With the prawns will come the predators

Southern Bay

Nick Whyte

Mangrove jack have been hot to trot in recent weeks, and that should continue this month.

There will be good numbers of jacks around in the coming weeks, but the bigger models will be thinking about heading offshore to breed. At this time of year you can find big congregations around the bar and river entrances. The Seaway is a good place to fish this month, and Amity rock wall is worth a look, too. Remember to fish heavy for these guys as you will be targeting the larger fish. They will have no problems taking you back into structure on light tackle. All canal systems and creeks have been producing good numbers, but it seems as though the Coomera has been the pick of the bunch. Work all the main bridges around Sovereign and up through the river. Deep plastics and deep-running hardbodies are the go. Topwater lures can be a great way to target them up tight on the rock walls, especially as a few prawns start to show up.

Spotty mackerel have been a bit hard to find in the bottom half of Moreton Bay. Sand Hills have been a regular producer. Most fish are still average size but there is the occasional bigger fish up to a metre. The longtail tuna should heat up this month, with bigger schools pushing down into the bay. There have been reports of good fish in the northern bay. Areas north of Mud Island and north of Tangalooma have been the most consistent.

Summer whiting have still been about throughout the Southern Bay. Reports of large fish have not been uncommon this past month. Most anglers have been targeting these with freshly dug worms. Digging worms yourself will often yield better results. The best spots this month have been in the Logan River at the Lone Pine or the Council Chambers in the Nerang River. Most of the Gold Coast systems have been productive.

Brisbane River has been producing some great fish lately. There has been large numbers of threadfin salmon and jewfish (mulloway) caught from the port area. A lot of the fish have been of better quality, with 115-120cm being common. The good old Zerek Fish Trap is definitely the go-to if you’re looking for a thready. Just remember that these fish suffer from barotrauma when pulled from deep water, and if you are practicing catchand-release try to have a release weight handy to get the fish back to the bottom. Take care when handling them and don’t keep them out of the water too long. If treated improperly, these awesome sportfish will have very little chance of survival.

There have been plenty of school jew around in recent weeks. These guys can usually be found holding tight to structure or harassing the baitfish.

Bream will be throughout the Southern Bay around all the shallow rock points this month. It’s a great time of year to target these fish on topwater lures. The rocks around the power lines, the top of Macleay at Pats Point and Lambs Rocks are all great places to have a look. Shallow cranks and larger walk-the-dog topwater lures are the best techniques in this shallow structure.

The Bay islands have been fishing a little tough of late. There have been a lot of undersized squire

(snapper) and sweetlip on the edges. At this time of year it pays to fish a little deeper around Harries, the deeper edges along the western and southern sides of Peel as well as the Peel and Coochie artificial reefs. The fish won’t be thick but you should have a better chance of some quality fish.

Prawns have been quite patchy from the start of this season in the Southern Bay. There have been reports of isolated catches from the mouth of the Logan and Macleay areas, but at the time of writing they are a little hit and miss. This month should see a great improvement though, and it should only get better moving forward into April. With the prawns will come the predators. Mulloway, flatties, threadfin and bream all love a good feed of prawns. Prawn imitation lures like small vibes, long slender topwater lures or prawn plastics are what should be tied on this month.

If you have a great capture from the Southern Bay you would like to share, send me an email at techfishing@hotmail. com. Until next month, Tech-it-easy.