Finally all the summer species that should be there are there and in good numbers as well. The last of them to fire up has been the mackerel. But this last week I have been told they are there in plague proportions. If you find some sort of bottom structure (reef, marker, rock or wreck) that shows signs of bait, hold on and you will get smashed by school mackerel. These fish hit hard and fast and run for open water so make sure you have plenty of line on your spool. If you survive the first run and you can turn the fish you have a good chance of landing the fish. They will also bring a bait school to the surface so if you see bait trying to get out of the water you can bet they have a mackerel under them nipping at their tails. Schoolies will feed from the bottom of the school. Spotted mackerel are also starting to make an appearance and although not as common as their schoolie cousins are a better table fish. (Not that there is anything wrong with schoolies) You can tell them apart by the way they attack a bait school. Spotted macks are a surface feeder and will sit on the outside of a school and feed on the edges of the bait thus keeping them in a ball. They will also fin on the surface, which means that they will swim just under the surface with their top fin showing above the water the same way a shark would but in a much smaller scale.
The passage is still doing well with flathead, bream and whiting and finally I can report consistent numbers of crabs, both sandies and muddies. Sandies in the main passage and muddies around the creek mouths and also up in the creeks.
Bribie Island fishing report courtesy of Nigel Newman from Gateway Bait & Tackle.