Good snapper in bay

Lightly weighted baits on a run in tide have been one of the best techniques. Rocky areas are well worth targeting including the seaway, rock walls on Wave Break Island, Marks Rocks in the Logan and Dohles Rocks.  Best baits are live yabbies, mullet or fowl gut and small cubes of fish including mullet, tailor or tuna.

Flathead continue to be one of the best target species. The best results are by those concentrating their efforts around channel junctions, creek and river mouths, small feeder drains flowing into a larger system and the edge of channels. Lures that hit bottom are best and bait anglers have had the best success with two ganged hooks and a small bait fish like a hardihead or whitebait.

The secret is to keep your bait moving and on the bottom. There are still a few mud and sand crabs around. Muddies have been best in the upper reaches of rivers and creeks while sandies have been in good numbers on the eastern side of the bay.

There is good news for those fishing Moreton Bay. There have been lots of quality snapper caught this week. If you are out before daylight or doing an over-night trip, the bay island shallows have been the best location however during the day fish deep water snags like artificial reefs, wrecks and ledges.

Fish as light as you can and as quietly as you can as they spook easily, especially in shallow water. The bay island shallows are also producing good catches of grassies before daylight, bream move in once the sun comes up. Diver whiting have been hard to find at most locations, keep moving until you catch a few then berley hard for best results.

Offshore snapper numbers are increasing. The bigger fish have come from 50 fathoms while the smaller fish from shallows. The best technique is to float line with live bait or slow troll a live bait at depth. There’s also been some quality pearl perch on the wider wire weed grounds and a few late season dolphinfish hanging about.