Recent rain has turned the upper reaches of rivers and creeks muddy, but has also improved fishing and opened up options for anglers. There have been great catches of mud crabs over the past few days at Jumpinpin, and both the Logan and Brisbane rivers.
Mangrove jack and estuary cod have been caught by those trolling canal walls and river snags and over the weekend there were mulloway caught around the Seaway and Jumpinpin Bar on a string of fresh banana prawns threaded up the line.
Whiting catches in the rivers have been slow, but there have been better numbers in the larger waterways like the Broadwater and Jumpinpin.
There have also been flathead caught but the better numbers have been on the edge of channels leading towards bar entrances.
A lot of prawns have been flushed out into the bay and places like Nudgee are starting to fire up. There are also good numbers around the red beacon opposite the Logan River mouth and at the Saltworks, but you have to hunt around to find the schools.
The rain has also improved the fishing around the bay island shallows before first light. The top bait has been unweighted banana prawns.
In the surf, chopper tailor have been caught, mostly around 7-8am. The better tailor to 4.5kg have been caught at night as the moon rises.
On the offshore scene most reports have been about pelagic fish including spotties and Spaniards, a few tuna and the odd small black hookup.
The shallow reefs are fishing well for snapper and mixed reef species, though current has been an issue on the wider grounds.
There have been a few mulloway caught from the shallows offshore, and catches will improve if we get more rain.
In the freshwater, Wivenhoe Dam has been a hot spot for both bass and redclaw this week. There have also been a few caught from the Stanley River arm of Somerset Dam.
The western arm at Hinze Dam is fishing well for bass, as is North Pine Dam, especially for those using live shrimp.
