BY SPERO KARTANOS
When the weather allows, the bay has plenty of fish for all, whether you’re a fishing fanatic, someone who likes a weekend fishing on the bay, or you’re dropping a line with the kids and family.
So, here is my rundown of the species available to us this time of year that most of us go to catch in the bay.
Whiting: It’s the easiest and the best fishing for the kids and the family, and probably the best tasting for most of us. You’ll find whiting in good numbers at the southern side of the Chain Banks, Amity Banks, the Maroon Bank side of the Rous Channel, and, of course, the Sand Hills at Moreton Island and the Blue Hole. In the north-easterlies, they’ll be around Horseshoe Bay at Peel Island, where there are plenty of whiting, but also lots of traffic. The best bait is sandworms, bloodworms, and peeled small prawns, as well as squid strips, on a paternoster rig while drifting.
Squire/Snapper: These tasty fish will be closest to Wynnum Manly on the eastern side of Peel, Mud, and St Helena Islands, and from Wellington Point all around Peel Island (in particular Lazaret Gutter), and of course Harry’s Artificial Reef and Mt Cotton Reach in the Rous, and further north to Cowan Reef. I prefer the shallow reefs close to our Bay Islands, with smaller currents. Fishing in depths of 18 to 21 feet makes it fun – run a rig with enough weight to get to the bottom on a 3.0 to 6.0 snapper hook. The best baits for me are small whole whiting, garfish (whiting heads are my favourite), but squid, cuttlefish, octopus, mullet flesh, and grinner fillets will all catch a fish or two. I prefer a good run in the tide – especially outgoing. Also, sweetlip, bream, and flathead are all bi-catches while fishing for squire.
School Mackerel: The best way to catch school mackerel is with diving boards. I recommend yamashita, delta, or yozuri, or orange boards with 3-inch spoons trolling around the 5 to 7 knots around the bay. Try around Hope Banks, the basin at Peel Island, the Rous Channel, Rainbow Channel, and in the deeper water at the Sand Hills, Shark Spit, the Shipping Channel, and the Measured Mile Beacon. You can also float a pilly out around any of the bay markers, or when you are whiting fishing, there are always mackerel swimming around.
Spotty Mackerel should start showing up in the next few weeks, and you can catch them trolling, but a chrome slug thrown and retrieved in a feeding school is the way to catch them. The tradition of them coming into the bay has gone pear-shaped, so let’s hope this is a good season.
Let’s not forget Sand Crabs – they have been in great numbers over the last few months throughout the bay.
And, last but not least, one of the best-tasting critters in the bay: Tiger Squid. They’re starting to show up in all the weed banks in the bay on the western side of Moreton Island, the Rous Channel, Small Boat Channel, Amity Banks, Rainbow Channel, and Green Island. But…you need nice, clear water and a couple of good quality squid jigs. Cast and slow retrieve, and you should get a squid and a face full of ink (this happens to us all)!
So, have fun and be careful. Watch the weather and all the extra boat traffic over the holidays, and look out for a couple of the nastiest of creatures in the bay: stonefish, which are normally found on the bottom, but this time of the year they float on the surface; and Moreton Bay morbakka jellyfish (Irukandji species), which we have in the bay around the Bay Islands, off Wynnum, Wellington Point, and King Island – they will be seen in bigger numbers as the water warms.
To all the readers, Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year, and good fishing to you all! See you in 2026.
