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Moreton Bay


 

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Moreton Bay Overview
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Fishing Moreton Island

You could spend a lifetime fishing Moreton Island and still never discover all of its fishing secrets. From catching winter whiting at the big sand hills to live baiting kingfish around the beacons and battling monster knobbies out wide there are options to suit everyone.

Then there is the surf beach and headlands areas around the cape which offer up some good rock fishing options. Throw in small areas of coffee rock inside the bay and on the surf side and there are no local species that you can't target around this island.

With Moreton the problem is deciding what style of fishing we should start to explore first. We will start small and work our way up to the big boys and where better to start than those delicious little morsels the winter whiting. These tiny tings can be found throughout the year in several parts of the island but my choice would be the big sand hills. Worms or thin strips of squid drifted around this area during will bring these guys on the bite almost any time of the year, although as their name might suggest winter is the prime time. During these colder months cricket score catches can be on the cards and it is a good idea to limit your catch as they can become tedious to clean, plus it doesn't hurt to leave some for next time.

Moreton Island

Further north as temperatures pick up flathead make their presence felt as they move into the shallows taking up ambush positions close to rocks, snags and drop offs. Much of the western beach holds lizards in numbers during this time and it is really just a matter of working an area to find where they holding.

Tangalooma is a popular destination for day trippers wanting to feed the wild dolphins and boaties looking for a safe overnight anchorage. The wrecks in this area hold a good number of well educated fish however low light periods, burley and some good baits can entice them at times. Bream, snapper, kings, cod, and trevally are usually in attendance so it can be a lot of fun at times when they dinner bell rings.

The ledges just north of this section can fish very well at times also, with some soundings showing nice dropoffs which can attract hungry predators.

Cowan offers similar wreck inhabitants as Tangalooma but often in larger sizes with fast and furious bustups not being unusual. XOS kings love to tease anglers with their tackle popping performances which leave you shaking your head and quickly reaching for another bait with a shaking hand.

The shipping channels and accompanying beacons hold a lot of good fish both on the shaily bottom areas and mid and top water especially during the warmer months. Bonito, mac tuna and longtails chasing bait become bait for big spanyards and sharks as the food chain goes into overdrive. Snapper, sweetlip and other freeloaders can hang under all of this carnage and letting a bait or lure get down deeper can often pull one of these guys thinking they have scored a free meal. When you get tired of of throwing and jigging slugs at those speedsters plus the schoolies and spotties that might happen along as well it's time to wander around the cape with a spread of lures in tow.

Stay ready as you see the floor start to quickly drop on the sounder as this is where a wahoo id most likely to crash your party. If you weren't lucky enough to pick up one of those lightning bolts then you are still a chance on macks, yellowfin tuna, spanish or bubby marlin.

You can fish in close on some of the shallow coffee rock areas which often hold big spangles and resident horse snapper along with small models and a variety of reefies.

The inner and outer Moreton reefs hold snapper, sweetlip, kings, trag jew, samson fish, amberjack and the list goes on. Shallow tempest and Deep tempest are a few of the popular reefs but there are plenty more areas worth dropping a line if your sounders shows the signs.

Back on land and the summer whiting love this quieter sand surf area with small gutter and drains holding some very good fish. Throw in dart, tailor flathead and bream and life and the fishing can be pretty good on the beach.

Cape Moreton has some excellent rocks which at times will hold various species however quality tailor will be your most probable encounter plus you will have an opportunity to catch land based mackerel.

I won't drone on any further as I want to come back and cover certain areas of Moreton Island and targeting some of the fish found here at a latter time. This really is a place that deserves a lot of attention and a lot of detail just to get started with part of what it has to offer.