Fishing tips Moreton Bay September, Spring

It’s September which is whiting time in our local waters! These tasty little battlers have been the mainstay for many local anglers for a long time. I have fished for them locally for more than 40 years and always look forward to a good session on them.

There are two species historically referred to as “summer” whiting and both can be caught in Bramble Bay, Deception Bay, Pine and Caboolture Rivers, and along the Redcliffe Peninsula. There is the yellowfin whiting and the sand whiting. You can distinguish sand and yellowfin whiting by the presence of a very large prominent black spot on the base of the pectoral fins of the sand whiting that is absent from the yellowfin whiting. The in-possession bag limit for whiting is 30 and it is a combined limit for both species due to the difficulty for an untrained eye in telling the two species apart. The minimum legal size of both species is 23cm.

Whiting can be found commonly feeding over intertidal flats and in the sandy and shallower parts of channels in estuaries and the western side of Moreton Bay and just past the shore break on beaches. This is where you should look for them. Sand whiting will be common this month on the Bribie beaches including Red Beach, Woody Bay, Bald Point and the Skirmish Point area. These areas fish best in a south easterly wind that stirs up the water and encourages the fish to feed more actively. Early morning is the best time to fish there. The Moreton Island beaches around Comboyuro Point will produce fish during the late afternoon and the night. Margate Beach, Caboolture River, Shorncliffe Pier, Hay’s Inlet and the Pine River will produce a mix of yellowfin and sand whiting day and night.

You need a light rod and reel combination to effectively target whiting. For fishing the Bribie and Moreton Island beaches a 4126 rod with a 6-inch direct wind Alvey reel has always been the preferred outfit for many a serious whiting angler. If fishing around the Peninsula, any of the very light spinning rods and very small, good quality spinning reels paired with a very light 8 or 9-foot rod will also work. In terms of line, 6lb monofilament line is all you will need, and my preference is for line that is thin for its strength. I avoid braid for whiting as I have found I get less bites and hook-ups when I use it. Braid is great for a range of other fishing applications though.

Hook size for whiting should be No. 4. My preferred hook patterns are the chemically sharpened Mustad Fine Worm or the Tru-Turn hook, both of which are commonly available. Fine Worm hooks do look brittle and are easy to bend up to a point, but they have not let me down when it has mattered. Although many anglers swear by them, I am not a fan of long shank hooks for whiting as I don’t think you need to put that extra bit of steel in the bait.

Like a lot of fishing, sinker size is critical, and you need to be thinking about whether you are using the right sinker size and keep changing it up and down if you are not catching fish. After observing people fishing for whiting, nine times out of 10 people are using a sinker that is too heavy and this limits there catch. The premise is simple, use a sinker that is suitable for reaching the fish and spending as long as possible in the area where they are, but no heavier.

Worms are the premier bait for sand whiting. Rock worms that are dug on parts of the Redcliffe Peninsula are relatively easy to obtain and preferred by many anglers. The worm that is sold as a bloodworm is the mud or “Cribb Island” worm. Cribb Island being the suburb that was reclaimed for the Brisbane airport which at the time was a popular and productive spot to dig them. The Cribb Island worm has the advantage of being able to be bought at several bait shops or dug yourself. They have good keeping qualities as long as they are kept cool in shallow trays with plenty of water exchange. With this method you can keep them for about a week this time of year.  

Yabbies are an underrated whiting bait, particularly for yellowfin whiting locally, and they have the advantage (or disadvantage depending on your mindset) of typically producing a wider variety of fish than worms. I prefer small yabbies for targeting whiting. The sand flats in the Bribie Passage are a reliable location for pumping yabbies.

Other estuarine species around this month include yellowfin bream, dusky flathead, and mulloway. Yellowfin bream have completed their spawning period for the year and will generally be in relatively poor condition. The ongoing rain has kept the mulloway active throughout much of Moreton Bay. While the lower reaches of the Brisbane River has probably been the pick of the spots, fish have been caught at other locations such as Scarborough, and the Pine and Caboolture Rivers. Mulloway can be caught on bait and lures with live baits effective and big paddle-tail soft plastics a good lure option. Remember the Queensland legal size for mulloway is 75cm and take care releasing any fish to maximise their chance of survival.

Offshore this month can be touch and go weather wise, but there should be some opportunities early in the mornings before the sea breezes kick in. Expect snapper around the coffee rock patches offshore of Moreton Island. Elsewhere their will be Venus tuskfish, silver trevally, Maori cod, teraglin and pearl perch.