What a week and how different was this time last year.
With temperatures struggling to get over 25C, many of us are still enjoying the cooler temps. This is slowing the warming of the waters, however, the fishing is ticking along quite nicely. As we headed toward the full moon, the bigger tides and rising barometer saw some great action toward the end of the day.
Offshore its very much about pearlies, jewfish and cobia. These fish are holding in good numbers around North Reef on the 50-60m line. Anglers heading to Double Island are also reporting similar species with amberjack and the occasional kingfish. Tuskies are present alongside sweetlip and a few tuna in the form of longtail and mac tuna.
You can drop baits of mullet, pilchard and squid on simple single or double hook paternoster rigs. Black magic have a great out of the packet option with super strong hooks called the snapper snatcher. These come rigged up with glow beads and lots of flash that most reef fish love.
If sitting on anchor, nothing beats an unweighted bait drifted down in a burley trail. While doing this you can also have a floated pilchard out the back for those fish feeding out of sight and sitting further back. Feeding a half pilchard down in a burley trail on light 15-20lb gear can be a very rewarding experience if using medium heavy rods.
Look at Samaki Zing gen 3 rods or Shimano jewel rods as they have many viable options for you to try with a powerful backbone and quality components. Pair this with a 4500 Penn or 5000 sized Shimano reel and 20lb casting braid and you have a combo that will cover you for pretty much everything from jacks in the river to tuna and mackerel offshore.
Lastly from the offshore scene, this is the last month before the annual spanner crab closure on 1 November. They are an easy, tasty target and something to try if fishing local and wanting to try something different on the table.
From the beaches, tailor are still hanging around. Although not in big numbers they often come in during the high tide. The high tides often bring the baitfish in close with predatory fish following close behind. Casting 30-40 gram slugs and whole pilchards on gang hooks is seeing anglers catch a few. Around the mouth you can expect to hook a few flathead and bream with smaller dart and bigger whiting keeping things fun. Aim to fish as light as you can so you feel the bites and have fun while doing it.
Jack anglers will do well casting live baits and weedless soft plastics like the MMD fat skipper deep into the snags. This can be done from the ski run heading upriver. This style of angling works best with baitcast outfits and softer tipped rods. We have a wide range of baitcast reels and rods to get you started and once you master how to cast one you will soon wonder how you lived without one before. If you need a cast net, we can help you out and even show you how to cast and care for one. We also have all the live bait goodies like live bait buckets and aerators.
The ski run is a place that can offer up a wide variety of species including GT and big eye trevally as well as smaller jewies and flathead. When pack feeding, trevally will smash small lures ripped through the water or a soft plastic like a 3-inch Keitech easy shiner rolled mid water. If you have yet to try it, then flats fishing for flathead on surface lures can be a blast. Big flatties will blow up on surface lures like the Berkley bender slowly twitched across the shallows. Try to find patches of sea grass to start your experience.
As you head toward the river mouth there are many holes which you should also try with soft plastics and medium size soft vibes like the Zerek fish trap. Jewfish like to hang in deep holes alongside jacks. 20lb FC rock leader should be used for these bigger fish as they know how to fight hard!
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!
