Fishing tips: Moreton Bay in December

Time to get some fresh seafood for Christmas!

Estuary and land based

Inshore fishing will be impacted by significant rainfall in the catchment and this will move the fish around a bit.

The foreshores have been fishing well, particularly around Brighton, Clontarf and the Ted Smout Bridge. Bream, yellowfin and sand whiting and dusky flathead have been the mainstays. The dusky flathead have been falling to live herring and various soft and hard-bodied lures. Yabbies are a great bait for bream and whiting. Expect bream to keep increasing in abundance leading up to Christmas and into January.

Boat-based anglers in the Pine River and Hays Inlet have also been doing well on bream, whiting and flathead but have also been landing a few spotted javelin fish and mulloway as well. Big soft plastic lures including Vibe type lures have been working well in the channel habitat.

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 and barred javelin fish are also around and will increase in abundance as the water continues to warm. A few tailor will be around the inshore reef edges and school mackerel will be in more open waters. The various chrome lures work well for both these species and always carry a range of sizes. Fingers crossed it will be a good spotted mackerel season, but their presence is strongly linked to the abundance of the tiny bait fish they feed on. If the bait comes into the bay then they will show up, otherwise the big schools may bypass Moreton Bay altogether on their southerly migration which starts around the Bowen area. Early mornings are generally the best time for chasing pelagic species in Moreton Bay.

The reef ledges on the western side of Moreton Island will yield snapper, grass sweetlip, spangled emperor and black spotted tuskfish.

Crabbing

December is a great month for crabbing and fresh crabs are always great for Christmas lunch. The recent rain has stirred up the mud crabs, so if you are line fishing the estuaries, definitely set some pots while you are fishing. Mud crabbing is generally best around the full and new moons.

Blue swimmer crabs have also been active and this will continue for the next few months. While they are widespread, the better quality blue swimmer crabs are coming from the deeper water.

Make sure any pots that you use are appropriately weighted to ensure that they are not moved by tides and have enough rope on them for the depth fished. Each pot also needs to be appropriately marked with the surname and the address of the person using it.

Moreton Island

Moreton Island will be busy this month with tailor, swallowtail dart, sand whiting and dusky flathead being your main choices for target species.

The area from Comboyuro Point to North Point, the southern part of the island around Reeders Point, and the western beaches will be your pick but there will also be fish along the surf beach as well. Yabbies is the best bait for swallowtail dart and worms for sand whiting. I prefer a late afternoon rising tide around the Tailor Bight stretch of beach on the northern side of the island for them. Tailor have also been about on the northern side of Moreton Island, and you can look to target them there around the full moon.

Offshore

The reefs around Cape Moreton really are a mixing pot of species and this gives anglers a diversity of opportunity. Finding a weather window can be a challenge but if you can safely get out, expect a few snapper, pearl perch, Maori cod, Moses Perch, gold spot wrasse, Venus tuskfish and teraglin. A few yellowtail kingfish of various sizes have been present as well. With the warmer weather, there will be a mix of more tropical offshore species such as hussar and green jobfish.