Written by Andrew Chorley
This time of year, as the weather cools and the seasons change, can be exciting times on the water. Getting out on the water can certainly calm your soul and is the perfect place to escape.
Fishing is certainly one of the few pastimes that all walks of life can enjoy.
Burrum
The upper reaches of the Burrum have been one place where you can escape most of the wind that we get through early Autumn.
Fishing for jacks and barra with live baits has produced some good fish. A few prawns have been reported in the Gregory, but it is early days yet. In the mid-reaches, whiting has been reported around the mangrove islands.
On the beaches a few whiting were reported from the land-based fisherman.
Local Reefs
We have limited reports from the local reefs due to the weather. When it settles try fishing the edges of the shallow reefs with some fresh prawns, cut baits and pilchards drifted back with little weight.
This technique can be great on sweetlip, coral trout and the odd cod.
On the deeper reefs live baits will be the go for species like coral trout. For lure anglers working the deeper inshore reefs with vibes, prawn imitations and soft plastics should turn up a mix of species.
Platypus Bay
This time of year, we see the run of our longtail tuna start kicking into gear with the first low that comes our way generally marking the start of the season.
We should see longtail tuna numbers increase from here on in. Already there has been some great fishing for them from the top the Sandy Strait right through to Rooneys Point.
Looking from Arch cliffs right through Platypus Bay you should come across a few schools. Deeper in the water column golden trevally, spanish and school mackerel, blackall and grunter should be
present on the reefs through Platypus Bay.
Urangan Pier
It’s been a windy time out on the Pier when things settle it will definitely be worth a look.
It’s been a great season for barramundi on the Pier with some great fish being reported. Working the deeper reaches of the pier under the lights alongside the pylons has seen best results. Whiting,
bream and flathead will be worth a look in the shallows with live yabbies.
Sandy Strait
The Mary river has produced some big salmon of late with fish over 1m becoming quite common this season. Barramundi have also been active and should fish well in the coming weeks before things start to cool down a bit.
Fishing deep with vibes has seen some anglers get some great success.
Smaller barramundi around the 60 cm mark have been coming off some of the smaller snags in the Susan River on hardbodie lures worked slow through the snags.
Grunter, flathead and whiting have also been reported throughout the Mary system with some big whiting coming in on last week’s big moon tides before the wind.
In the Strait, if conditions allow working the ledges for grunter, sweetlip and cod will be a good option.
On the flats along the western side of Fraser I would expect the water may be a little dirty and stirred up from recent winds.
This can make for some great conditions to target sand whiting. Working the flats with live yabbies on the run-in tide will see the best results.