Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Welcome to 2021 and we hope you all enjoyed a safe festive season. We have certainly seen some mixed up weather with significant rainfall falling across the state with more to come. This has been great for the rivers as they are starting to push out all the weed and silt that has been building up. It has seen the fishing become a little harder but with the full moon now behind us things should start to wake up again.
Offshore conditions haven’t been easy to deal with and most days have been no go days unless you are on a charter. Last year we had some days where smaller boats made it out but residual wind chop and ground swell made for bumpy conditions. Sunshine Reef continues to be the more popular stretch and with some very nice coral trout and sweetlip getting caught you can see why. 8 ball sinkers with a snelled 6/0 octopus circle rig on 40lb leader and a whole pilchard work very well here. Be sure to get stuck into any fish as they can return to the reef or get taken by sharks. The new Shimano Saragossa reels are in stock and are proving a big hit. The new models are lighter and smother than ever before with many new sizes. We should start to see some mackerel turning up as the occasional Spanish and spotty mackerel gets caught along the inshore reefs. Garfish continue to be popular troll baits and now is the time to get your weighted chin guards and wire ready before the fish arrive in numbers.
The Noosa River has had some great flathead getting near 80cm in length. These fish taking live baits and 4 inch soft plastics like the Chasebaits prawn. These plastics also work well for mangrove jack and some cracking fish have been caught during the daytime too. Best bet with all the rain is to fish around the lower estuary with the dog beach and the river mouth rocks the better places. Trevally have also been around in the lower estuary with Woods Bay and Weyba bridge great places to cast small jigs like the Majorcraft Jig para and burn them back for the bite if the fish are busting up. If you are finding the bite hard make sure you stay in the lower estuary.
Freshwater has seen the bass firing up and taking lures fished close to the bottom. The Jackall TN60 is one of the best lures for this style of fishing. Having a great sounder really helps in the fresh and side scan is a tool you should have. This helps you locate the schools which you would otherwise miss running standard sonar. Don’t forget to get your SIPS permits before you fish the lakes.
Now for all the latest information log onto www.fishingnoosa.com.au for up to date bar and fishing reports, don’t forget to drop into Davo’s Tackle World, Davo’s Boating and Outdoors in Noosa and Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle in Marcoola for all the right equipment, bait and advice to get you catching. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and remember Tight Lines and Bent Spines!
