No thanks to Mr Weather Man, another Easter in the books. Not the doom and gloom that was predicted instead all that braved it had a great time. Good weather, good fishing, good company; what else can you ask for. What did we learn from this long weekend? We learnt that you have to book ahead to get camping, the weatherman is a pessimist, and to make sure you have all your permits in order. All day we had rangers ringing us to get people a permit after fining them for not having one. You must have a valid permit to drive off road on Bribie Island. There are still some camp sites available for the holidays but they are going fast give me a ring on 5497 5253 and we will see if we can get you sorted.
The winter whiting have started to show up in the passage which in turn means that they will have taken over the Cockle Banks. For those that don’t know what the Cockle Banks are it’s a big sand bank that is out in the Northern part of Moreton Bay. It runs in an arch from the Deception Bay red buoy to the back of Gilligan’s Island, off of Skirmish Point. At this time of the year this bank holds schools of winter whiting and getting your bag limit is very easy. As it is such a large area the fish can be a little hard to find but when you do you will do well. There is no size limit on winter whiting and there is a bag limit of 50 fish per person. The best way to fish the banks is to drift until you find the fish then anchor.
This time of the year we find we have both summer and winter species in the water as the water cool we will lose the summer stuff but with the water temperatures still sitting on 25 degrees the mackerel and tuna are still going crazy especially near the shipping channel markers. Many people are fast learning that their light inshore gear is no match for the size of the macks and tuna out there at the moment. Spooled lines and lost tackle are a regular occurrence on light gear, time to bring out the big guns to stop these monster fish as you will see by this week’s picture.
The recent rains have dirtied up the water in the passage but the fish are still there, on a trip out on a BBQ boat from Bribie Island Boat Charters, we landed 7 different species and this was in only 2 hours. So the fish are there you just have to get yourself out there. If you are looking for something to do with the kids these holidays a BBQ boat is a safe way to get your family on to the water and it’s a fun way to spend time on the water. Give Robyn and Brendan a ring on 5497 5533 to get the prices.