Northern Bay

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | January 2023

Boat Test: Edencraft 6m Offshore

Sweet summer fishing

NORTHERN BAY Tackle World Lawnton

A very happy New Year goes out to all of our readers! From the Tackle World Lawnton team we hope you’ve had a relaxing and fish filled Christmas break. We look forward to what will hopefully be a far more normal year to come for 2023.

We’ve seen many of our local anglers take advantage of the break and get into some cracking catches. Great reports have been coming in of summer whiting, bream and flathead in the estuaries whilst the bay has been producing good numbers of school and spotted mackerel. RIVERS

It appears we have had a fantastic run on the mangrove jack this season thus far, and you would expect it to continue improving as we see continued warm days through January with those usual afternoon storms mixed in to fire them up.

As always, jack fishing is a heavily structure-based activity with these fish loving anywhere in our river systems that’s going to have an abundance of structure for them to ambush from. Some key systems to target would be the Caboolture and Pine rivers. These rivers both have an abundance of structured areas ranging from mangrove edges, rock walls, fallen timber, rock bars and more. When targeting a snag, generally the leading edge to the current will be a key ambush point for a jack when they are fired up. They can often also be tempted in less productive bite times sitting a bit deeper off their structure.

Suspending hardbodied lures and 4-5” paddle tail soft plastics are generally a go-to presentation for lure fishos. This is the perfect time of year to be taking advantage of jacks’ heightened aggression, so try a surface lure for a more exiting experience.

Bait fishers are also well within a chance of crossing paths with jacks by fishing the same areas with a different technique. A wellpresented flesh bait or a live bait are two very effective options. Once again fishing close to structure is key. A great starting point is 30lb mainline and leader as these fish don’t play nice and will most certainly have you back in the snag in a blink of an eye at any lapse of concentration.

We expect to see threadfin salmon increasing in numbers at the Port of Brisbane this month. These are an impressive sport fish that happen to be quite good on the table. They provide a change of scenery for most anglers with deeper water, large ships and loading docks providing a favoured habitat for these fish.

Threadfin generally take quite well to a soft vibe from the 90-110mm size hopped off the bottom. You can expect to find these fish at the Port ranging from 7-15m of water, generally moving along drop offs of the channels and rock ledges. You’re best to spend a bit of time sounding around to find larger schools as fishing groups of 2-3 fish generally won’t yield a result and it’s very hard to put a lure on a fish’s head in 15m of water. BAY

Long tail tuna will be in the sights of most bay fishers this month. Some good numbers are expected to come though considering the great start to the season we’ve seen though late November and December last year. Whilst you will find them throughout most of the bay, the northern bay generally produces better numbers. Spotting the school and the direction it’s heading, and placing your boat in their direction, will put you in for a much better chance than simply driving up on the school. By the time they come into the bay they are usually quite wary of boats after having being targeted all the way down the coast.

Spotted mackerel will make an appearance along with the already arrived school mackerel in the bay this month. Deep trolling the shipping channel with trolling boards or targeting the navigational beacons will be the two favoured techniques.

When fishing the beacons, a metal slug 20-40g is a tried and tested lure. Move along the channel sounding the beacons until you find one with some bait or even mackerel showing. Sink your slug to the bottom and wind up as fast as you can. Do this while drifting past it a couple of times. If no result occurs, continue onto the next productive beacon. When shut down, these fish can often be tempted by a pilchard on a gang with a running sinker. Wire is not preferred for spotted mackerel as it can often put them off but if you aren’t running wire you can expect to donate a few

Who doesn’t love catching jacks. Mitch with a couple nice specimens.

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Shaun Ezzy picked up a nice late spring longtail tuna.

rigs or lures as these fish have razor sharp teeth. FRESHWATER

Both Kurwongbah and Lake Samsonvale are expected to fish well this month after both not releasing water for a short period of time now. Targeting bass up on the edges will be effective early morning and late afternoon whilst the water is cooler. Surface lures 50-60mm, spinnerbaits, chatterbots and lipless crankbaits are all fantastic lures to roll off the weed on the edges. Once the sun is up and the water warms, expect these fish to move off the edges looking for more oxygenated water through the day often schooling in 5-10m of water before returning to the edges late afternoon. Lipless crankbaits, metal blades and 3’ paddle tails are preferred lures of choice, matching the bait fish these fish are targeting quite well. • For more up to date information on fishing in and around Brisbane call into the guys at Tackle World Lawnton and they can point you in the right direction. The friendly staff at Tackle World Lawnton cater to all levels of experience and offer the widest range of brands at the best prices. They are located at 640 Gympie Road Lawnton (07) 3205 7475 or find us on Facebook and Instagram.