Offshore fishing has been exceptional, with reports of cobia, long tail tuna, mackerel, mackerel (mac) tuna and snapper caught on all the close reefs.
The deeper reef system's of 70-120 meters depth are producing pearl perch, snapper and amberjack.
Anglers fishing the foreshores with artificial lures also caught many big winter flathead.
Flathead will seek out the warmer waters.
As the tide comes in over the flats, they will move in to feed on the baitfish and other sea creatures moving about to find a burrow or a rock as a refuge.
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In the past couple of weeks, the winter bream have arrived. I caught one close to 40cm a few nights ago on a banana prawn.
The banana prawns are also schooling up again. The areas around the Moreton Bay islands are a perfect place to net them.
Just look out for where the boats are, and you will be on the spot.
The tailor have been a bit fussy, and they are mainly about after dark.
Because they are not in large schools, they can be bit subdued, and are not attacking the pilchards but nibbling at it.
The best way to get a good response is to slowly lift your rod or wind it in when you feel those nibbles. The moving bait will stimulate their feeding response.
I was pleased to see a photograph of a fine catch of yellowtail pike caught from the Coochiemudlo Island jetty.
An abundance of pike is a sure sign that snapper are about.
I brave the cold mornings to fish for snapper whenever conditions suit kayak fishing.
Our featured angler is Redlands local, Kirk Brinkman. Kirk had been pulling an all nighter, bait fishing during a club competition at Peel Island in challenging weather conditions and was struggling to get a quality fish.
After two quick bite-offs from some mackerel, he decided to put a wire trace on to avoid losing another fish. He baited up a fresh pike strip bait while joking with his mates that he would probably get a dumb snapper now that he was fishing with wire when the fish hit his bait and took off.
The fight saw the fish run around the boat a few times (there were a couple of close calls with the anchor rope getting in the way) but he managed to get it to the surface and into the net, which is when he realised just how big it was.
Kirk, thanks for sharing the story of your catch with us. That is a beautiful bay snapper.
If you have any fishing questions or photographs of your catch, please contact Michael at desdavidmichael@gmail.com
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