It’s been a hot windy one and early mornings have definitely been the best time to go for a fish before the winds picked up. We have seen some great captures from all areas as water temps continue to climb.
Bigger boats and experienced skippers headed to Double Island earlier in the week and caught sweetlip, pearlies, AJ’s, snapper and cod.
With the lead up to the full moon the tides and currents have been building so if dropping big baits use some bait wrap on slab baits to keep them streamlined. Using lighter lines in strong current will see less drag on your gear and you will feel a lot more.
North reef remains popular with catches of pearl perch, cobia, moses perch, venus tusk fish, sweetlip and smaller snapper. Again most of these fish taking baits off the bottom. During lighter currents be sure to have a 3 hook gang rig floated out the back as many big fish will hunt midwater.
If fishing in closer around Sunshine reef, halls reef or jew shoal, be sure to lighten leaders down as clear water allows for heavy leaders to stand out. Going lighter gives baits and lures much better presentation and if there is current you can feel the smaller bites from big fish.
Daytime anglers fishing the Noosa River have been targeting whiting and flathead. Both of these fish don’t mind clear skies and clear water and will come up into the shallows to find food. Finding a shallow sand flat on a hot day while casting lures or lightly weighted baits to fish is a perfect way to cool down.
The Noosa dog beach, woods bay, the frying pan and up toward Cootharabah have many options through various stages of the tide for this.
If using lures then diving lures work very well with pink a predominant colour for flatties. A lure that is slow retrieved and allowed to occasionally hit the bottom really turns these fish on.
Mangrove jack have been out and about but mainly after dark. Some of the biggest jacks have been caught on mullet and pilchard as well as live bait. If using live bait ensure they are of legal size and are in fresh aerated water to keep them alive and kicking.
For lure anglers a mix of 3-4 inch paddle tail plastics and hard bodies is the go to option. Be sure to use scent at night with slow rolled plastics as this really works during long pauses.
Freshwater has livened up during the late afternoon bite. Lake MacDonald has seen a strong top water bite in the late afternoon with bass to 45cm taken on a wide range of lures. Borumba is a little quieter with trolling the edges the most popular method of finding the fish.
With the full moon approaching the afternoon bite is certainly going to be a great time to have a crack if hunting for fish while surface fishing lures.
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures.
