Photos: Spero Kartanos.
BY SPERO KARTANOS
Winter is not coming – it’s already here, and the fantastic fishing weather we usually enjoy in June is upon us. The early mornings are freezing cold, but those glorious sunny winter days, with the fish just waiting to be caught, make June one of the best months for fishing Moreton Bay.
So, what’s on the menu? Whiting will be starting to move back towards the Chain Banks, but the bigger fish will still be around Fisherman’s Gutter (they’re not always easy to find), the Maroon Gutter and Hole, and also Amity Banks, especially in the shallows with a good run in the tide. Squid strips and peeled prawns work best as bait in the weed banks, but worms (blood or cured beach worms) work best in the sandy areas.
School mackerel will be in good numbers, but the babies will be in large numbers in the bay, and the bigger ones will be harder to get. Bonito and the small tailor stop the bigger mackerel from getting to the spoons, but I found floating pillies will sometimes help catch a few bigger fish.
Squire and snapper will be in parts of the bay with spoiled grounds north of Harries artificial reef, Mt Cotton Reach, and the Bay Island drop-offs, producing plenty of good fish, especially an hour each side of the tide using large baits.
The cuttlefish and arrow squid will show up from east of Ormiston to St Helena around the 23 to 30-ft mark. Red and silver coloured squid jigs should work best. For whatever reason, dull colours on cloudy days and bright colours on sunny days seem to be the pattern for success, but some days they will take any colour.
So rug up and keep an eye out for the westerly winds – we have previously lost too many lives this time of year, so keep an eye on the Hope Banks beacon wind forecast as it’s our best for checking the westerly winds in the middle of the southern bay. Until next time, good fishing and keep safe!
