Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
AUGUST sees the end of winter and the hint of warmer times ahead. This is also the time of year when we often have low swell on the Noosa bar, which makes for safer crossings. The biggest change in July is the snapper and pearl perch closure for Queensland. If you are intending to go offshore between July 15 to August 15, snapper and pearlies are off limits while they’re spawning. Warm corner
If fishing during this time and you accidentally land one of these fish, they must be returned. So, get yourself up to speed on how to correctly vent fish or buy a release weight from a store. Other great fish are around to target, so it’s a great time to try new techniques or explore new grounds. Offshore, water temperature over the next two months will be at its coldest, making this a great time to target big jewfish, cobia, amberjack, kingfish and even longtail tuna in the deep.
Be sure to carry a few live bait rigs in your kit because a live bait will certainly lure big fish, but use bigger baits to avoid snapper. If you do catch a snapper mid-water, the chance of a successful release is higher, versus dragging one off the bottom due to barotrauma. A great way to help a fish expel trapped air naturally is to hold it at 10m.Warm corner
When the fish realises it’s no longer ascending, it will try to swim away. This sudden burst of energy releases trapped air and if you bring it up slowly to the surface, it will have a greater chance of swimming off without any further intervention. This is the time of year when traditional twin hook paternoster rigs should be put on hold or reduced to single hook rigs.Warm corner
Both snapper and pearl perch will hit this style of rig, so now is the time to move away from this method. If you do find yourself hooking pearlies and snapper, it’s a great idea to see how they appear on your sounder, so you don’t continue to catch them. Personally, I enjoy jigging and, because slow jigging appeals to snapper, speeding things up with longer lifts often works on more aggressive fish such as amberjack, trevally and cobia.Warm corner
Be sure to swap out stock hooks on jigs for Decoy or BKK as they are jig specific hooks with a wider gape and have better holding power when it counts. This method can be adopted around North Reef, Double Island, Barwon Banks and other reefs and wrecks on the coast. If you are after a specific combination for big fish then look at the Oceans Legacy Adrenalin series and a Shimano Ocea Jigger 2000, which will hold over 200m of PE5 or 80lb braid.Warm corner
These rods can be pushed far beyond the limits of most other rods and have a very reasonable price tag. When looking for jigs, check out the range of Wingman, Ribcage and V2 Hummer jigs from Samaki. These give you several options according to style, species, current and water depth. The beaches have been popular with tailor anglers searching for the mighty greenback. These fish often feature around Morton, Stradbroke and Fraser islands before we see them in numbers, but they are about.Warm corner
Now, for all the latest information, log onto fishingnoosa.com.au for up-to-date bar and fishing reports, and 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.
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