Can you believe another month has been crossed off the fishing calendar? It only seems like last week I was writing about the boys and girls from Tight Lines fishing club. They had their April comp this weekend and got a nice mix of species including bream, flathead, estuary cod, trevally, grunter and sole. These are all staples of the passage which is where their comps boundaries are and the comp is open to anyone who signs up on the day. This is a family based casual competition that is run by a couple of mad keen fishos who just enjoy their sport. For any more details on the next comp contact the boys on their facebook page, search for tight lines fishing club in the facebook search engine.
One fish that wasn’t weighed in was winter whiting, these tasty fish are everywhere at the moment but one of the reasons why they are not sought after by people in fishing comps is their size. They are a small species of whiting and a fish of 20 cm is classed as a big fish. Wheat they lack in size they make up in numbers, and their size and bag limits reflect this. They have no minimum size limit and have a bag limit of 50 per person. They are discernable from their bigger cousins by the black splotches on their sides and are caught all through the passage and from the surf beaches, land based. The best spot for them out of a boat is by far the Cockle Banks.
Snapper aren’t far away I have heard of some nice fish being taken from the reefs at Redcliffe and these cooler days and nights will help drop the water temperatures in the passage, when this happens the snapper will increase in size and number and move into their normal winter grounds. These include the bridge pylons, the canal systems, any drop off or any rocky outcrop. Best baits in the passage are fish baits like small pilchard, hardie heads or herring, whereas out on the reefs squid or pillies seem to do the trick. They will also readily take a plastic or a hard bodied lure. Out of all the winter species they are the best eating fish, so if you want to take them home, remember their size limit is 35cm and bag limit is 4. In that bag limit of 4 only one fish can be over 70 cm.
With the cooler weather and shorter day we change over to winter trading hours they are .
Weekdays 6.30am -5pm (ex Wednesday)
Wednesdays 7am – 2pm
Saturday 5.30am-5pm
Sunday 5.30am -3pm