Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Well that’s the first month of the New Year done and dusted! From scorching dry heat to humidity high enough to make you head for the air con we have seen some big changes. We finally had some decent rainfall and all the rivers along the coast have finally had a bit of a flush.
Offshore has been slower this past week as winds have been blowing up and keeping many onshore. A few mornings we saw some great conditions with a multitude of boats crossing the bar. The new channel is looking easy to get out with small waves coming through and marking the way. North Reef has some big estuary cod, jewfish and cobia mid water. Further up in the water column you may find some spotty mackerel on the tide turns. Sunshine Reef is still the most popular and has some chunky grass sweetlip, spotty mackerel and Spanish. There are a few coral trout around too but mainly taking live baits or well presented gang hook pilchard.
Laguna Bay, big and little halls and heading north to Teewah have been featuring mackerel of both spotted and spanish variety. These fish taking slow trolled whole fish baits of gar, sauri and slimy mack. Be sure to grab some stinger rigs if doing this in Laguna Bay as mackerel will bite through the middle of a bait often missing the single hooks. Early mornings have seen the fish come in on the high tide with the clean water and we have also seen a few larger longtail and yellowfin tuna around Jew shoal. These fish taking the larger Armor slugs cranked back at speed.
The Noosa River is still running a bit chocolate in colour and this has seen catches more concentrated in the lower part of the river. Flathead, bream and trevally are feeding deeper in the drop offs from the sandbags to the pump station and around the snags of the doggy beach. Mangrove Jack can be found here but good luck extracting them. For more info be sure to pop in and ask us about the required gear as they will test every inch it!
We have seen small flushes of prawns coming down and prawn profile plastics like the Squidgy prawn, Zerek ultimate shrimp and the humble but ever faithful Gladiator prawn have done very well across the board. Break out the scent and fish them slowly in the current for the best results. If you are a bait fisho then grab a pack of whitebait, some Citer fine gauge gangs and drift these with minimal weight in the current. If after whiting aim to start fishing during the incoming and slack tide/turn as the water will be clearest and cleanest during this time. With dirty water these fish can sit deep or move away from known spots in search of cleaner waters.
If after some mud crabs then try the mangrove edges around the lakes and be sure to flick the snags for the chance of a mangrove jack while in this area. If you are catching catfish try moving downstream as during times of run off you may catch little else.
Freshwater is going well with some healthy bass coming from Lake MacDonald. These fish taking surface walkers like the Atomic K9 and Sammy 65 from Lucky Craft. Both of these lures have a lot of presence and are very easy to cast and work. The levels are above the ramps following the rains so this is a great option. Borumba is still very low and nudged up a couple of percent after the rains. This will see slightly dirtier water so fish deep for the fish using lucky craft pointers of Zerek Tango shads.
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! laguna bay
