This was probably one week that we were hoping the weather gurus were wrong but they got it spot on. 400 to 500 mm of rain over two days has made fishing a little tricky. Let’s start with land based. As a rule fresh water sits on top of salt water so close in to the shore the water is going to be mainly fresh if not brackish at best, so if you are trying to fish off the bank try and find an area with a drop off so that you can get under the dirty stuff. The area at the end of Sunderland Dr Banksia Beach is the perfect place. The fish that you are targeting here, especially at the moment with the dirty water, is bream and flathead. Another good spot with a close in drop off is Buckley’s Hole beach. These two areas do have bird sanctuaries near them so please observe any signage as we would hate for you to get into trouble whilst trying to catch a feed. The surf side is also a little dirty at the moment but as it is open water it seems to be the first area to come good. The dart will thrive in these conditions but whiting are more susceptible to the conditions. So if it’s a feed of whiting you are after give it a week to clear before wetting a line.
Fishing from a boat: Firstly a safety message, beware of floating debris. What may look like a twig or a branch may be still attached to a tree under the surface. Give the debris a wide berth as a tree could be the end of your day’s fishing. Now if you are fishing the passage or any inland areas look for deeper waters. The mouths of the creeks in the deep sections are ideal places to fish as the bottom feeders and ambush feeders will be sitting here waiting for food to come down the creeks. With the murky waters we will have to deal with a lot of vermin. Things like catfish, giant sea toads, shovel nose rays and stingrays just to name a few. They also thrive in dirty water but along with them we see an increase in jewfish so if you get something big take your line don’t assume it’s a ray or a shovel nose, it could be a jewfish.
If you are going into the bay look for the dirty water line, this is where the incoming clean water hits the outgoing dirty water. Stay to the clean side of this line and fish the edge as you will find the fish feeding in this area. Trolling a small hard bodied lure along the line will usually get good results.
All four lagoons have broken through and are now flowing across the beach and at the time of writing this report the national park on Bribie is closed. Please check the QPWS website or ring me on 5497 5253 for more details before your trip.