Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
Pre-swell fun – Well, last weekend certainly did feature some great conditions early on. Monday to Wednesday were the pick of the week before the wind intensified and the swell arrived. For surfers the main beach at Noosa looked as though anyone with a board descended for a ride on the moderate 0.5-1m northeasterly swell and a strong southeasterly wind. Sunshine Coast Noosa
Offshore, Sunshine Reef was on fire with almost everything on the catch list. There were spanish mackerel, spotted mackerel, big coral trout, sweetlip, pearl perch, cod and much more. Most fish were caught on bottom-bashing rigs using 50-60lb mono and 6/0 octopus hooks. If you need rigs but can’t tie knots, we stock a big range of ready-to-go rigs. Top bait are local Morton Bay squid topped off with pilchard. Sunshine Coast Noosa
For those wanting mackerel, be sure to have a slug rigged up and ready to go because tuna appear to come and go quickly, particularly when the water is busy. Look at 20lb outfits and 20g slugs as baitfish are around 50-60mm in size. You can try searching around the Halls Reef stretch heading north or around Peregian and Sunshine beaches.
With big swell expected to continue into the week, be sure that only skilled skippers take on the Noosa Bar. Ensure you have lifejackets on in smaller craft and check all safety equipment is up to scratch and in date. If you need anything last minute, don’t forget to pop in. Sunshine Coast Noosa
Surf fishing has seen some fairly good-quality dart showing up on lighter 6kg outfits. If you know how to find them, there are some pipis showing up along the Sunshine Beach stretch, which always makes great fresh bait. For those unable to find them, we have lots of beachworm and squid bait, which are the favoured options currently. With the bigger swell there should be plenty of gutters on offer, no matter where you decide to fish.
Estuary fishing is seeing a good run of golden trevally that usually show up in larger numbers once the water temperature starts to drop. They are suckers for soft plastics loaded with Squidgies S Factor and chunky bait of pipi and prawn. Soft plastics that will work well include Squidges Prawn Paddle Tail and Keitech Swing Impact in 3” sizes. Golden trevally love to dig around sand areas making Woods Bay, Munna Point around to Noosa Sound some great starting points. Flathead will also be found in these areas and will take the previously mentioned plastics and bait. For trevally, leaders should be 6lb but with flathead 10-12lb are better. If after flathead, you should always strike your bites. This is to prevent fish from taking your bait or lure deep and then rubbing through your leader resulting in lost fish.
Mangrove jack are starting to quieten down a little but they are always around. Noosa has so many areas where good structure is present, so it pays to target these places. Think about the rocks of the river mouth as a starting point. You can use big paddle tail plastics and big oily bait such as mack tuna fillet on a 4/0 hook and 30lb FC Rock leader.
Away from the estuary, the dams are sitting pretty. With cleaner water and the week of warmer weather, water temperature is steady. As for last week, the best options are going to be surface lures in the early morning, if the wind isn’t too strong. You can follow these up with smaller hard-bodies and heavily weight Keitech Easy Shiners in 2-3” sizes. Next week is looking favourable, so get out there. Sunshine Coast Noosa
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 Tackle World Noosa, Noosa Boating and Outdoors and Northshore Bait & Tackle in Marcoola for all the right equipment, bait and advice to get you catching.
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