Good season of reef fishing ahead on Sunshine Coast

June 5, 2020

Offshore the reef fishing has been showing signs of a good season ahead. The rivers have slowed a little as summer fish become less active but the more active winter fish start to make their presence known.

With anglers enjoying the offshore conditions and lower swell, North reef and Sunshine remain the most popular. Snapper are starting to become a more regular catch as the water temp is now starting to drop. These fish are around the 2-4KG mark and taking a bit of everything. For bait anglers the neap tides will allow for pilchard floaters to present well without weight. Look at suitable 4/0 suicide hooks for snelling on long mono leaders for a flower sinking presentation.

Snapper love lightly weighted baits or lures allowed to drift in the current. For plastics, the smaller Gulp nemesis works very well in the shallower 20-30 meter mark with larger sizes excelling at 40-60 meters. With clear water try using 20-25lb fluorocarbon leaders if shallow and up to 30lb in the deeper stuff when using soft plastics. This gives a better presentation, especially on line shy fish.

Besides snapper, pearlies love both plastics and bait as well as jigs. Grab a few Shimano Wonderfalls in the 40-60 gram range for Sunshine Reef. Using no more than 30lb braid and longer 3-4 meter leaders will help keep you connected around the rocky reef sections. Grassy sweetlip will also crunch jigs and even coral trout so be sure drags are appropriately set.

There are a few longtail tuna around and a few smaller Spanish and spotty mackerel. Whole fish garfish and slimy mackerel baits slow trolled work very well. Look around the shallower parts of Sunshine, Jew Shoal and Halls reef during the sunrise. You can run diving lures like Rapala Xrap Mag 30 and 160’s which get down deep to where these fish are tending to sit. From here you can head wide if conditions allow and do some bottom bashing to complete your day.

The Noosa River is still producing mangrove jacks and these tend to come out after dark. You can target these around any form of structure from the bridge pylons of Weyba Bridge to the Noosa River mouth rocks. Live baits work very well so grab one of our drawstring cast nets for live mullet and some 30-40lb leader as they are still very hard hitting fish. Around the mouth the various channels and gutters have whiting, dart and bream. Small pipi, beach worm and pillie baits work very well on light 6-8lb outfits. If after tailor then you can try the middle rock groyne on larger surf outfits like the Gary Howard greenback on a baitrunner style reel. Up river toward the lakes and beyond you can expect to find smaller jewfish which have become increasingly more active. They are a favourite snack for any bull sharks in the area so try to get them in quick and use a landing net. The Berkley catch and release nets make landing and unhooking fish quicker due to the solid rubber mesh.

Freshwater fishing was a little quieter at the start of the week with the cooler mornings and winds. Toward the weekend the evening temps were a lot warmer and this has seen less of a cold snap. Bass have been hitting surface lures around the edges of Lake Mac and Borumba. They are also sitting deep in the snags where the water is shallower and warmer once the sun has risen. In this situation try weedless rigged 3 inch Keitech easy shiners. Smaller saratoga are free swimming out in the sun bathed bay areas. These smaller fish are less shy and are taking small flies off the top. If lure fishing the smallest poppers and walkers allowed to sit for very long periods of time on light mono leaders would work best. Look at atomic K9 walkers and Zerek poparazzi poppers. Don’t forget June 1^st is the closure of the wild bass fishery for breeding.

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!