A Summer Night on the Reef

I wrote a piece for Fishing World last year on the benefits of fishing shallow reef systems of a night. I wrote the article following some extended good results fishing some shallow Sunshine Coast reef through the summer nights. Being that we are approaching the middle of summer, it seemed a good time to revisit the thinking.

Fishing our reef systems through the low light hours is often a difficult task because many anglers are required to navigate hazardous waters such as river mouths/bar crossings. This means that many anglers only get to fish shallow reef systems through the day. These reef systems typically fish poorly during high light conditions. Catches usually consist of small cod, happy moments and juvenile reef species such as sweetlip and emperor. Many anglers fishing these near shore reefs will testify to these spots being fished out.

I'll let you in on a little secret now. These same reef systems become a whole new kettle of fish (couldnt resist the pun!) at night or during very first light. Mates of mine that fish Moreton Bay spend their daylight hours driving around in 4 to 6 metre depth water and by using their eyes and sounders, spend their time marking good looking patches of reef. After dark, they follow their GPS back to fish such reef for startling results.

My local shallow reef systems are 12 to 20 metres deep and are well known spots. I fish these reefs of a night for great results on big snapper, sweetlip and pelagics such as tuna and cobia.

The best time to fish these reefs has been on 1/4 and 3/4 moon phases and best when the moon is up above the horizon. It makes sense that when big currents are operating out wider, many fish will push into shallow reefs to feed at night without fighting strong current.

Berkley plastics and lightly weighted nitro jigheads in 1/6th Oz to 1/2 Oz come into their own in such scenarios.

Unfortunately I have run out of words for this week's spiel so we'll talk about exactly how to fish these plastics for night time brawlers next week! Until then stock up on Nitro jigheads in 1/6th, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 Oz jigheads on 3/0 hook size, 4 inch Gulp pogys, 5 inch Gulp swimming shads, 5 and 7 inch Gulp jerkshads and 6 inch Gulp grubs,...next week we are going get dangerous and learn how to use them to great effect after the sun goes down!

Happy Fishing,

Nige