THE rain and wind put paid to many fishing plans over the Easter holidays.
Shrimp were scarce in the bait pots at North Pine Dam, according to our freshwater guru Raymond Kennedy.
Small redclaw outnumbered them, and the bait pots placed in six feet of water a fortnight ago were in 10-12 feet due to the water rising.
They moved some of them back into four feet in among the submerged grass. The fish were hard to locate and they managed to only land 10 basses, two yellas and 11 forkies.
The water is a bit dirty, and lots of floating hyacinth and other grass would make it difficult to troll.
A couple of the fads are submerged, as is the yellow buoy on the submerged logs. Raymond's friend caught 50 bass casting spinnerbaits on the edges of the submerged grass. Our featured photo is of Murray Binstead with a 55cm yellow belly he caught fishing with Raymond.
The fishing window was limited, and not many anglers reported good catches off the coast. But those who targeted crabs were rewarded with fine catches of mud crabs and the ever-reliable sand crabs.
Mullet baits are still the go-to bait for crabs.
A few anglers fishing out from Redcliffe managed to get amongst the snapper and landed some quality fish.
The tailor turned up again along the eastern beaches of Coochiemudlo Island after a week of inactivity.
If you are land-based and would like to catch a few tailor fish, here are some excellent fishing spots - the two entrances of Raby Bay canals, the rocky outcrops at the Raby Bay beaches, Cleveland Point next to the lighthouse, Victoria Point rock wall. Our bay island's beaches will also produce some greenback tailor.
This morning, on the golf course, a fellow golfer observed that fishing is like playing golf. While fishing you have to get your bait or lure into the exact spot where there is fish, in golf, you have to get the ball into the small hole.
It may have been all the water on the course which distracted him, and his mind wandered to fishing. But what he said is quite accurate about fishing the shallow reef systems along the Redlands coast.
Sometimes all you need to do is move 10 metres and you can go from not a bite to catching a quality fish. While kayak fishing with my friend, Gavin. I once relocated a bit to find some fish because we were not getting a bite - I only moved about 10m quickly cast in my line and caught a 65cm snapper within a minute.
I saw the fish on my sounder as I moved and quickly got my bait in the right spot. It certainly felt like a hole in one.
If you have any fishing questions or photographs of your catch, please contact Michael at desdavidmichael@gmail.com
