Southern
OLD
Summer flatties galore SOUTHERN BAY
Nick Whyte
Hot weather is here, and the fishing is heating up as well. Mangrove jack are in full swing and terrorising baitfish up
for some nice fish for lure anglers. All bridges, pontoons, snag piles and rock bars will be holding fish at certain parts of the tides. Look for areas with a lot of tidal run in the middle of the flow and then target
nights when live baiting. Coomera River, Aquatic Paradise and Raby Bay Canals have been giving up some good numbers of late. Threadfin salmon are still around but are slow in the Brisbane River of late. The fish haven’t schooled up in big numbers yet but during January is when those congregations of fish really come together. Put the effort in with your sounder and spend the time searching to find the areas holding the larger numbers. Best techniques are live baiting or using soft vibe lures to get their attention. My favourites are the Zerek Fish Trap in the 95mm size. There have also been a few good mulloway getting around the Port. Live baits and larger paddle tail plastics will get
Billy with a cracker Brisbane River thready. the Logan River and sand banks close to the Pin bar. Worms and soldier crabs have been the best bait. Up in the super shallow water you can target these big fish using long skinny poppers. This is an awesome visual technique that really gets the heart pumping and these little guys punch above their weight. It’s great to hop out of the boat and walk the bank and fish that shallow water near the top part of the tide on the last of the run in over
quality usually lifts. You want to try and target these bigger fish in the deeper sections of 10m+. Places worth having a look are the Harry Atkinson artificial reefs, the Peel Island artificials, the spit beacon at Peel and the western side of Mud Island. You don’t need to use massive plastics or baits for these fish as small 4” McArthy paddle tails and Zerek Flash Wrigglys will match the hatch with what they feed on. Using your sounder to
There are still a few nice flatties around the Pin. Lochy nailed this one on a 5” McArthy paddle tail. and down the coast. Live baiting has been the most consistent technique, but prawn imitations fished slow have accounted
these areas as the tide slows. Low light conditions early morning are my favourite for lure fishing and late into the hot balmy
The author with a decent 86cm Jumpinpin flathead.
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JANUARY 2023
their attention. Flathead are littered up on the flats at the moment. There are plenty of pan size fish getting caught around all the islands. The flats around the back of Garden Island and the area around the ‘W’s has been fishing well. The bigger models have been a little harder to tempt of late. If trying to target big fish in the shallows, then throw big baits. Big hardbody lures designed for barramundi are a great starting point. One of my favourites is the Duo Realis jerk baits. Fishing these bigger lures slow in shallow clear waters makes for some insane visuals. On the other end of the scale trolling the ever faithful 50mm Tango Shad will account for plenty of numbers. Summer whiting are in great numbers throughout
David Hall with a flatty on a 4” McArthy paddle tail. the yabby banks. There has been a lot of sharks down towards the mouth and some large models have been caught. If you enjoy catching sharks now’s the time to be out there. Summer is my favourite for big bay snapper with not as many numbers, but the
locate these fish is the key. You may need to be patient but you won’t find them if you don’t go looking. • If you have a great capture from the southern bay you would like to share email them through to nick@ techfishing.com.au Till next month Tech-it-easy
