by Jack Mangrove
With this cooler weather we are seeing some wonderful beach fishing, the beaches have been firing with tailor, big winter bream, jew and winter whiting. Most anglers opt for the traditional running sinker rig and baits like pilchards, mullet strips, salted bonito strips, prawns and worms. The trick to a great beach fishing trip is to time your fishing with an incoming tide as well as the low light periods which are always the most productive. Noosa’s North Shore has some outstanding gutters at the moment with the area between Teewah and Double Island really producing some good tailor. On the southern beaches Coolum to Sunshine Beach have also seen some quality fish with larger jewies more prevalent in this area. For the rock angler give Coolum and Noosa National Park a go, these area are seeing squire and sweetlip as well as jew and larger bream.
The Noosa river has had some great fish over the week, we are already starting to see those fantastic winter bream with the areas around the river mouth really firing, the winter bream seem to feed that bit harder whilst they are spawning and little easier to get on the end of the line. Smaller soft plastics are a great way to target them and prawn profiles are perfect for the job, rigged on lighter jig heads and cast at structure should see a result. Well known as an opportunistic scavenger feeder, the bream will pretty much feed on most baits but the good old prawn has to be the standout. Another couple species we see in the rivers are tailor and trevally, both these species love to follow the bait schools into the rivers and feed. One of their favourite ambush techniques is to force the bait to the surface and feed from underneath, fishing poppers and surface walkers first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon with the added advantage of a high or incoming tide can be very exciting. Flathead are also in good numbers with the run out tide perfect time to target them. Small bait fish on small ganged hooks cast upstream and worked back with the tide have been dynamite, try areas like the Ski Run and Weyba Creek.
On the Offshore scene, with the cooler water temperatures moving up from the south, the pelagic run will start to slow. On the reefs there have been some bigger fish coming from the deeper reefs so Murphys Reef to the south as well as the Barwon Banks and the Reefs off Double Island have all seen quality snapper, pearl perch, sweetlip, jew and cod . For anglers in smaller craft don’t despair because there is some sensational fishing happening just offshore. Sunshine Reef is well known for its snapper over the winter months. A great way to target snapper is on soft plastics and there are some sensational colours around at the moment. The Grub style of plastics have been a real hit with the snapper anglers they have a large fine tail that waft around in the current and seem to work well on the reef species, they come in a great range of colours with the nine inch and five inch the most popular. North Reef has also seen its fair share of activity, with some quality snapper also taken in this area.
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures!
