Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
The Noosa Bar still had 2-3 feet of swell rolling through but patience made for an easy dry crossing for most. With Spanish mackerel very much on the chew the reef of choice was Halls reef. With over a dozen boats present along with the pros it was pretty quiet but some big fish were landed including a meter plus queenfish that put on an ariel display any marlin would be proud of. Baits of choice were live slimy mackerel, trolled bonito and pilchard floaters. Soft plastics, slugs and jigs also worked when deep dropped and cranked back at speed, but there were packs of small spotties sitting down deep that took many lures.
A little later in the week a huge 44KG yellowfin tuna was taken by a local jet ski angler and landed on 30lb gear. This goes to show that you never know what is in the shallower waters. Away from Halls, Sunshine Reef was providing anglers with some specimen coral trout pushing the 7KG mark and big sweetlip. These fish taking live slimy mackerel and yakka dropped down to the bottom. Other reefies included parrot, squire and tuskies which were taken on paternoster rigs and slab baits of mullet and pilchard chunks. North reef was fishing well for smaller Spanish and a few spotties along with coral trout, pearl perch and smaller snapper but closer was best for the pelagic anglers.
Lastly the heavily targeted pelagics like longtail tuna are still about and are very flighty. This means you need to head upwind of the fish and let them come to you. While they are in this mood you will need to reduce leaders down to as low as 15lb and the Shogun ice clear is a slightly softer transparent leader that presents very well around line shy fish. Make sure you have an array of slug sizes and colours and swap treble hooks for inline singles for a better hook up. Try not to cast directly into the school but in front or to the side and work your lure across.
Surf fishing has improved with the dropping swell and light winds. The usual suspects of bream, dart and the occasional tailor have been reported all along the coastline where prominent gutters can be found. Look for early morning tuna busting up and birds diving. These fish all taking basic running sinker rigs and lighter 6-8KG lines and 20-30 grams slugs cast directly at the bust ups and cranked back at speed. During the darker nights of the new moon school sized jewies have also been caught around the rocky headlands of both Noosa and Point Arkwright. These fish loving fresh mullet fillets
The Noosa River has been fishing better this week with a decent break in the rains and the higher spring tides during the weekend. On the catch list smaller queenfish, trevally, bream, whiting, jewfish and flatties. In the lower estuary flatties have been caught all along the sandy drop off from Gympie terrace toward the river mouth. The various sandy drop offs and sand flats all providing anglers the chance of getting the bigger female fish of 60+cm. These fish love a wide range of lures to hardbodies, soft plastics and whole fish baits all fish slowly so they can take a bite. This area is a great place to find whiting and bream as they are all often found together. Trevally will tolerate a wider water chemistry and can be found all the way up the river system along side jewies. These fish both love larger 3 inch soft plastics and soft vibes in the 20 gram size range like the Berkly Shima shad on heavier 12-16lb leaders. Be sure to use sent in the murkier waters and give the fish chance to pick up on the vibration. It pays to have a quality sounder with side scan when moving in these areas as the fish move around a lot and there is some great structure especially between the lakes. Mudcrabs and sand crabs are still very much on the move and with lighter currents you need not worry about pots getting picked up in the current.
Freshwater impoundments are also benefiting from the warmer day temps and less rain. The water clarity has improved greatly and the Bass are schooling up in the deeper sections. The edges are always worth fishing with hardbodies with the Jackall squirrel and Lucky craft Pointers two of the best. Be sure to increase the pause time before ripping them out and away from the cover. Slow rolling soft plastics along the bottom is also working very well. Using 3/8th jig heads on Zman slim swims in darker colours has also been working well for anglers fishing the deeper water.
