Noosa

A great year for fishing!

We are seeing plenty of anglers landing some fantastic fish over the last month in the creeks and rivers, with the low light periods proving to be the perfect time to plan a fishing adventure.

The highly prized mangrove jack are really making their presence felt. Some nice fish have been taken around Tin Can Bay and the Noosa River, especially between the lakes and the upper reaches of the Maroochy. With the water temperatures right up there and some humid condition, these fish are feeding hard. A live bait around structure will pretty much guarantee a fish but for lure anglers you will have to work that bit harder. Still, plenty of fish have been taken on soft plastics, hardbodies and even one on a jig. For plastic anglers, the 3” ZMan MinnowZ have been very effective. If you are an early riser then try targeting the fish on surface using a slow popping action, you will have to get those lures right up into the structure.

The mouth of the Noosa River and up towards the sandbags on the dog beach has been producing good numbers of whiting with worms and yabbies’ the top baits. Poppers and surface lures have also worked well in the right conditions, the Bassday Sugapens worked on a slow walk the dog retrieve has been effective. If you are trying to target whiting on surface, make sure you work the lure consistently all the way back to your feet – if you stop, the fish tend to spook.

The Noosa and Maroochy rivers have again provided anglers with some brilliant trevally catches in the early mornings. These fish love rounding up schools of baitfish brought in on the tide. Areas to check out are Woods Bay and outside the Coast guard Station in the Noosa and the Sandbags and Twin Waters weir in the Maroochy. Small jigs and slugs have been very effective, give the Gomoku Trick Metals and the Jigpara micro jigs a go.

Flathead numbers have been very strong this year with more and more oversized fish being hooked and released. This must be a great indication that the current size limits are working. If you do get a big female make sure that you support their body weight well while taking your photo, try not to use lip grips to lift them, use a landing net. Make sure your brag mat is wet and not too hot when measuring the fish. All these things will help with the health of the fish upon its return.

Offshore has been a bit tough for the smaller boats with wind conditions making a trip outside a little uncomfortable, most reports coming from the larger craft. Reef dwellers, such as snapper, sweetlip and pearl perch, are still in good numbers, especially from the deeper reefs. Doing the big steam up to the grounds off Double Island has been worth it with some nice nannygai, amberjack, cobia, mulloway, snapper, cod, tusk fish and Mauri cod reported. There is also plenty of mackerel and tuna mid water. Again, the sharks continue to be a problem with a lot of heads coming to the surface.

For those in smaller craft, doing the ‘fish and run’ as soon as the winds start to pick up has been effective. Sunshine Reef off Noosa is always popular and with plenty of coral trout on offer it is no wonder. If you are looking for trout, fish hard to the reef and try and use live baits.

The pelagic action is also improving in Laguna Bay with good numbers of mackerel and tuna starting to make an appearance, a great technique that has been working well is trolling several different depth and size lures to see what level of water the fish are sitting at and what they are happy to take. Having a good mix of slugs and jigs is also important as these fish are also feeding on large bait schools. Smaller profiles seem to be more effective with the bait they are feeding on being quite small. Keep a close eye on the bird activity for an indication as to where the bait is. It is always best to cast to the edges of the schools as the fish tend to circle as they feed.

This is the time of the year when we see the winds blow from the west, which makes perfect conditions for beach anglers. There are still some good tailor around and this is the time of year when we see the bigger green back rogue fish at the back of the breakers. You will have to upsize your leaders as these fish will get through a standard mono leader. Make sure you switch to a fluorocarbon leader around the 20-30lb mark. Most of the bigger fish have come from the top end of the Noosa North Shore near Double Island. Salted bonito, mullet strip baits and pilchards have nailed the big fish.

With the kids on holidays

Jeff Morris got this nice cod from the southern end of Fraser.

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Todd Marshall picked up this amazing baby black marlin fishing around Rooneys.

there are plenty of small dart and summer whiting in the closer gutters so the kids can get a cast to them. The added bonus is if you can teach the kids to pull worms or collect pipis it is a fairly inexpensive day out. Look for those close gutters or holes and fish the top two hours of the tide. • Don’t forget to check in to www.fishingnoosa.com.au for all the latest up to date info on fishing and bar crossings. The knowledgeable teams at Tackle World Noosa, Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola our new store The Tackle Shop in Gympie can provide you with the right equipment, bait and advice to ensure success!