Northern Bay

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | November 2022

Karratha

The most productive time of year will begin!

NORTHERN BAY Tackle World Lawnton

The weather has most definitely warmed up now, bringing on what a lot of anglers believe is the most exciting and productive time of the year to be on the water. We have been seeing some fantastic catches coming in from anglers targeting mangrove jack, flathead, summer whiting and many other favourites of the warmer months. With freshwater, rivers and the bay firing on all cylinders, there is no better time to dust off the rods and get excited for some fishing action. RIVERS

With the warming water temperatures, there is no better time than now to get up on the flats after some summer Reece Thomas matched the hatch for a tuna reward.

Josh with an early spring jack. Throwing lures in tight structure can reap rewards.

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whiting action. We can expect to see some good numbers of hungry whiting taking advantage of the high tides, up on the flats foraging for a feed. Despite their humble appearance, whiting are no stranger to hunting down a surface lure skipped across the surface over the shallows. This provides some exiting, very visual fishing that can be a great segway for fishos looking to get into lure fishing due to the simple rod tip up, medium wind technique of working these lures.

Some great lures for this style of fishing are Daiwa to see plenty of by-catch too, ranging from bream, flathead (that’s right, flathead will take a lure off the top in the shallows), trevally and more!

Mangrove Jack will continue to fire up this coming month. Celebrated as one of the most prized estuary species in our area, these fish fight hard, fight dirty and will test the ability and patience of even the best anglers.

A run out tide is generally most promising, with a focus on fishing as tight to structure as possible. As the saying goes with chasing jacks, ‘If you aren’t snagging, you aren’t bragging’.

For the lure anglers, a suspending hardbody or paddle tail plastic, like the ZMan Diesel MinnowZ cast along a rock wall or up under a shadowed mangrove line will have you in for a good chance. For the bait anglers, a favourable and successful technique that’s hard to look past is drifting a live bait or strip bait along a rock wall. Always be on you’re a game when targeting mangrove jack as they will hit when you least expect and don’t give second chances! BAY

While the focus has definitely shifted from a cracking season targeting shallow water snapper on our local reefs, all is not done for the bay as we hang up the snapper gear and prepare the pelagic gear. We should be starting to see the long-tail often be honed in on small bait fish and can get quite picky.

It’s not just tuna to get excited about, as we will be seeing some good numbers of spotted and school mackerel getting around. Typically, these are a great species to target around the shipping channel markers with metal slugs ranging from 20-40g sunk to the bottom beside the markers and burnt back up as fast as possible. Drift past each marker making a couple of casts and keeping an eye on the sounder for signs of life. If it’s barren, keep moving from marker to marker until you find fish as they are often very mobile! Spoons trolled behind trolling boards in the channels is a fantastic old school technique to pick up numbers for anglers that are fond of a troll.

DAM/FRESHWATER

Bass have been firing up on the edges in the dams with this warming weather and will continue to improve. Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and crankbaits rolled around the weed and timber are always sure techniques to pick up a healthy bag of bass this time of year. Lucky anglers can also expect to cross paths with an elusive saratoga fishing the edges.

The creeks will continue to fish well in the coming months. With the longer days and warmer weather, don’t be afraid to take advantage of low light periods to target some hungry bass on surface and a

Michael Partridge caught these fish at the same time on the same lure. One on the front treble, one on the back! A Daiwa Double Clutch did the damage.

Slippery Dogs, Bassday Sugapens and any other small surface walker between 60-100mm. Tricking your lure up with a set of small assist hooks off the back can work wonders in getting none committed whiting to eat as it imitates a prawn’s whiskers as the lure flees across the surface. Some great areas to try would be the broken sand/ weed flats up Hayes Inlet or even the yabby flats out in front of Deception Bay. Expect tuna move down the coast and into the bay after some great numbers being reported up the Sunshine Coast recently.

Keep your eyes on the horizon for tuna bust ups over this month as some of our favourite sashimi ingredients move in. Tuna typically can’t resist a 3-5” jerk shad style soft plastic on a heavy jighead cast into schools and burnt back. If you are struggling to get an eat out of school, don’t be afraid to downsize as they will quite range of other techniques. • 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.