With the conditions a little sloppy last week, it was mainly the larger craft that headed out.
North reef was popular for the charters, and they came home with a mixed bag of cobia, lipper and some sizable jewfish. Mixed baits dropped down on paternoster rigs proving the popular choice with squid, mullet and pilchard baits the popular choice. Live bait works very well here when dropped down on a snelled rig so be sure to stop off, drop a sabiki jig and load up on livies before going wide.
In closer Sunshine Reef has sizable coral trout, lippers, tuskies and a few longtail tuna still swimming around. This is a great place to drop a pilchard floater as the cobia and tuna are happy to swim about mid water. Be sure to use a long length of 30-40lb mono leader if running braid so you have a better presentation. Anyone who has a baitrunner style of reel would do well to use it here as these reels are perfect for floating baits in a burley trail.
With burley in mind be sure to start a steady trail when on anchor. With the full moon due this coming week expect currents and tides to become stronger so you will have to work your efforts around the tide changes. A great berley mash up of some pellets, oil, old fish frames and a few handfuls of sand to help bind it all together. Alternatively try using a small burley pot and freezing your mix to make it last longer. Don’t forget the Snapper and Peal Perch closure still exists till 15 August.
Surf fishing will also ramp up in the lead up to the full moon as the weather conditions begin to improve, with some good reports of tailor having been landed around the mouth of the Noosa river and a few gutters along Teewah Beach. These fish are taking whole and cut pilchard baits and mullet on strip bait rigs which have a length of wire attached to prevent the inevitable bite off. During the daytime bream, whiting, dart and flathead are around with a few big flathead landed and released as we approach their breeding season. Its always a great thing to do your bit to help preserve fish stocks so don’t forget to take a snap for memories sake.
The Noosa River is going through a quieter phase but the trevally and queenfish seem to be on the move throughout the lower reaches. Flathead continue to be the stand out species but you will have to sort your way through the smaller fish to find the legal ones.
Weyba creek has seen better quality fish, and these are best targeted on a 3 inch Paddle tail plastic or a shrimp pattern such as the new Berkley Fan Tail shrimp in 2 or 3 inch. The waters still have a bit of colour from the last drop of rain, so baits and lures have to be presented in the best possible way. The MMD splash prawns are working well for whiting and big eye trevally. Lower down in the water column small micro jigs work well for getting the bite when the fish are sitting on the bottom.
The Majorcraft jig para prove to be the most consistent producers. Don’t forget if you are missing out on fish hitting your lures, try the small Shinto assist hooks running off the back of your lure instead of the stock treble hook. This helps greatly when the fish are just missing the hook up. If headed upriver the ski run is worth sounding around as trevally and jewies are often found schooling up here. Live baits work well as do soft vibes and 4-inch paddle tail soft plastics. Adding scent really helps too as does tying a loop knot to help free up the lures action. Be sure to find out or ask how you tie one as picky fish will spot a poorly presented lure. Further upstream the mouth of Cooroibah and the channel that is the start of the stretch known simply as between the lakes holds good flathead this time of year. The sand flats on either side can also hold good whiting too so flick small surface lures onto the flats and work them off into deeper water.
Freshwater continues to be inconsistent in the local dams as the constant rainfall hasn’t allowed the impoundments time to settle. Recently we saw major fish loses at Lake McDonald as fish were seen tumbling over the flooded wall and Borumba as well has seen major fish kills as it seems to have rolled. The only upside of these losses is the downstream tributaries will now have bass in their systems to breed as their natural response is to want to get downstream and breed is only halted by these walls.
Now, for all the latest information log onto 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. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and remember Tight Lines and Bent Spines!
