The pearl perch and snapper closure has come to an end but the fishing has still been spectacular, particularly in the Bays and rivers with quality flathead more than active all along the coast.
Around Hervey Bay, the pier has seen school mackerel, tailor, whiting, squid, flathead and bream all hanging around.
Matching the hatch and throwing in a bit of squid is your best bet but catching them fresh is perfect, providing you don’t cop an inking in the process.
If you wanted to try something a little different, pick yourself up some small Nomad Squidtrex Vibes, around the 50-70mm size and give them a flick.
These lures are extremely versatile with a few different tie points and the vibrations are near impossible for fish to resist.
There are some very decent whiting hanging around the creeks and down towards the Burrum River system while the Sandy Straits are much of the same with the addition of queenfish and blue salmon also being caught.
Moving down to the Tin Can area, good numbers of squid have been present and are being caught primarily on the 2.2-2.5 gauge Squid Jigs with the Yamashita’s being some of the most popular.
They’re hanging around the entrance to Pelican Bay but have been caught as far down as Carlo.
Snapper Creek is bountiful, with bream taking a liking to mullet strips or peeled prawns but will also have a go at a lightly weighted prawn style soft plastic like the Berkley Gulp Turbo Shrimp in a 3-4 inch size weighted with a 1/8 of an ounce jig head.
Golden trevally, small GT’s and big eye trevally are loving the micro jigs at the moment around the moored boats in Snapper Creek.
Late afternoon low tides have been best for targeting flathead as they sit in the shallows soaking a bit of sun.
Similar prawn-style lures like the Samaki Live Shrimp have been an excellent choice providing some quality catches.
Mack tuna are taking slugs around the 20-30g range from the mouth at Teebar Creek up to Browns Gutter.
Noosa has been exceptional fishing with the deeper regions of the river clearing up.
Some big bream and flathead have been caught with a lot of the lizards in the 50cm range.
Towards the river mouth, however, Woods Bay in particular has been great for Flathead as well as grunter and the odd trevally while around the corner in the Pan, tailor have been showing up in numbers.
Offshore was a bit hit and miss last week with some pretty big swell and Southerly winds blowing but the charters were reporting a lot of longtail tuna particularly at North Reef.
Grassy sweetlip, emperor, gold spot cod, cobia and moses perch were all in on the action.
With the Mary River closure, the go-to was out at Borumba, but it’s been a little quiet.
Most of the reports were of bass schooling along the edges taking a crank or spinner that manages to glide through a pocket.
As the days get longer we can expect everything out there to fire up again.
Australian bass closed season for all Queensland tidal waters is from 1 June to 31 August.
Snapper and pearl perch closed season in all Queensland tidal waters has just finished and runs from 15 July to 15 August.
Mary River Closure and adjoining waterways (upstream of its junction with Six Mile Creek at the creek’s northern bank, and other than waters up to the full supply level of Baroon Pocket Dam, Borumba Dam and Lake MacDonald) are in effect from 1 August to 31 October.
For all the latest information log onto www.fishingnoosa.com.au for up-to-date bar and fishing reports, don’t forget to drop into Gympie’s newest tackle store “The Tackle Shop”, Tackle World Noosa, and Northshore Bait & Tackle in Marcoola for all the right equipment, bait and advice to get you catching.
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