Photos: Spero Kartanos.
BY SPERO KARTANOS
Hooray! The weather is warming up, and so is the water temperature, and the spring fishing season is on with plenty of our best table fish ready to catch in the bay. With the last days of the school holidays, now is an excellent chance to get the kids out (weather permitting). Let’s hope the weather forecasts for floods and rains are not as bad as predicted!
Whiting will be all over the bay, but the best areas to find them will be in the Rous Channel, Chain Banks, Amity Banks, and of course, near the Sand Hills of Moreton Island. The tiger squid should start lurking around the same areas, so a squid jig out the back of the boat while you’re catching whiting will tend to get you a few this month. The cuttlefish and arrows will have slowed, but the tigers are just as nice to catch and eat.
The school mackerel have been very good on the western side of Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah), but normally in October, they are moving all through the bay, and especially closer to the western side of the bay, Hope Banks. Near Green Island and Ormiston will be worth a try with diving boards and spoons, floating a pillie or two.
Snapper squire and sweet lip will be around the shallow reefs as well as all our artificial reefs, so some fresh bait or live bait will be worth a go, especially at dawn and dusk (but some of us oldies like the middle of the day when it’s nice and warm, as long there’s an outgoing tide).
Let’s hope some whales and calves are still hanging around as they did last year; I find it pretty special seeing them so close in the bay and literally at our doorstep. I have to say it’s so much fun seeing these gentle giants just gliding past the boat.
To keep up to date with where the whales might be, check out my weekly reports on fishingmonthly.com.au. My Moreton Bay reports will tell you where the fish are biting and where the whales are hanging around. A word of warning: please follow the rules on how close and what you should and should not do trying to see these magnificent mammals, and remember similar rules apply to our dolphins in the bay as well.
Till next month, good fishing and good whale spotting!
