Troy's Report
19 December 2008
November: The attached photos show my mate Cameron Nunn with a 54cm Mangrove Jack taken out of the Coomera River at about 6:15am on Saturday 15th of November. It weighted in at exactly 5 kilos so it was one fat fish. It was landed on the pictured G Loomis Mossyback Rod and Luvius 3000r spin outfit that was loaded with 20lb PE Sunline Braid and 24lb Sunline Fluorocarbon leader. The Jack fell to a the pictured lure that is now worse for wear; it is a Red Pepper Micro fitted with Owner trebles. Numerous other "Jack", Bream, estuary Cod, Flathead, whiting, long tom and school Jew have been landed though the month on soft plastics, small hard bodied lures and fresh bait. The early and late parts of the day has been best especially either side of the Full moon. Moreton Bay has been producing a steady supply of snapper up to the odd 6 kilo mark. The drop offs around Maclaey, Peel, St Helena and Mud producing on an array of plastics and baits. The tuna and school mackeral have been making an appearance in the northern part of the bay also with the odd cobia falling victim to a floated pilly while chasing the Threadfin salmon have been reported every week from people in the know fishing with Jackall Mask crankbaits in the Brisbane River.
A recent trip to Monduran dam produced 2 sensational barra just before the full moon over the meter mark. The barra seemed to be down around the wall around the old boat ramp and not so much in the timber where they normally are. We fled the dam for a few hours to fish my favorite place, "Baffle Creek" and the jack were certainly on the chew. Numerous by catches of fingermark, bream and flathead were also caught with the odd Tarpon patrolling the deeper drop offs around the rock bars.
December (till now) Last weekend saw the first real chance to get the boat out after recent storms had totally made fishing any river or estuary a waste of time. Catfish through all the south east Queensland tributaries have replaced the Mangrove Jack upriver so we have been chasing the bigger bream and flathead around the mouth. Around Jumpinpin there have been mixed reports of Jewfish with the occasional trevally or shark also being snagged. Best baits have been mullet and pilchards but live bait is become hard to come by after the recent rains. Casting early morning poppers and deep diving minnows have yielded the odd fish around the southern systems as well as a few big summer winter in the shallows. The mud crabs are very much on the chew with a recent excursion yielding 10 crabs from 4 pots in 8 hours. Remember your bag limits and sizes, the systems need to be protected for future generations. If it is not your pot, the leave it alone!
In Southern Moreton Bay there have been a few small snapper caught but also a few just legal sweetlip around Peel and Macleay over the deeper reefs. Further north in the bay have seen the Tuna become more prevalent with the odd Mackerel being caught as well. The numbers of Mackerel are down on last year at this time but we should see more over the Christmas break. Mahi Mahi (Dolphin Fish) have been caught as a by catch and what a catch they are. It pays to have a metal slug rigged when traveling to your favourite reef and there is certainly no shortage of fun when a school is spotted. Try approaching from upwind as this is your best bet to get close enough.
Reports are coming in of various good reef catches off the Barwon banks and Caloundra patches with snapper, parrot, pearl perch and sweetlip being the norm. If game fishing is your thing then locals tell me that Billfish are in good numbers from Moreton Island to Noosa. Tight Lines!
Troy Wilkinson