So have you been enjoying our summer of fishing? Whether it’s estuaries, rivers, inshore and offshore waters there has been a little bit of everything for everyone in all corners of the northern bay. Last month’s run of southeast winds pumped our northern waterways with good schools of hardiheads, giving predators the excuse to stay close in our waters. Partner this up with the annual prawn run we have had through this month and the past month, and you have a recipe for good fishing.

Prawn chasers have been hitting areas like the highway bridge of the Pine River, the mouth of the Caboolture River, outside of Shorncliffe cliffs and the mouth of the Brisbane River with great success of late. With scenes resembling the crowds at Myer Boxing Day sales, persistence has been the key around dusk and good hauls are being steadily reported.

Predators have also been cruising in these areas, with anglers finding it not a bad idea to have a break from the cast net in favour of flicking a live bait or soft plastic down. Juvenile mulloway and threadfin salmon are being encountered, with bream schooling to pounce on any stray baits.

Bream fishing has been good over the last month, with water temperatures remaining high. However, this is set to drop as cooler nights start to push through.

In the Pumicestone Passage the rising tide seems to be the optimum time to catch bream, with areas like Ningi and Donnybrook Flats producing good fish on mid diving cranks and surface lures. Glasshouse Creek, from the middle reaches to the mouth, has also produced good bream numbers with anglers there opting for lightly weighted fresh baits like raw chicken, yabbies and mullet strips to get some numbers.

Redcliffe’s bream scene has been great recently as southeast winds have kept the bait around the reef bommies with bream lurking not too far behind. Reefy outcrops and bommies from Osbourne Point south to Suttons Beach have all been fishing well, with one hour at either side of the high tide being the prime striking times. On the run-out tide places of interest would be The Wells and North Reef, as bream have been hanging around these rocky areas chasing bait draining off the reefs.

Being a dry summer this year, whiting numbers have been solid over the past weeks and should continue until the weather turns to cool. Lack of rain has kept waters clean with high winds only stirring up the top column of water with the bottom remaining clean most of the time. This has allowed scavengers like whiting the opportunity to cruise sandy flats in search of food.

Bribie Island’s eastern beaches have again been popular with the diehard whiting fishos, but good whiting have also been coming from throughout the Pumicestone Passage, from Bongaree to Sylvan Beach. Live yabbies, bloodworms and fresh pipis have been the choice baits amongst anglers, with some lure buffs getting some on surface lures at the mouth of Ningi Creek.

For the non-Bribie residents, the mouth of the Pine River on the Bald Hills side has produced some quality whiting in the past weeks for those brave enough to tackle the southeasterlies. However, numbers have been down for one of nature’s reasons.

Speaking of the Pine River, sandies and muddies have still been filtering through but size has been a bit of an issue as the cool weather approaches. Bramble and Deception Bay have still been producing sand crabs with little rain keeping the muddies upstream. Sifting through the many undersize crabs has left many crabbers with only a handful of legals for their troubles, but still worth the work!

Squire have still been showing their faces around the Redcliffe Peninsula, with dusk and dawn keeping anglers on their toes. North Reef has been the pick of the locations, with the northern and southern ends outside the Scotts Point green zone also showing a few good fish. Targeting waters from 10-15ft has been prime with soft plastics like Atomic Prongs, ZMan SwimmerZ and Shads Lures Flicktails being the popular ones.

Mulloway and king threadfin salmon are still being bagged at the mouth of the Brisbane River, with the dark hours yielding the best results. For the daylight angler, prepare to fish deep with vibes and heavier weighted plastics as it’s in the later hours where jew and threadies feed in shallower waters. Be sure to use your sounder to find moving bait schools as many of these larger predators stay below these schools prowling for a feed – and they often find a vibe or large shad-style plastic irresistible!

Happy fishing.