The rain has introduced the fresh brown water, and together with the high winds stirring up our shallow bay, this has made our shallow reef system a catfish fishery.
Last Sunday, I made the most of the brief window, fished the morning in my kayak, and caught a snapper.
Because we still had live baits, we decided to fish in the evening from the beach, although it was drizzling.
I managed to catch a large bream, a snapper and a mulloway within an hour of fishing.
The tide was relatively low, and I would have been fishing in about 1.5 meters of water depth.
I went out the next night, but unfortunately the water was muddy, and the catfish had arrived.
All we caught was catfish after catfish.
There were reports from a few charter boats which managed to slip out on the few days, and they reported Spanish Mackerel and small tuna on the Gold Coast reef systems.
Snapper and Pearl Perch are on the bottom.
Small dolphin fish on the FADs.
The Redcliffe area also held snapper with not many huge ones but a good table sized fish.
Most are caught during the early hours of the morning.
Plenty of mud crabs flushed out of the system, and it is worthwhile targeting them.
Mullet flesh is still the go-to crab bait.
Some blue swimmer crabs washed up on the shores of Coochiemudlo Island.
No visible damage on them.
Has anyone else noticed this or have a reason why they died?
Please send me an email if you have any information on their deaths.
Massive banana prawns were still about, and we will have to wait to see if they are around once the weather settles down.
I have noticed a few small prawns when collecting live bait so that the fish will return to feast on them.
Seqwater temporarily closed several dams after the recent significant rainfall into the catchment and the resulting water flowing over the spillway.
The influx of water was rather unfortunate as the dams were starting to fish well, with the fish feeling well as they were getting ready to spawn.
Water was released from the Wivenhoe Dam, the Somerset Dam and the North Pine Dam.
Please check the SEQ Water website before venturing out on any of the freshwater systems for your safety.
If you have any fishing questions, photographs of your catch or if you would like a coaching session, please get in touch with Michael at desdavidmichael@gmail.com.