Page 42 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine

Borumba has been producing good bass, with spoons from Hot Big king sh like this one caught by David Clark will be mixing Bite working a treat for Pete. Photos: shingnoosa.com.au with other trophy species offshore this month.
CFhange of season brings big bites
OLLOWING a cast net around the for lure fishing during what was a marina and public jet- the day.
colder winter to ties. Drifting baits around
Sunshine Coast
by GRANT BUDD
last year, now is when If you combine all this the mouth is another
things are changing. Daylight hours are in- creasing, and the tem- perature is creeping up. We are also seeing a rise in water tempera- ture, which is a trigger for many fish to start
flats found here.
You can throw swim-
This is a popular place to find a wide range of quality fish, as the mixing of currents dur- ing stronger tide runs brings food and nutri- ent rich water with it.
with a new moon run- out tide, the chances of landing a trophy fish are high.
method of securing a quality catch, with a mix of bream, treval- ly, tailor, flathead and smaller jewfish hang- ing around this area.
feeding harder.
The rivers on the Sun-
Another popular choice is jerk shad style plastics, especially Z-Man StreakZ on a weedless unweighted hook.
Drifting and flick- ing is the most popular method in this area, and stepping down to 4-6lb is required, as fish can be line shy.
The offshore scene of Noosa will be focused on snapper and pearl perch following the first seasonal closure, which ended on August 15.
shine Coast, especially the Noosa and Ma- roochy, are perfect at this time of year, and without the humidity and rain, it’s comfort- able and exciting to chase a wide range of species.
Because these are more buoyant, you can jerk and twitch them similar to a stickbait, which bigger fish love to hit.
Use quality 8-strand braids and fluorocar- bon leader, with Dog- tooth a perfect small capacity lower-priced spool if wanting to test your skills on 4lb.
If wanting to troll lures around, try the Cod Hole where bigger tailor and trevally are on offer.
Chardons and North reefs on the high morn- ing tide leading up to a full moon will see a better bite.
Starting in the Noosa River, the area of the river mouth and the dog beach drop-offs are a couple of flathead hot spots.
You can also expect to find schools of whit- ing and bream, and on 4lb gear you can ex- perience the best flats fishing during the turn of tide.
Further upriver the jetski run is holding jewfish, queenfish, trevally and the occa- sional mangrove jack.
You can also expect to find mangrove jack here, but you best be on your game because the structure here is very unforgiving.
Pilchard floaters with a bit of bait thread wrapped around se- cures it for casting and protects it from pickers closer to the bottom.
Trolling is one popu- lar method for kayak anglers and smaller boat owners, with hard-bodies in the 70- 90mm range a popular choice, and the Samaki Redic range, especially Whitebait and Turbo Mullet colours, is pro- ducing great results.
Take a few smaller surface lures, including poppers and stickbaits and work the edges with a mix of retrieves to find out what works best.
These fish will re- spond well to whitebait and unweighted baby blue pillies drifted in the current.
The previously men- tioned Samaki Redic lures would do well for jack, as they come rigged with BKK 4X treble hooks that won’t bend out on such fish.
Make sure you have a quality berley trail when chasing snapper at anchor, which is bet- ter during a lighter cur- rent and neap tide.
Another popular area
is Frying Pan and the
various drop-offs and
Page 42 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, September 2020
If wanting to target a jack specifically, live bait is best and can be caught quite easily with
Ensure your leader is a high-quality fluoro- carbon and is as light as you feel comfortable using, with 12lb the heaviest recommended
These fish tend to
baits, shallow hard- bodies and soft plastics for great results.
The Maroochy is seeing mostly whit- ing schooling up at the Black Banks and Pic- nic Point, with beach- worms and live yabbies securing the better fish.
If out and about in the lower estuary, be sure to look around the intersection of Woods Bay to the main river and down through the current line.
In low light try using Ecogear ZX40 blades, as flatties and jewies love a vibe or blade.
The fish in this zone can be a little shy at times, as it is a popular spot.
Other fish on the catch list include big maori cod, cobia, sweetlip, pearl perch, the odd longtail tuna and even a lone spanish mackerel.
be found in close, es-
* continued P43 www.bnb shing.com.au