Article by Josh (Shizz)
You know what they say about people with small boats, right? Wrong! Small boats are often the best choice when going to inshore spots.  There are a lot of areas which have big, hard fighting fish which are caught without having to travel far.  More times than not you will find that many of the bigger vessels travel right past them without a second glance.

A boat anywhere from 12 to 15 foot can still get you to some very fishy areas in the right conditions.  It is essential that you know your boat well and can read the swell before heading anywhere offshore, along with taking the proper safety measures.  Last thing you want is your boat breaking down, in rough conditions, with no way of signaling for help and often without mobile coverage.

A good place to start for some great inshore fishing is the 1 and 3 mile reefs.  They are easy to find, just by looking for the breaking swell or where the swell lines pick up over shallower ground.  Steering a few hundred meters clear of where the waves are breaking is well advised until you have a better understanding of the area.  Usually once you are past the reef the swell subsides and the bottom returns to being sand.  Being able to read the wind and the amount of drift must be considered before anchoring or drift fishing to avoid the possibility of ending up near breaking waves and your boat becoming swamped.  

Straight out from Ocean Reef is the "3 mile", which is full of life and massive reef lumps which fish call home.  I prefer to go past the breakers and fish the back of the reef where the depth drops from 11-12 meters down a slope to around 20-22 meters deep. Within a few kilometers of the back of the 3 mile there are plenty of lumps or "bombies" which hold resident and schooling fish.
[img_assist|fid=113|thumb=1|alt=City Beach Snapper 21-05-05|caption=Schooling fish]
Once anchored, it is best to burley up which usually brings fish from the area around the boat.  Another great way of fishing this area is to use a sea-anchor and drift over potential lumps to see if there is any action on them.  A drift anchor or sea anchor is basically a big vinyl parachute, which fills with water and slows down the speed at what your boat drifts drastically.  This allows you to cover a lot more ground with out the risk of losing an anchor on the jagged reef and often the fish prefer the movement of the bait rather than once sitting on the bottom.  
After I find a good lump on my sounder, I normally set my boat about 50-100 meters to which ever side the wind is blowing and then deploy the drift anchor so that it takes me over the lump.

Out from Hillary’s tends to be a lot more flat ground which doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t any fish there.  A lot of the time an echo sounder will read as flat sandy ground, which is actually flat coral with a series of caves and crevices.  Turning up your sounders sensitivity tends to get a lot of mid water interference, but will help in showing you what’s under the "flat" ground.

At either of these places you can expect the un-expected; Pink snapper, Samson fish, Dhufish, Baldchin Groper, Break Sea cod, King George, Flathead and Bonito and a wide range of reef dwellers are just some of the fish you can hope for!  Even during the early part of the year when the water temperature heats up, Spanish Mackerel and big Tuna take deep divers trawled over the top of the reefs.

Basic tackle requirements are a 20lb outfit, which is usually sufficient for most of the reef species.  Sometimes a heavier setup is needed when trawling for Mackerel or stopping massive Samson fish.  A dropper loop rig or paternoster with good 5/0 - 6/0 suicide hooks are perfect for Snapper, Dhufish and the bigger specimens whilst a 3/0 hook are perfect on the smaller fish, such as King George and Break Sea.  Squid and Mulies always work a treat and it often pays to have a squid jig or live bait rig handy just in case.
[img_assist|fid=1283|thumb=1|alt=Dropper Rig|caption=How to tie a Dropper Rig]
The above two places are some areas where your small boat can produce big rewards.  A few other places accessible to small boats are the five fathom bank, which is just behind Garden Island, Cockburn sound for big Pink Snapper and Mulloway and not far out from Scarborough there are a number of great reefs which produce superb fish at times.

Good Fishing!
Josh-
(Shizz)