Brisbane

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | January 2023

Boat Test: Edencraft 6m Offshore

Plenty of species to revel in

BRISBANE Gordon Macdonald

masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

It has been a great summer of fishing so far with healthy numbers of pelagic and demersal species, plus crabs and prawns on offer. Weather has been sporadic at times with regular bouts of wind mixed in with storms, hot temperatures and fluctuating barometric pressure.

Anglers have enjoyed targeting mackerel, longtail tuna, snapper, mangrove jack, estuary cod, threadfin salmon, mulloway, crabs, prawns and numerous other species over recent months. With many still on annual holidays, waterways will be a little busier than usual however there are plenty of quality species on offer for all. Let’s check out a few of your options. THREADFIN SALMON

Always a popular target at this time of the year, threadfin salmon numbers are usually healthy in most of the larger river systems. The Brisbane River is probably one of the better places to try your luck with threadfin available right along its length. In the warmer months the lower reaches often hold the better numbers due to the schools of prawns which around the International Cruise Ship Terminal, and the oil pipeline are all worth checking out. You should be easily able to locate threadies on your marine electronics as they have large air bladders and show up prominently.

Soft vibes, numerous plastics, blades and even micro jigs can be used to target threadies in the deeper waters.

Threadfin can often be located close to the surface around lighted areas at night. This gives anglers great opportunity whilst casting shallow diving minnow lures, lightly weighted plastics (especially paddle tail shads and crustacean profiles) and sub-surface stickbaits. Fly anglers also have a great chance at scoring a threadfin or two. Floating or intermediate lines are ideal for presenting patterns such as polarfibre minnows, deceivers, bendbacks, game-changers and a host of other baitfish derivatives.

Live-baiting with herring, mullet, banana prawns, biddies, pike and gar can work exceptionally well. Anglers commonly anchor along the declines into the main river basin, out from the jetties and submerged ledges then deploy several lines. Baits should be presented close quality is often surprising with specimens over 110cm often caught. Anglers can also target mulloway well out into the bay with the artificial reefs, wrecks and shipping channel beacons often holding fish.

Anglers sometimes score them whilst targeting snapper around the bay islands margins, especially at Mud. The beacons out from the mouth of the Brisbane River can be worked over with live baits or by casting and retrieving paddle-tail shads and large soft vibes. I prefer the period close to the top of the tide for working these structures but have scored results on all phases.

Schools of mulloway can sometimes be found roaming the artificial reefs with larger structures such as the Tiwi Pearl being worth checking out. However, during the warmer months sharks can often be a problem and will engulf any decent fish hooked. CRABS

Blueswimmer, sand and mud crabs are definitely on the menu over the next few months. Many have scored excellent results whilst setting a few pots out in the bay and have returned home with double figures of sand and blueswimmer crabs. It often pays to sets pots in different depths or similar baits. Ensure all your crabbing apparatus meets current regulations in relation to size and labelling and that you have a legal crab measuring device aboard.

Mud crabbing can be excellent in January, especially when we have decent rains which lowers salinity higher up in the systems and forces the mud crabs further down the rivers and into more open areas of the estuary. This makes muddies easier to access as they are no longer deep in the mangrove expanses where you can’t get into to set a pot. Additionally, they are moving around a lot more as they look for new places to hole up or try and make their way back upriver as salinity improves. The same pots will work for muddies that you use for sandies and blueswimmers, however both species possess differing sizes, ways of measuring and bag limits. Decent early year rains are expected therefore mud crabbing is likely to be excellent over the coming months. PRAWNS

Rainfall will also affect the prawning options. If we get a decent amount of rain in the upper reaches of the estuaries then the prawning will be good in the lower reaches which will still have decent salinity. However, if we get enough rain to lower the salinity around the mouths of the rivers, especially the Brisbane, Pine and Caboolture, then the prawning will not be good. The deeper holes in these systems are the places to try.

The period around the tide change is when the best action will often happen. As the tidal flow slows, the prawn will lift out of the mud and silt, making them easier to access. A 12ft drop, top-pocket only net is ideal for chasing prawns. It offers the largest legal-size net therefore will cover the maximum amount of water. Most of these nets have chain bottoms yet no bottom pockets. This net type will maximise your prawning opportunity as you won’t be regularly stopping to clean shell grit, rocks, mud, jelly balls and other debris out of the bottom pocket. The prawns will flick into the top of the net and be held there in the pocket. Once the net is retrieved the top of the net can be opened and the prawns easily tipped out into a bucket.

Whilst any net can be used for prawning, a 12ft top-pocket only net is the best option and will maximise your efforts. These nets are easy to cast from a boat using the American Shrimpers method but there are several ways to cast them.

There is no size limit on prawns yet prawners are limited to a 10L bucket of prawns per person with no more than 20L per boat (with minimum 2 people on board). The best prawning is yet to come, especially in relation to size but you should be able to score a few during January, especially in the Pine and Caboolture rivers. SNAPPER

Snapper are a year round option in Moreton Bay and January is as good a month as most others. The margins of the bay islands, artificial reefs, wrecks and coffee rock areas will all produce snapper on an array of baits and lures. Early mornings and late afternoons are preferred by most however I just like to fish when there are a minimum of anglers and boat traffic. I find most areas will produce when the waterways are quiet, regardless of tidal phase. I have caught some of my best snapper in the middle of the day once most anglers have headed home. Having a little courtesy around such areas by skirting well wide when re-positioning and not driving around over ground where others are close by. An electric motor is a great asset but not a necessity for quality fishing.

