By Andrew Chorley

Autumn is upon us, and this will see a change in the weather and fishing! March can see all sorts of weather and is still very much part of our wet season, with low-pressure systems in the Coral Sea a constant threat. If we do get heavy rains, this can stir up many species. Be mindful when fishing the river systems in rain events, and always keep an eye out for debris floating in the bay. March will see species such as sweetlip, trout, tusk fish and more fire inshore, and we will also see some great pelagic action on the bay.

Burrum has been producing a few nice barra in the upper reaches, and working the snags with hard-bodied lures has been getting results. As the water cools, the barra will slow up, and we will see flathead, trevally, bream and whiting catches improve. Out the front, golden trevally and blackall have been reported on the Burram 8 mile, along with a few tuna.

The local reefs have been producing some good-sized cod, blue parrot and coral trout of late. Live baits have been working best with pike dynamite on the cod and trout. School mackerel and a few grey mackerel can also be found on the reefs. Working metal lures around the reefs is the best method for finding a few mackerel.

The Urangan Pier has been producing some cracking big queenfish the past few weeks, with fish up to 12 kg being reported. Golden trevaly, mackerel and longtail tuna have also been reported. In the first channel, whiting, flathead and gar have been reported.

Up in Platypus Bay, mostly mac tuna have been active on the surface. School mackerel and golden trevally can be found hanging deep around the schools. For reef fisho’s scarlets, sweetlip, and blackall have been the main catches with best results after dark.

Crews that made it out to the wide grounds of the southern gutters and the 25 fathom hole have reported coral trout, sweet lip, hussar, cod, snapper and Spanish mackerel. As the water temperatures continue to fall, we will see an increase in snapper catches, starting with the wide grounds.

Barra, salmon and grunter have been reported from the Mary, with some good whiting catches also reported. Along the western beaches and flats of Fraser Island, whiting have been in good numbers along with flathead and grunter. Broad Bar mackerel will make an appearance shortly in the straits, so having some chrome spoons and slugs handy would be a great idea. Areas like Ungowa, Kingfisher jetty and South Head see Broad Bar mackerel come through over the next few weeks.