Fishing tips: Moreton Bay fishing in November

Inshore reefs and bay waters

Snapper are present on the local inshore reefs, with quite a few solid fish caught and an occasional fish caught by land-based anglers. Grass sweetlip are also around and will increase in abundance as the water continues to warm. Bream, tarwhine and barred javelin fish are mixed in with them.

The reef ledges on the western side of Moreton Island will yield snapper, grass sweetlip, spangled emperor and black spotted tuskfish. It tends to be the specialist anglers that catch the latter using very heavy gear and crabs for bait. One of the better baits for them is the smooth clawed crab commonly called a “sleepy crab”. These small crabs are abundant around the intertidal rocks of the Peninsula and good results can be had by threading two or three of them on to a 2/0 or 3/0 hook.

It continues to be another good year for tailor in Moreton Bay with fish still being present, particular around the Peninsula.

Estuary and land based

Locally, dusky flathead have been exceptional of late and widely distributed. Working the edges of channels as the tide recedes off the flats is always a reliable place to target them with either bait or lures. However, they can also be caught across the flats at high tide. Mulloway of various sizes are also falling to lures and baits in the Pine and Caboolture Rivers and around Scarborough. They are not very fussy eaters but a large, well-presented live bait such as a herring will often work when other baits do not. Big soft plastic lures including Vibe type lures also work well in the river channels.

Both sand whiting and yellowfin (gold-lined) whiting are around in November. There have been good catches from the beaches of Bribie Island, Burpengary Creek, Pine River and Hays Inlet. Bream are starting to increase in number again and will start to have some better condition on them. If you are chasing them, the Ted Smout Bridge and the foreshores around Redcliffe should continue to be productive. Both spotted and barred javelin fish are showing up on yabbies and worms in the estuaries. Their presence will continue to increase as the weather warms.

Crabbing

For many people, blue swimmer catches were down a bit from previous years inshore, but the deeper water has been fishing better. Expect some improvement inshore this month for them.

Serious mud crabbers really start getting interested in targeting them this month. It should be a good season for them following the wetter than usual summer and autumn experienced over the past couple of years. Local rainfall can also drive a short-term positive increase in catch rates. I prefer to target mud crabs on the larger spring tides during the full and new moon, but they can be caught at other times. They are found in all our local estuaries and around foreshores where there are substantial mangrove stands.

Remember to make sure pots are marked properly and are of a sufficient weight to not move about in currents.

Pelagic fish

Mac tuna and long tail tuna are around, chasing baitfish in the northern part of Moreton Bay. Early mornings are the best times to chase them. It’s always a simple equation with these fish most days, find the bait and you will find the fish. Be prepared to travel around to find them. School mackerel and bonito have also been caught. Yellowtail kingfish and cobia have been around the shipping beacons and the ledges on the western side of Moreton Island.

Surf beaches

If you are heading to Moreton Island this month, it is best to target your efforts along the semi surf beaches between Comboyuro Point to North Point, the southern part of the island around Reeders Point, and the western beaches. Sand whiting should be your number one target species, closely followed by dusky flathead. Look for dusky flathead during the day and sand whiting in the late afternoon and early evening. The sand whiting feed very close to shore, particularly on the rising tide, and many anglers make the mistake of using a sinker that is too large and casting too far. Tailor have also been about on the northern side of Moreton Island, and you can look to target them there around the full moon. A few swallowtail dart will also be present along the surf beach and should also start to turn up on the northern beaches of Moreton Island. November can be a month where larger than average swallowtail dart are caught.

Offshore

The reefs around Cape Moreton really are a mixing pot of species and this gives anglers a diversity of opportunity. Our usual offshore rocky reef fish have been in good abundance including snapper, pearl perch, Maori cod, gold spot wrasse, Venus tuskfish and teraglin. With the warmer weather there will be a mix of more tropical offshore species such as hussar and green jobfish.