Rain helps Sunshine Coast river anglers

October 13, 2017

Recent rains have seen a great improvement in fishing for Sunshine Coast river anglers, just that bit of colour from the recent runoff has seen the flathead and trevally on the chew in the lower reaches. The best baits have included prawns, pilchards, white bait and hardy heads. Live baits have also been prime baits with herring and poddy mullet getting smashed as soon as they hit the water. Lures and Soft plastics have also been outstanding with a lot of angler having success with soft vibes like Jackson Quiet Beats. Plastics from 3” to 5” have also got the job done. Entice Bungy Baits 3” Paddler in Motor Oil colour and Chasebaits Fork bait in Pink Pearl have been working well rigged on a 1/4oz jig heads and cast into shallows and rolling them back over drop offs, these plastic look like an easy meal for a hungry flathead laying in waiting.

Good whiting are on the chew along Gympie Terrace and the Dog Beach Flats. Fresh beach worm, pealed prawn and live yabbies all working very well when fished on light lines and small fine worm hooks. Further upriver in the area between the lakes, mangrove Jack are responding to a range of soft vibes and suspending lures. The new Zerek swim baits are fantastic, they have a segmented tail with that very strong Kevlar band. Suspending lures like the Lucky Craft Pointers have also been claiming there fair share of fish. On the crab seen; the recent fresh water will get the crabs up and walking, mullet is still the standout bait soak it in tuna oil to give it that added punch.

Heading Offshore; larger craft have been doing the big steam out to the reefs off Double Island, the Barwon Banks and the Hards, all these reefs have producing quality snapper, jewfish, pearl perch, tusk fish, cobia and Cod including a few solid red emperor from the northern reefs. Live baits fished hard on the bottom with heavy leaders of 40+lb and 7/0 octopus hooks have been working well as has the Instinct Paternoster rigs in 5/0 and 7/0 sizes which let you fish multiple big baits at different depths.

Soft plastics have also been very effective at catching big snapper, the Chasebaits 7” Fork baits and Zman 7” Jerk Shads rigged on correctly weighted jig heads. Don’t forget to use a good coating of scent as the fish love it! Sunshine and Halls reefs are working well with Snapper, Coral Trout, Sweetlip and big Cobia getting caught on a range of baits and soft plastic lures. Fishing gang hooked Pilchard floaters in a solid burley trail is still the best method to tangle with these fish. Fishing a lightly weighted soft plastic through that burley trail will also get results.

In the Surf; the Noosa North Shore has been busy again with angler enjoying tailor, bream, flathead, whiting and dart all on the chew. Big baits and long surf rods have been producing some bigger Tailor during low light times with gang hooked Pilchard baits and fresh strip baits the better option. Fishing the close gutters with lighter gear is working well on smaller species, live beach worms, pippies and yabbies have all been prime baits on the whiting dart and bream.

In the fresh; Warmer weather has seen increased action on the surface. Lake Mac Donald and the Noosa Everglades have all been producing some healthy bass. Saratoga at Borumba are getting caught at first light around heavy timber with larger surface walkers the better option. Spinnerbaits, blades and plastics are a great choices during the brighter times of the day. Evergreen Little Max blades are on special and are rigged especially for throwing into heavy structure. If in a kayak then slow trolling a smaller diver like the Strada 55mm Villain’s that work well when worked along weed edges.

The National Gone Fishing Day will be held this Sunday. This is a day when all Australians can get out on the water for a fish and celebrate our love of fishing. It doesn’t matter if you have never fished before, Gone Fishing Day is for everyone. So why not sign up for the biggest fishing event on the Australian fishing Calendar. Jump on line and check it out and register at https://gonefishingday.org/

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 in Noosa or Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola to find out where the fish are biting, and remember Tight Lines and Bent Spines!