Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Fishing-Adventures-Destinations » Sandy Straits Autumn Guide
Related Products...
Sandy Straits Autumn Guide
By Paul Chew
So, with no rain in sight. Other than the bit of a run before Christmas, the water is still gin clear pretty much everywhere and the prawns, while around in small, isolated pockets are not prolific like some years. This has been making the fishing pretty tough in the drains and flats, however the river has been producing good numbers of threadfin and an odd barramundi. A bit of good news is that there have been a few jacks around, along with some quality grunter on the building tides. Interestingly there have been plenty of big black bream along the mangrove edges, along with an abundance of small sharks, though the one that visited Pete and I the other day was getting up there for a creek shark, nudging five feet in the old scale.
What I Look for in Autumn
So, there are two scenarios coming up in the next couple months. The first being that we get some rain, which I think is likely, resulting in some prawns, dirty water lines and drains, meaning fishing for threadfin and barramundi, along with some good crabbing. The other scenario is no reasonable rain, which, leading into winter, is going to make things difficult on the estuary fishing front.
The water is already clear, so to maximise the chance of success I will be fishing ultralight and fishing super early morning to try and nab a feed. When the first of the light westerlies start, it will be a great time to head to the flats on the inside of Fraser Island, on a rising tide just on dawn, to chase some flathead and grunter. These fish will be following the hardy head schools into the shallows.
I like a high tide around 9am and fishing by about 5.30am will see you in with a good chance. As I mentioned earlier, without rain I will be fishing light, running 6-8lb braid, 10lb leader and small natural ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ or GrubZ presentations. While I love my Copper Penny / New Penny colour and it produces a lot of fish, Pete schooled me using Midnight Oil coloured ZMan 2.5" GrubZ during the middle of last trip, landing half a dozen 50cm+ grunter in a row, before I made a slight comeback. As we already had a feed it was great seeing those big grunter swim away.
March will still produce some big tides around the moon and if you are fishing the creeks in the Straits there are definite tide phases that fish better than others. Early to mid-flood is a go-to tide, however once the tide rises above the edge of the creek we have consistently found the fishing drops off, particularly for grunter. I presume that they are up on the flats edges, where we cannot cast to them. Over this tide we have found that finding small, shallow mangrove islands, around the mouths of the creeks, can be productive for flathead. Tossing a ZMan 5" StreakZ or a ZMan 3" Scented ShrimpZ is always a good start for flatties that are sitting on yabby beds like this.
Once the tide starts dropping it's time to head back up the creek. There are two distinctive structure targets to look for upon the dropping tide. First and generally most productive is the creek / drain mouths. Schools of grunter, barramundi, threadfin salmon and a lot of flathead sit at the mouths of these drains, waiting for the prawns and baitfish to have to leave the creek as the tide drops.
The other productive structure to fish on the dropping tide is any sort of rock bar that breaks the tidal flow. Barra, salmon and grunter will all hang either in the backwater formed by the rock bar or along the current line that will be evident as the run picks up. For those fishing without an electric motor, good lure fishing can still be had in these areas. Just drop the anchor on the current line, twenty or so metres from where the rock bar is, and cast upstream toward the rock, hopping the plastic down the current line. Focus on the current line initially, then just fan casts upstream but into the backwater.
At this phase of the tide, even in only three metres of water, it's often necessary to fish a little heavier to get the plastic to the bottom quickly. The upside is that the fish are usually switched on in the faster run and will whack your lure hard. I generally use a TT Lures 3/8oz 3/0 HeadlockZ HD jighead when fishing this part of the tide, alternating my lure choice between a ZMan 4" StreakZ Curly TailZ and a ZMan 3" Scented ShrimpZ. Generally, at the start of the run out tide, the water is a little dirty, so I use bright colours such as New Penny and Electric Chicken.
Later into Autumn, when the size of the tides drop off, you can target fish in the creeks right through the top of the tide. As seen on a few of my grunter videos, success can be had fishing lightly weighted plastics, such as the 2.5" GrubZ rigged on a 1/6oz 1/0 TT HeadlockZ HD jighead, tossed up into the back of the drains early in the morning. As long as the tide doesn't break over the top of the bank of the creek, the fish will be feeding up in the margins that are inaccessible at low tide.
Often if you minimise the use of the electric motor you can see their tails breaking the surface as they are head down foraging for mussels and crabs in the mud. A finesse presentation, when you see them like this, is about the only option as a big bait will likely result in them spooking off the flats. Once that happens, in my experience, the school will not come back onto the flats during that tide. Additionally you MUST cast well past the fish and bring your lure back through, as if you drop it on their heads they will just spook and be gone like the ghosts of the flats that they are.
As the tide drops right down, I will often try and grab a flatty on the way home at any of the drain mouths on the big flats. It's an easy feed for them, sitting there nabbing the gar, mullet and whiting as they are forced out into the main channel. Keep your eyes open in Autumn also, while doing this, as there will be plenty of threadfin salmon patrolling those same drains on the bottom half of the tide. It's by far my favourite way of chasing threadys, with light gear and finesse plastics. Mostly the water is a maximum of two metres deep, so pretty well all of the fish release successfully.
It Never Rains But It Pours!
If this happens, it's a whole new ball game, however the fishing should be better in general. It's a very simple equation to find fish.
My 5 Hot Tips would be,
- Fish the change of tide, both high and low.
- Low tide around the river mouth's and over along Fraser Island.
- High tide push up into the river and find the distinct colour change. This is where the prawns and consequently fish will be.
- Fish a little heavier than normal as the water will be discoloured.
- Fish Hard bodies with rattles, paddle tail plastics (ZMan 6" SwimmerZ) and something with lots of vibration like the TT Lures Switchblade metal vibration blade.
So that's a wrap, get out and get amongst it.
Tight lines,
Chewy