Tags: Fishing spots and tide times. Bribie Island. Moreton Bay. Brisbane. Redcliffe. Deception Bay
Wow, what a great month of weather we have just had. Couldn’t have asked for a more perfect run of weather over the Christmas holiday break. Hot sunny days, crystal clear water and light winds. This perfect weather and hot days meant plenty of time in the water. As the temperature of the water warms up certain species of nasties become more active and prevalent. Irukandji jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, stonefish, fireweed, and many other nasties can inhabit these local waters.
Summer days floatlining the shallows in 15m of water
At this time of year, we have seen an increase in Irukandji stings on the Fraser Coast. These tiny killers of the oceans are usually under 2cm in size and can inflict painful and possibly life-threatening injuries. The symptoms of an Irukandji jellyfish sting are not immediate and may take 5 to 45 minutes after the initial sting. If vinegar is available, douse the area of the sting and carefully remove the stinging tentacles. Keep an eye on the victim and call 000 immediately if anyone gets stung. Always keep a first aid kit with you whenever you head out camping or boating also add any additional pieces of first aid equipment like vinegar, Nurofen plus, antihistamines etc to personalise your kit to suit your needs. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Some awesome crabs from January’s full moon king tides
Also make sure all flares, EPIRBs, radios and navigational equipment are all working well and in date. We are now in the middle of an extremely dry and hot summer, and hopefully, soon we get some decent rainfall events. Not only do the farmers and growers need the rain desperately, but also the marine ecosystems need some quality rain also. You’ve heard the old saying “if its a drought on the land its a drought in the ocean”. The current weather conditions in the Coral Sea have been perfect cyclone forming conditions.
There’s quite a good chance of possibly a couple of cyclones developing around mid-February through to the end of March. Over the last few weeks the massive bait schools have moved into the bay and behind the big bait schools have been longtail tuna, spotted school and Spanish mackerel, cobia, sharks, barracuda and marlin. The other day just northwest of Bulwer there was about 4 or 5 marlin working underneath a big ball. We jigged mackerel for about 3 hours from the school.
Kids love spinning up mackies
The cobia, cod, and reefies have also been on the bite throughout the bays coffee rock patches and ledges. Out off the cape dolphin fish, tuna, mackerel, wahoo and marlin getting taken from the cape to the wide Caloundra shelf areas. Up the passage, the flattys, whiting, cod, jacks, javelin fish and muddies are firing with most areas holding fish. Down around the Bongaree area of the passage there has been a lot of moses perch and grass sweetlip on the coffee rock.
Also some great big duskys and summer whiting on the weed and coffee rock patches. Not many sand crabs in the passage, although if you know where to crab you will get a good feed. The muddies have been quite good with most of the passage creeks holding good bucks. So over the next few months expect most summer species to be firing and hopefully some more great weather conditions around our beautiful island and a lot fewer tourists…lol…”And don’t destroy what you come to enjoy “ and tight lines.
Tide Times
Click here to see Bribie Island Tide Times