Northern Bay

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | July 2022

Boat Test: Remora 490

Success is in the planning

NORTHERN BAY Tackle World Lawnton

What an interesting time we have had since the floods earlier in the year. Finding a window to get out for a fish with persistent winds and rain patches has made it quite hard, but for those who have planned and taken the opportunity they have been rewarded with some good catches. mixed in with other species. Sand crab catches have been exceptional after all the flushes we have had over the last five months. All in all the fishing has been good, and July is looking to be a great month no matter what type of fishing you like to do. ESTUARIES

We can expect good fishing in the estuaries this month. Bream, winter whiting, tailor and flathead will be common catches. presentations and they readily take lures of all types and sizes. My favourite way to target them is throwing soft plastics in areas where they may congregate. There is no right or wrong soft plastic to use, they eat them all – if one type isn’t working maybe try a different one. If there are still a few prawns around I would match the hatch, and try a prawn imitation.

The most important thing when fishing soft plastics is on the river systems where bait congregate. Get that plastic down to the bottom and give it some lifting jigs and wind in the slack line as the lure heads to the bottom again. Continue this all the way back to the boat. The more you practice this and refine your technique, the more flatties you will catch.

Don’t forget if you are keeping a feed, release the big fish so they can breed. Current regulations for dusky flathead are a minimum of 40cm with a bag limit of five fish. If you catch a fish over the size of 75cm, it must be released.

MORETON BAY

Amongst other species, expect some good catches of mulloway, grunter, grassy sweetlip and snapper offshore in the bay this month.

Snapper will be the main target species in the bay, and

Marley King with a nice flathead.

The estuaries have been producing good catches of bream, flathead and some good reports of school mulloway for those who put in the hard work. For anglers that have been able to get offshore we have seen some excellent snapper caught

Flathead have been fishing well of recent in The Pine, Caboolture River and Pumicestone Passage, and it’s expected that they will continue to be in good numbers throughout July. Flathead can be caught on many bait make sure the plastic gets to the bottom of the river. Adjust your jighead weight depending on the conditions you are fishing in. If the water current is flowing strong, then up the lure size. A good starting point by boat is head to the bridges

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going by recent catching it’s There was plenty of afternoon snapper fun on plastics.

Fresh out of the trap! Make sure you sort through and release the jennies. will come into play this time of year and is a fun way to target them. Either cast and retrieve through the school of fish vertically for them while keeping an eye on your sounder. There are some big bass in these schools, so get out there and try and upgrade that personal best.

Redclaw catches have also been good of late and hopefully there should be a few around still in July.

On a side note, for those who fish the creeks for bass, just remember it’s now closed season for bass in tidal waters from 1 June to the 31 August. • 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

looking like a good snapper season this winter. Fishing the rubble grounds, artificial reefs and the inshore reefs off Redcliffe are your best bet of catching a feed.

The low light periods are usually the best bite window when chasing the bigger fish, but it’s not uncommon to catch them throughout the day. A lightly weighted jerk shad type plastic is always a deadly way to catch snapper and they also readily take fresh baits. Snapper can be active in many parts of the water column and not just on the bottom, so be prepared as they can often hit when you don’t expect.

With the water starting to clean up as well, we can expect squid number to increase. This is the best time of year to target them so get out those jigs and have a go!

It’s also worth putting out some crabs pots as well this month. Recent catches of sand crab have been excellent recently and should continue over the next month or so. Schooled up dam bass are on the cards in July.

FRESHWATER

As with every winter, the schools of bass will start to congregate deep in spawn mode in our dams. Slow fall jigs and spoons 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.