Snapper numbers in the bay are improving.
The shallows off Scarborough have turned up good catches, as have the rubble grounds off Cleveland Point and the artificial reefs. The better quality fish have been caught in the shallows at first light. During the day they have been caught from deeper water on the artificial reefs.
The Logan River has improved and has cleaned up a fair bit and is now producing fish as far as the Junction on the top of the tide. These are mainly bream, flathead and mulloway.
It’s been similar at Jumpinpin with small flathead in good numbers on the edge of sandbanks as well as lots of small bream and a few mulloway. Gold Coast waters are turning up whiting, bream, jacks from the canal systems and mulloway in the seaway.
There are also trevally and bonito in and around the seaway as well. There also are still good numbers of crabs around. Small creeks and waterways are producing the best muddies and sandies are best along North Stradbroke Island in the bay. There are whiting in the Nerang River but lots of small bream and dinner plate size stingrays as well.
We are starting to see a few bigger mulloway caught. Some have come from the seaway and one of more than 15 kilograms from Marks Rocks in the Logan. There are still prawns in the southern bay, although not in the numbers they were a few weeks ago. The best catches have been in the Logan River and south to Jacobs Well.
Brisbane River is well worth fishing with threadfin and school mulloway the main species. There are also increasing numbers of diver whiting on the banks between the river mouth leads and Kedron Brook Floodway.
There’s still some tuna in the northern Bay and a few mackerel inside South Passage Bar and around Peel Island. Offshore there’s been lots of pan-size tuskfish in 40m of water and plenty of small snapper on reefs. Pearl perch are in good numbers, particularly in 100 plus metres. The shallower you get, the smaller they get.
There’s also still a few small dolphinfish off Point Lookout.