TCB Fishing Club – September 2021

TCB Fishing Club - Ben Ford Snapper

TCB Fishing Club – Ben Ford Snapper

Jon Constable

As of August 15, 2021, snapper and pearl perch are once again able to be legally caught in our waters, and dining tables throughout the Cooloola Coast are rejoicing at the prospect!

With the cooler months now behind us, getting out on the water by first light; to take advantage of peak bite times coinciding with an early morning tide change, is no longer as hard to cope with (especially those of us who were born in the middle of last century).

Flathead have recently been consistently caught and are worth targeting by casting soft plastics and small hard-bodied lures.

Around low tide the small gutters that drain out to the channels and creeks are an excellent area to target, while around high tide the top of the sandbanks can be very productive. Trolling small hard bodied lures along the drop-offs can also be fruitful.

Summer whiting are beginning to school up (possibly for spawning) and are being caught in increasing numbers and quality.

Yabbies, beach worms and squid strips are the baits-of-choice, almost always getting good results. Small black soldier crabs are a worthwhile option as they are a natural food for whiting and bream.

The periods with greater tidal flow over the sand banks can be a perfect time to target whiting as their natural food is dislodged by the current as it disturbs the sand.

Squid are now a bit hit and miss (after a very prolific two weeks in early August), and a bit of careful searching around their usual haunts is required to find them on any given day and tide.

There are, however, plenty of large cuttlefish around, which are great eating if you can cope with the challenge of cleaning them and their seemingly never-ending ink supply.

The inside reefs are a bit slow at the moment with only a few quality fish being caught. They are still worth a try if the neap tides and good weather correspond. A neap tide generally means a lesser flow of water, allowing for steadier, more manageable drifts.

One very senior member of the Tin Can Bay Fishing Club did land a 99cm cod in mid-August, but he is too humble to mention it…Ron Cox…. ooops…silly me.

The traditional theory that months without an R in their name are no good for catching mud crabs seems to not currently hold true, as some quality crabs were caught in August.

There are many theories about the activity and the quality of mud crabs in relation to the moon phases, but getting the pots in the water (rather than second guessing) is the most likely approach to get results.

Take advantage of the beautiful weather and get out on the water or down to the shoreline when you can. There is always something interesting to see if you really look, even if the piscatorial creatures don’t cooperate.

Finally, a thought for the month…. “Three-fourths of the Earth’s surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear then, that we should spend triple the amount of time fishing as we do taking care of the lawn.”

Just common sense really.

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