more aggressive. For us anglers, this is a good thing,
