Fishing in the southern bay this past month has been dominated by the vagrancy of the spring weather or more specifically; the wind. As I write there is 20 knots of sou’easter blowing, which should really help improve the southern bay fishing for the coming week. Southerlies tend to bring bait in from the close offshore reefs where it aggregates around the rainbow channel and Peel Island. As the wind switches back to northerlies, the bait scatters and the spring pelagics move back up to the central and northern parts of the bay or offshore. On the other hand, the northerly winds are pretty good for river, creek and canal fishing opportunities as the jacks, cod and trevally really like the hotter weather.

Flathead are another species that has been about in good numbers recently. Most of the sandbanks and channel edges between Coochiemudlo and the Pin have held a lizard or two. Bream have been scarce in the deeper waters toward the pin but their numbers are slowly increasing in creeks, canals and shallow reef areas.

Offshore there have been some days of roaring current which is good news for anglers chasing wahoo and marlin, but not such good news for bottom fishers. Out on the 300m line the water is up around 26 degrees and inshore is getting up to 24 degrees already. Reports have been coming in of blue marlin out wide and small blacks closer inshore.  One angler even hooked a black marlin on a jig a couple of weeks ago! (well done Danielle!)  Snapper off shore have been fairly quiet over the past few weeks but has been some excellent days jigging for kingfish and amberjack, particularly along the 35 fathom line. Inside the bay, snapper have been patchy but a number of larger fish have been caught, including one from St Helena said to weigh 45lb! see nuggetfishing.com.au for the picture. Translucent blue plastics have been working particularly well on the snapper, such as the Rainbow shad colour in the Zoom range or the Albino in the Lake Fork and Assassin ranges. Also on the Moreton Bay’s shallow reefs have been increasing numbers of grassy sweetlip. If you’re fishing along a reef edge and something powerful picks up your bait or lure and blasts back into the reef, then you’ve probably hooked a sweetlip! Longtails and mack tunas are becoming more common in the bay right now, with some of the longtails topping 20kg. Finding the pelagics can be a bit of pot luck though - these early season fish can be here today, gone tomorrow, depending on the movement of baitfish.

In the freshwater, good reports have come in from Hinze, Wivenhoe and Somerset dams. Somerset in particular is the highest its been for several years and is beginning to settle down after all the inflows it has received throughout the year. Hinze has produced good bass and togas on deep diving crankbaits and vibes, but remember that the main ramp areas near the dam wall are closed until the construction is finished. Anglers must use the ramps further up the eastern or western arms.

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