By JACK MANGROVE
WINTER’S the perfect time to hit the river.
The fishing on the river has been outstanding with great flathead, bream and trevally right through the system. Whiting are in good numbers throughout the shallows of the Frying Pan Area and along the river foreshore. Yabbies and curried worms are some of the favourite baits for this sweet table fish. When fishing for whiting on the flats, a little wind ripple on the water is a good thing this makes the fish feel a lot safer from overhead predators and they are happier to feed on the shallow flats. The mid to low tide is perfect as all the fish feed on food coming down river with the tide. The bream have also been thick in the river with large schools spawning in the deeper areas. Upriver has been equally exciting with threadfin salmon taking bladed lures like the Lure fans Rattlesnakes.
Along the beaches, chopper tailor and larger tailor have been reported on the stretch from Teewah up to Double Island. The schools have been a bit small, but the tailor have been of good size up to 3kg. Large pilchard and mullet have been the pick of the baits with fast moving spinners working as well.
Offshore, things have been going off with the deeper reefs like the Barwon Banks, The Hards and the twenty two mile from Double Island really firing with large snapper, good cobia and nice pearlies. Float lining and large soft plastics have been working well. On the inner reefs, Chardon’s Reef, Sunshine Reef and Halls Reef have all produced some nice pan-sized snapper with sweetlip and trout thrown in as well. Make sure you get that burley happening for the best results.
On behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures.