Bait fishers get good results by using quality baits and presenting them lightly weighted with hooks well buried in the bait and on fluorocarbon leaders. Drifting can work well in some areas whilst employing a paternoster style rig. Commonly however, a running ball sinker rig is used. From an anchored position cast well upcurrent and allow baits to drift back down the current. You can even freespool baits some distance back behind the boat before allowing them to settle on the bottom for a while. Repeat this process whilst the tide is running hard however just allow baits to settle on the bottom around the tidal changes.

Lures work best when the tide is running hard. Commonly a soft plastic or soft vibe is cast up current and worked back to the boat with a series of slow hops and pauses, a slow roll or an erratic stop and start retrieve. Commonly you will want the lure working in the lower quarter of the water column in most areas of the bay. Often the strikes will come as the lure is sinking or on the pauses. For vertical presentations, especially when fish are sounding directly below the boat, a slow pitch micro jig is ideal. Trolling the artificial reefs or outer margins of the bay islands will produce snapper on deep diving minnow lures. The shallow reef areas can also be worked over with weighted flies such as a clouser presented on fast sinking lines. MACKEREL

Hopefully we will have some healthy numbers of spotted mackerel available within the bay over the coming month. Reports were looking promising at the time of writing with good baitfish population in the bay and spotties being caught on both the Gold and Sunshine coasts.

Spotted mackerel are often visible from quite some distance away as

Casting lures or presenting baits around structure in the rivers, creeks, canals and estuaries is likely to result in a mangrove jack or estuary cod.

make their way down river at this time. This is often accentuated by decent rains as salinity levels are lowered further upriver.

Threadfin are often located in quite large schools during the warmer months. Areas adjacent the shipping terminals at the mouth are usually reliable. The swing zone, dredge holes at the mouth, area to the bottom yet as lightly weighted as possible. Circle hooks, kahle or suicide pattern hooks are best for live baiting, offering great hookup potential. MULLOWAY

Whilst targeting threadfin salmon you are highly likely to score a few mulloway. The numbers are usually less than during the colder months but the initially to determine what depths are the most productive. Taking note of the depths the commercial crabbers have their pots set at will also give you good insight. However, do not set yours in the same area – find a similar location some distance away. Safety pots are best baited with mullet, fish frames and heads, chicken carcasses Big mulloway are still a serious proposition for Brisbane River and Moreton Bay anglers during January.

they will push baitfish to the surface and birds will often be in attendance. Spotted mackerel attack in an almost orchestrated manner with slashing spurts of water clearing the surface. School mackerel feed in a more erratic and less organised manner. Both will respond to the same high-speed retrieves with chromed slugs and slices and occasional other offerings. Vertically jigging beacons with chromed slugs and slices or drifting down pilchards will also work well.

The Measured Mile is often a popular spot at this time of the year and boats will commonly anchor, deploy gang-hook rigged pilchard baits and berley with pilchard slices. When a school of mackerel come through it can be total chaos with almost every bait getting engulfed, resulting in bending rods and screaming drags. Trolling the edges of prominent banks and ledges with spoons trolled behind paravanes or deep diving minnow lures will also reward, mainly for school mackerel. Whenever you are fishing around the fringes of the bay islands or the artificial reefs it pays to have a pilchard floating out in the current as scoring a mackerel or two is a high possibility. A few mackerel fillets on the BBQ at the end of the day is a great way to finish your day on the water.

TUNA

With good baitfish presence in the bay, tuna are very likely to be abundant. All anglers strive to catch longtails due to their eating quality, size and fighting abilities however mac tuna can also provide a bit of fun and are a great way to teach less experienced anglers the techniques of fighting a tough adversary.

Tuna species can be very profile orientated and will only eat exact profile replicas of the bait on which they are feeding. Therefore, it pays to have chromed slugs and slices or other lures of different sizes in your arsenal. Often it’s rewarding to switch it up, especially with longtails. If you can’t find something close in profile to the bait on which they are feeding to present, try something much larger and slower moving such as a stickbait or pencil popper. Sometimes it works and sometimes not, but it doesn’t hurt to try when all else fails.

If you’re proficient with a fly rod, try casting a small baitfish profile fly such as a surf candy, bay bait, polar fibre minnow, cotton candy or silverside and just letting it sink through the feeding fish. Live baiting around the shipping channel beacons will often produce large longtails and mac tuna. You may even score a cobia with that approach.

JACKS AND COD

The creeks, rivers and canal systems are well worthwhile destinations for those targeting estuary cod and mangrove jacks, especially on those hot January days when the barometer is rising. Both these species, and many others, get rather aggressive when the barometric pressure is over 1010hpa and rising.

Casting minnow lures, vibes, baitfish profiled flies, topwater offerings and small stickbaits or swimbaits adjacent prominent structure is likely to reward. Rock walls, bridge pylons, jetties, pontoons, moored boats, mangrove snags and all manner of other structure are likely holding spots for jacks and cod, which hunt by ambush.

Live baits can also be fished in these zones, especially banana prawns, herring and mullet. Night sessions around lighted areas can be especially rewarding. Whilst the rock walls at the mouth of the Brisbane River and eastern side of Mud rarely produce jacks, they are ideal locations for cod. Trevally, flathead, bream and mulloway are often encountered by jack anglers.

CONCLUSION

The conditions are going to be rather hot during January, however the fishing on offer is a good reason to slip, slop, slap and slurp to allow you to safely brave the elements. Moreton Bay and the filtering waterways should fish exceptionally well if we do not get a major flood.

The Brisbane River is a productive and promising location, especially for those who don’t have time for a full day on the water. Pelagic action throughout the bay dictates that you should always have a casting rod ready rigged with a chromed slug. The bay islands and artificial reefs are likely to receive a bit more fishing pressure than usual but there will still be some great catches to be made. Hope to see you out on the water.