Fishing tips: Summer fishing in Moreton Bay

While Moreton Bay is our fishing mecca, we should not forget that we share it with many other animals. One of those animals is the dugong and we are lucky enough to have a large population of them on our doorstep.

On November 24, the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) Moreton Bay is hosting the Family Dugong Awareness Day at Pelican Park, Clontarf. It promises to be a great educational day and fun for the kids, so come along.

Inshore Reefs and Bay Waters

Snapper continue to be present on the local inshore reefs with quite a few solid fish caught. Grass sweetlip are also around and will increase in abundance as the water continues to warm. Around Scarborough Reef is always a popular spot, and the key to success is to fish light and in close to the reef structure.

The reef ledges on the western side of Moreton Island will yield snapper, grass sweetlip, spangled emperor and black spotted tuskfish. It tends to be the specialist anglers who catch the latter, using very heavy gear and crabs for bait. One of the better baits for them is the smooth clawed crab commonly called a “sleepy crab”. These small crabs are abundant around the intertidal rocks of the Peninsula and good results can be had by threading two or three of them onto a 2/0 or 3/0 hook.

Tailor have been more common and widespread in Moreton Bay than usual for this time of year, so you should expect to catch a few whilst chasing other species. Mulloway of various sizes have also been turning up at many locations in the bay and the estuaries. They can be specifically targeted or caught while chasing other species. They are not very fussy eaters, but a large well-presented live bait such as a herring or yakka will often work when other baits do not. Big soft plastic lures can also do the trick.

In term of crustaceans, Deception Bay and Bramble Bay are popular spots for dropping some pots for blue swimmer crabs.

Estuary and Land Based

Both sand whiting and yellowfin (gold lined) whiting are around in November. Good catches have been for the taking on the beaches at Bribie Island, Burpengary Creek, Pine River and Hays Inlet. Bream will start to increase in number again and will start to have some better condition on them. If you are chasing them, the Ted Smout Memorial Bridge and the foreshores around Redcliffe should be productive. Both spotted and barred javelin fish should be expected on yabbies and worms in the estuaries. These two species seem to get locally more common each year.

Dusky flathead will be active, in the warmer weather, with concentrations of larger fish around the surf bars. They are a great fish to target on lures with a variety of soft plastic and hard-bodied lures being effective.

Trevally have also been popping up in the Pine and Caboolture rivers for those throwing small lures around.

Pelagic Fish

Mac tuna and long tail tuna are around, chasing baitfish in the northern part of Moreton Bay. Early morning is the best time to chase them. It’s always a simple equation with these fish most days, find the bait and you will find the fish. Be prepared though to travel to find them. School mackerel, bonito and cobia have also been caught.

Surf Beaches

If you are heading to Moreton Island this month, it is best to target your efforts along the semi-surf beaches between Combuyoro Point to North Point, the southern part of the island around Reeders Point, and the western beaches. Sand whiting should be your number one target species closely followed by dusky flathead. Look for dusky flathead during the day and sand whiting in the late afternoon and early evening. Tailor have also been about on the northern side of Moreton Island and you can target them there around the full moon.

Offshore

The reefs around Cape Moreton really are a mixing pot of species and this gives anglers a diversity of opportunity. Our usual offshore rocky reef fish have been in abundance including snapper, pearl perch, silver trevally, Venus tuskfish and teraglin. With the warmer weather, there will be a mix of more tropical offshore species such as hussar.

Daryl McPhee is an associate professor of environmental science at Bond University.