The cold weather has arrived, and the tailor has been active along our coast. A Coochiemudlo local showed me a photo of a 70cm green-back he caught from one of the beaches.
Plenty of tailor around the 40-50cm mark are more common. The pick of the spots has been the main beach of North Stradbroke Island at dusk and early mornings.
The snapper fishery started slowly, with few fish about, most in the 35 to 45cm range. The odd fish in the 70-plus range and over 80cm are few and far between.
I went out last week with four live baits hoping to catch a good size snapper, but I only got one fish of 40cm from the only bite of the morning. My neighbour lost a huge snapper to a tiger shark.
The little bull and black-tip reef sharks have moved off as the water cooled, but one can still lose fish to the taxman.
The artificial reef systems and close-in reefs around Raby Bay and Wellington Point are good starting places to catch a feed of snapper.
The mulloway has been a feature so far this year. I was chatting to an angler who got a 1.2-metre mulloway at 11am on a dead trevally bait. Several fish of over 80cm have also been caught at night on live baits from our shores.
Last year, I only managed to catch one mulloway fishing from the beach in the evening, and I hope to spend more time this year targeting these iconic fish from the shores of Coochiemudlo Island.
The beaches on North Stradbroke Island produce many fine mulloway. A spot on the surf next to rocky outcrops is the pick of the spots to target these fish. A live mullet is an excellent bait. Mullet can be caught under a float using a piece of the gut from a pilchard.
Ray Kennedy fished Lake Hinze Western arm with Rick and Joy. The morning was brisk until the sneaky westerly dropped off about 9am.
They still have problems getting to the shrimp traps with the falling water levels and the traps get hung up on submerged logs.
The fish were not plentiful but a good size, up to 45cm. They ended up with a tally of 34 basses, and the eagle had a good feed of banded grunter.
Ray hopes the water cools quickly and slows down the grunter.
It is my privilege to continue writing your local fishing reports. Please continue sending me reports of the fish you catch. A photo of the fish would also be appreciated.
If you have any fishing questions or photographs of your catch or if you would like a coaching session, please get in touch with Michael at [email protected].
