Photos: Spero Kartanos.
BY SPERO KARTANOS
September is normally a very good fishing month as we are back into the snapper/squire, and the school mackerel are back on the bite with plenty of undersized ones close in, with some bigger fish in the mix. We also get a run (in some years) of broad mackerel, especially around the basin at Peel Island. Paravaning with 3-inch spoons or drifting with floating pillies is the way to catch these great tasting pelagic fish.
The whiting will have moved back closer in off the Chain Banks, and all the way through to the Rous and the Sand Hills at Moreton. The Blue Hole should have some nice fish as well, and blood worms and peeled prawns on a paternoster rig will get you a feed.
The cuttlefish will be nearing the end of their run but the arrow squid should still be around, so the deeper water off the close-in islands will provide a nice feed.
So while the fishing will be good, September is my favourite month as the humpback whales with their babies tend to come in for a rest on the way south to Antarctica. I can’t get enough of seeing these majestic mammals so close to home, and over the last few years they have been close in and as south as Peel Island, near Ormiston, and off King, Green and Mud Islands. And of course you can spot them all through the northern bay east of Tangalooma and up to Cape Moreton, so you can take the kids out to see them so close to home. There are laws about how close you can get to them and how to approach them so read up on the Queensland fisheries site before your trip (this also applies to dolphins in the bay as well).
Enjoy the bay this month. I will be posting updates on fishingmonthly.com.au under Moreton Bay reports when the whales turn up and where they are in the bay.
Till next month, good fishing, good whale watching, and keep safe!
