Well what a mixed bag weather wise this past week. Major early season storms and then hot, rain free days. Fortunately the weather gods got their timing right and put the hot, dry, calm stuff on the long weekend. This has meant that the queues at the shop have been enormous but we managed to get through everyone without too many delays (we must be getting good at this, it’s only been 11 years of practice).
It has now become apparent that the camping bookings for weekends up the ocean beach is not going to slow down like we first thought so it is now more important than ever to book as far ahead as possible to avoid disappointment, we are still seeing fully loaded 4x4s trying to get a site on the Saturday. It can ruin your weekend so please plan ahead. I have had a message from the rangers to please reiterate that no domestic animals are allowed on the 4×4 sections of Bribie. Again this weekend a lot of people were fined for having dogs up the beach. A dog in the car isn’t acceptable either, they are not permitted past the gates at both track entrances.
On the fishing side of things we are starting to see some awesome reef species being taken from all the close in reefs both inside and outside of Moreton. Parrot fish, red emperor, cobia, king fish and many different types of cod have all shown themselves in recent days. Plus I also saw a photo of the biggest pearl perch I have seen although it was caught a little out of my normal area at wide Caloundra. There have been some early signs of pelagic species with some good wahoo reported on the trolling grounds along with yellowfin and long tail tuna just to keep up the variety.
The passage has been fishing well with the numbers of whiting up but the size has dropped a bit. This is normal for this time of the year but among the 30 cm plus fish you can get ones over 40. Flathead still seem to be around in good numbers, which goes to show that the maximum size throw back limit is doing its job. Every fish that is over that 75 limit is female and prolific breeders at that. This applies to all species but the restrictions only apply to the duskies. So if you catch a monster of any species of flathead consider throwing her back as they are the fish that keep the populations healthy.