Photos: Spero Kartanos.
BY SPERO KARTANOS
It seems like the weather has settled a little, and February looks like a good month for some of our favourite things to eat: squid, prawns, sand crabs, whiting and mackerel, snapper and sweet lip – not bad choices if you like seafood on your dinner plate!
Tiger squid should be in the Rous Channel and Amity Banks if the water is clean around the Green Island red, and anything with orange jigs will work best, along with pilchard colours.
After the rains, whiting will be around the Small Boat Channel on both sides of Chain Banks and Maroon Banks, all the way to the dog leg in the Rous. Squid strips work great this time of year.
The sand crab season gets better and better, with lots of crabs being caught from close in throughout the bay area.
Prawns look like they are starting in the mouth of the creeks, so if you can throw a cast net (I can’t), then it’s time you did!
School mackerel have moved to cleaner water on the western side of Moreton Island, but if the water clears, they will come into the bay towards Hope Banks. Spotty mackerel is hit-and-miss. There were a few caught in the bay in January – and I mean just a few – so let’s hope the males come into the bay in February, as we have had a horrible past few years with them missing Moreton Bay.
Sweet lip and squire are in good numbers when you can avoid the thousands of small sharks in shallow reefs around the Bay Islands and artificial reefs.
So there’s no reason not to go out and get a meal this month, but please keep an eye out for the weather – it’s better to miss a day than have a disaster.
Good fishing, and for weekly updates, check out fishingmonthly.com.au, where you can find Moreton Bay reports, or pop into Water Tower Bait and Tackle at Manly for fishing info.
