South East QLD has had some very productive fishing over the last month and it shows no signs of letting up as there is plenty of baitfish and prawns for the fish to feed on. Sand crabbing and squidding has also been very productive which is probably a reflection on the good rains we have received over the previous 6 months. There have been some unusual captures occurring too. Snapper have been appearing unusual locations, like Jacobs Well, Russell Island, Gold Coast Seaway and Broadwater. Not just undersize fish, but 3-6kg specimens! Juvenile cobia have been reported in the Nerang and Coomera rivers. Offshore has been a mixed bag with a variety of bottom species and pelagics making up the catches. Snapper and pearl perch have begun to increase in numbers, while school mackerel, Spanish mackerel and yellowfin have continued to fish well on close in reefs.

Inside Moreton Bay, snapper have dominated catches on the coral reef edges as well as the deeper parts of the bay. With the superb clarity of the water, pale natural coloured and translucent plastics have worked particularly well. Some of the popular choices have included the Arkansas Shiner, Baitfish and Green Albino in Zoom plastics, New Penny in Gulp Minnows and Crystal Shad in Assassin plastics. The presence of plenty of squid may also contribute to these colours working well too. If you are planning an evening bait fishing session for snapper at the moment, it would be hard to go past some freshly caught squid and yellowtail pike from the island shallows. These two baits really appeal to snapper and jewfish in the winter months. A number of anglers have been working the drop-offs around the bay islands with deep diving jack and bass lures. These lures provoke savage strikes from snapper and sweetlip. Plenty of 35-50cm snapper have been falling to this method, but judging by the numbers of straightened hooks that have come back, it may take some upgrading of terminals to consistently land some of the larger fish that are out there. Some of the popular lures lately have been Smith Cherry Bloods, Lucky Craft Flat Mini and Bevy Shad.

Sandflats around the Jumpinpin area have been producing plenty of bream, flathead and whiting in recent weeks. Maria Plop & Skips have worked a treat in the skinny stuff, while Zipbaits Khamsin and Jackal Chubbies have done well over the deeper flats. Evenings along the foreshores of Redland Bay and Victoria Point have been great for bream fishing. Some real horses have been taken on Mullet Gut, Chook gut and Mullet Fillets.

If you’re keen for a feed of calamari, then any weed bed seems to hold a bunch of tasty cephalopods. During the day, size 3 jigs are heavy enough to cast a long way and cover heaps of ground over deeper weed beds, while the smaller jigs work well in the skinny water up in around the mangrove edges at the top of the tide. At night, off the jetties there have been good squid chasing prawns on the edge of the lights. These ones tend to be more cagy than their weedbed dwelling bretheren and have been falling for smaller #2.5 jigs in natural prawn colours cast to the edge of the lights.