By JACK MANGROVE
OFFSHORE has been a sensation, with most anglers having great success as the mackerel season just keeps producing.
Nice sized spanish and spotties mackerel have been coming from the inner reef with schools of spotties also hitting bait schools in Lagoona bay. Bird activity is the key to finding fish as the mackerel and tuna feed on the schools the drive the bait to the surface, this in turn gets the birds feeding.
The key to catching good fish in a school of bait is to match the size of the bait with your lure; a lot of the bait at the moment is quite small so it pays to have a range of slugs in different sizes and colors to match the bait.
The bottom bouncers have also been having a field day with some great reef species coming over the side, sweet lip cobia and pearl perch just to name a few. Reefs like North, Sunshine and Barwon Banks have all been producing.
The good old coral trout has also featured high on a lot of angler’s hit lists; to be successful with trout you have to fish close to the reef, so forget the Paternoster rig and use a running sinker rig, yes you will do a bit of gear but you will also improve your hook up rate.
In the river the fishing has been equally good; the river mouth is one of the hot spots for land-based anglers, with everything from jacks, trevally, tailor and big flathead all taken over the last week.
Woods Bay is another hot spot, with trevally feeding on the surface in the early morning and late afternoon.
Upriver the Tewantin ski run has again been firing for jew and flathead, with the area between the lakes also producing some nice jacks.
On the beaches the dart are smashing every bait that hits the water, a lot of these fish are undersize but are great fun for the kids, most fish are right in the shore break so no need to cast a mile, up toward Teewah the tailor are still on the chew with fish to 3kg giving angler a real tussle.
On behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures.
